Key Takeaways
• Binance CEO Richard Teng conducts a fireside chat at Taipei Blockchain Week on December 14, 2023.
• Some of the questions Richard was most interested in were about his personal experience, the future of cryptocurrency adoption, and the role of the Binance community.
• As Binance continues its new chapter, our commitment to our users remains our most important focus. We are also transitioning to becoming a compliance-led organization, combining these two priorities to ensure a strong, sustainable future.
The following is a summary of Richard Teng’s responses to some questions during his talk at Taipei Blockchain Week on December 14, 2023. Please note that this article has been edited for length and clarity.
On becoming a CEO
What does your new position mean for Binance? What changes can we expect from this transition?
Richard: First of all, I am very honored. CZ, the leadership team and the rest of my staff have trusted me to lead this very important team. I take this responsibility very seriously. Our user base continues to grow. We now have more than 167 million users worldwide, and this number is growing rapidly.
I made three commitments at the beginning of my tenure. First, we must remain user-centric. This has enabled us to become the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange over the past six years. It will continue to drive us forward as we look to the future. User protection is sacrosanct and we take it very seriously.
Second, work with global regulators to maintain industry standards. The direction of cryptocurrency development is clear: you will see more regulation. Third, I want to work closely with global and local partners to embrace Web3 and drive cryptocurrency adoption. The more we build our ecosystem, the better life will be for everyone.
Personal Journey
How does one go from being a regulator in Singapore to being the CEO of Binance? What have you learned along the way?
Richard: I am not what you would imagine as a traditional regulator. Even when I was at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), I was involved in developing Singapore into a financial services hub. For me, it is two-dimensional. You have to make sure you manage risk while supporting growth. If you only focus on risk management, you will not be able to support very dynamic growth. The balance of the two is very important.
I was lucky early in my career because I was involved in developing Singapore as a financial hub, building wealth management, asset management, the insurance sector, our exchange, etc. I had first-hand experience of how to do these things right. I was working at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) at the time, and later I was headhunted by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) as CEO.
Once again, I had the opportunity to build a new financial center, which was not easy. I was responsible for both the business development and the regulatory side, and how to strike a balance between the two. In 2017, I became one of the first regulators in the world to try cryptocurrency, and I said, "This is going to be the future of finance."
For cryptocurrencies to gain mainstream adoption, you need two things. First, you need clear regulations. If the rules are transparent, the industry will know how to operate and users will gain confidence. Second, with clear regulation, you will bring in institutional investors, which is important. They bring new assets, liquidity, users, products, and research, which is very important for mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
On Regulatory Cooperation
What are the biggest challenges facing regulatory collaboration and how should the industry respond?
Richard: In addition to internal stakeholders, there are three key external stakeholders you have to engage with. The first is your policymakers and regulators. Second, your partners. Third, your users - if no one uses a platform, then you are nothing. For the first group of people, I would say there is still a knowledge gap in understanding crypto technology and the potential. These are conversations we are having around the world. When many jurisdictions want to start regulating cryptocurrencies, they come to us - there is a knowledge gap.
Traditional media still associates cryptocurrency and blockchain with scams and illicit funds. However, if you look at the data, the amount of illicit funds flowing through cryptocurrency is only a fraction of what flows through fiat channels. Cryptocurrency is a traceable technology that is easier to track than fiat currencies. The appeal of this technology is obvious.
We hold many courses for law enforcement agencies and regulators. Last year, we held a course for law enforcement agencies in Taiwan. This is part of our educational work and collaboration. We hope to debunk some of the myths and misunderstandings around crypto and build the industry in a more powerful and vibrant way.
About Institutional Adoption
Over the past year, we have seen a lot of institutional players embracing cryptocurrencies. Do you think this will spark the next wave of mass adoption? Where are we now in this regard?
Richard: Even from 2017, my argument has always been that you need two dimensions to come into play to achieve mass adoption. First, what we are seeing now is regulatory clarity, so momentum is picking up on that front. Second, we are seeing strong momentum in terms of institutional adoption. There is growing interest from the top 100 financial institutions, and even local financial institutions.
I believe that the financial backbone of the next 20 to 30 years will be built on blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). These will be the wave of the future - it is an undeniable trend. Technology will continue to improve itself, including crypto. We will see many exciting use cases and projects, and it will become more powerful. It took us quite a long time to go from 1% to 5%, but it will take less time to go from 5% to 10% or 20%. With institutions joining in, there will be new pools of funds, liquidity, users, research, products, etc., and the speed of adoption will be much faster.
About Binance Web3 Wallet
How important is the Binance Web3 Wallet in the wider Binance ecosystem? What can we expect from it in the next year?
Richard: We are constantly innovating in different user areas, and Binance Web3 Wallet is one of them. It allows people to access Web3 through a simple interface. One of the main challenges facing Web3 is UI/UX. Our Web3 wallet solves many of these problems. This makes it very secure, easy to use, and easy to access. We will continue to innovate.
Recently, we launched a partnership with institutions and VIP traders - a three-way agreement that allows our traders to customize with financial institutions and offset some of the counterparty risk. We will continue to try different things to meet the needs of the community, users and institutions. We look forward to all of these partnerships and all the great feedback from the community. I love speaking to our community because every time we do, it makes us think, "What can we do better? Where else can we strengthen and improve?"
About Binance Community
What do you think of the Binance community? How can Binance use its power to attract more people and create a better experience for everyone?
Richard: For a while, the US issue was a cloud over us. Over the past two years, there were potential partners who were sitting on the sidelines and didn’t build relationships with us. Now that we’ve resolved those historical issues with US agencies, we have many partners lining up to get involved with Web3 and crypto with us.
Our user base has always been strong and has never abandoned us. They have always had trust and confidence in us, which is very important. After the US resolution, our user base continued to grow rapidly and has now reached 167 million. Net inflows have been very strong after the US resolution. Users continue to have trust and confidence in us. Our community supports us, which makes us strong.
We are very focused on our community, our users, and their feedback. We will continue to do so. I mentioned that we are a user-centric organization - that will not change. However, we will also move to become a compliance-led organization, managing both aspects to enable us to be sustainable and prosperous for the next 60 years.
