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Binance to initiate colossal investments and acquisitions – according to its CEO
Binance has already committed $325 million to 67 projects to date this year
Zhao remains bullish on NFTs and DeFi with eyes on traditional businesses as well
Binance – the world’s biggest cryptocurrency platform – is looking forward to spending a massive amount on investments and acquisitions. This was recently said by the company’s Chief Executive Officer – Changpeng Zhao aka CZ.
To mention precisely, a whopping $1 billion-plus would be spent on crypto deals by Binance this year. Given that, the company has already committed $325 million to 67 projects to date this year. In comparison to the previous year – there was spending of $140 million for 73 projects.
In addition to that, the numbers mentioned above do not account for the possibility of a more than $200 million investment in the Forbes media company. This is in addition to an expected $500 million in financing for Elon Musk’s dicey acquisition of Twitter Inc. Although, this could carry into next year if it gets done at all, Bloomberg noted.
Binance Uninterested in Crypto Lenders
The CEO of Binance has taken this decision despite the fall in the crypto market and an impeding crypto winter. However, the exec has not followed the route of his contemporaries in saving bankrupt crypto companies. Instead, he has concentrated on funding decentralized finance protocols and nonfungible tokens (NFT). Although, Binance “did look at a lot of lenders in recent months because that’s where all the issues are,” Zhao said in an interview this week. He further added,
Many of them (lenders), just take a user’s money and give it to somebody else. There’s not a lot of intrinsic value. In that case, what’s to acquire? We want to see real products that people use.
CZ Bullish on NFT, DeFi Growth
As per CZ, these “real products” include NFTs and fan tokens, along with traditional payment-service providers. The exec said his company has been focusing on investing in such sectors instead. He added,
Binance has remained profitable this year even with prices of most cryptocurrencies down more than 50% this year.
Talking about NFTs, Zhao mentioned that it is “beyond selling pictures of monkeys.” Instead, NFTs can be used “for tickets, for university degrees.” Although, he said that large-scale uses are yet to be built, “I think the technology will stay,” he added.
Apart from this, Binance might also be interested in acquiring minority stakes in traditional e-commerce and gaming companies, he said.
Binance is already into a number of deals in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It has a $7 billion fund that regularly invests in upcoming businesses. Moreover, a team of 30-plus members focuses on mergers and acquisitions, CZ said.
The bullish news of CZ pumping $1 billion into the crypto ecosystem came as the Binance Chain suffered a major exploit today. It was hacked off funds worth over $766 in the form of 2 million BNB tokens. However, the exec has shown confidence in the network and its community, highlighting that users’ funds are SAFU.