[00:02] biggest single risk to crypto? Today I sit down with Binance CEO Richard Teng. Binance is one of the most licensed crypto exchanges globally, so there's no better person, Richard, to answer this next question than you about what's next
[00:16] for Bitcoin, what brings the buyers back in, what's next for Binance, what impact will do you think the Clarity Act will have on crypto, and then what impact great conversation. >> I think we are ready for optic towards
[00:31] >> Watch today's whole video so you understand everything. still making every effort to work with the European regulators. the crypto market from a bird's-eye view, what do you think the headline for
[00:47] crypto would be in 2026? >> Well, I I I Personally, I think that 2026 is a year of consolidation. But we continue to see continued building within the crypto industry, and it has gone quite mainstream right now. So, if
[01:02] you look at the financial infrastructure, there are so many big users of crypto blockchain technology, right? So, if you look at stablecoin, if you look at the volume since the Clarity Act has come true, it
[01:17] has skyrocketed. If you look at real assets tokenization, another big use case, again, we have seen very strong and robust growth. Exchange NASDAQ says they're going to
[01:30] put all the equities on chain, I think that's a big statement. And many financial institutions, whether it's banks that's going to the experimenting and issuing their own stable coins are coming up with tokenized deposits, or
[01:43] investment firms that going to tokenize all the different asset classes on their platform, I do think that those are very big testament, big statements they're making about the future of financial services. So, I do think that 2026 is a
[01:56] very strong pivot year, and we're going to see very strong growth going forward >> So, stablecoins since the genius act got passed. I think you said clarity. the genius act. That's >> But, for the clarity act, what impact
[02:11] will do you think the clarity act will have on crypto and then what impact what will it change for Binance? >> Well, anytime where you cast >> Well, anytime where you cast clarity into any industry, I do think
[02:26] that it allows for builders to have much more certainty about the future and how can they can they build. Uh just like when genius act got passed, right? So, financial institutions sitting on the fence. But, once the genius act is being
[02:41] passed, the banks are much more willing to embrace it. The corporate treasury say that, "Look, you have current the current infrastructure is a very archaic infrastructure that's decadeal, right? So, essentially most of the
[02:54] banks uh you want to do a cross-border transfer, you're using a corresponding banking network. You're using Swift, which is essentially a very archaic tele- telegram network, right? So, it's not the telegram network that we are
[03:08] used to, but usually messaging network from the past. But, once they then gravitate and move towards stablecoins, they realize that and get it to whoever that you want to get to, whether
[03:21] it's your affiliates, your subsidiaries, your vendors uh almost at the instant at a fraction of the price of what traditional financial banks and institutions charge, right? So, which is why if you look at the volume of
[03:34] stablecoin, it has then move up very very strongly, surpassing many of the big payment providers globally now. So, that itself is a very very strong >> [clears throat] >> into asset class,
[03:49] a A of people are willing to make longer-term investments and deploy on a much more aggressive basis given those clarity. And I I do believe the Clarity Act will do the same, right? So, and US is such a
[04:03] you know, economic powerhouse that the rest of the other countries will be forced to sit up and notice just like when Genie Act was passed, a lot of countries around the world then started to
[04:16] embrace, introduce their own stable coin provisions and licensing provisions. rest of the world. So, with Clarity Act, I do believe that throughout the rest of the world because
[04:30] say, "Hey, how do I maintain my competitive edge and advantage vis-a-vis the US that is such a big marketplace, right? The largest GDP in the world, you know, have so much competitive advantage in so many
[04:44] different areas. How do I make sure I don't fall behind?" So, all those impetus of come true. >> So, Binance is the biggest crypto But, if {slash} when the Clarity Act does get passed, will this Do you have
[04:59] plans to take a more significant uh step into America or how does that change? >> Well, all those things we are always keeping it under review and consideration. Well, today actually we
[05:12] have moved beyond crypto. Right? So, a lot of people know us. And ago, we just celebrated our 9-year anniversary 2 days ago. We started off as a crypto exchange and we've done extremely well as a crypto exchange.
[05:27] But, since the beginning of this year, we have introduced uh traditional financial products. We have introduced things like commodities, trading of the different precious metals, then petrochemicals. And we started to then
[05:42] introduce ex- allow people to make to invest into stocks, and then pre-IPO SpaceX. Um So, and and that has taken off in a extremely actually big way, right? So,
[05:54] we are very grateful for our users. We have started off in 2017, July. only about 6 million people around the world with exposure to crypto. Today, it
[06:07] stands about 740 million. About half of them are Binance users, so we have 320 plus million users. And that's growing quickly. But, you know, our storyline goes way beyond that. So, we are, you know, pushing our agenda towards a
[06:23] financial super app. Today, we have 301 million users. That's grown very quickly. But, our aspiration is really to reach 3 billion users globally on that front, right? So, just to give you some some figures and some
[06:37] data. Since we introduced traditional finance products, right? Today, trade five product, trade five perpetual trading each month exceed 80 billion. Right? Uh if you look at direct stocks that we introduced like within 30 days
[06:52] of the launch, we traded 3 billion in cumulative trading volume. front. Um and you know, many of these continue to increase very robustly. In June alone, actually our traditional
[07:08] finance equity market share in perpetuals has reached closer to 80%, right? So, that just show the dominance and the popularity. And a lot of users that come to us to trade all these products
[07:22] didn't have access to these products because there's a lot of structural challenges in many parts of the world. And they traditionally have no access to counters for that matter. So, they come to us and 80% of the
[07:38] trading volume actually emerge from emerging markets very interestingly, right? And 40% of the volume are around $100 or less US dollars, and people can get access to to US products for as little
[07:50] access to to US products for as little as $5 on our platform. So, we are really aggressively a financial super app that allow the best of what you see in TradFi, the best of what you see in CeFi as well as DeFi
[08:05] to come together on the platform. >> Yeah, Binance turns 9 years old. Big it it is what you know, one of the largest is the largest exchange. And I know you guys have been dominating getting the
[08:18] licenses across a lot of Asia, global reach. Altcoin Daily speaks to a global So, as crypto gets more institutionalized, institutionalized, maybe in a 10-year time horizon, how do
[08:31] you how do you speak to and and do good with regular retail clients? How do you think about it in a 10-year time horizon? >> So, you know, I started in 2007 at 2017, right? At a point in time, and you know
[08:47] this much better than me, it was predominantly for the longest time crypto was a retail play, right? Because the institutions, the corporate holders were sitting on the fence. The regulators were not
[08:59] spending time to formulate regulatory framework to regulate this particular sector. And I was an ex-regulator. And after I got to know crypto, I always future of finance. But for it to go mainstream,
[09:13] there are two elements that need to come into play. Firstly, regulatory clarity. And then secondly, institutional adoption, right? It's only with these two elements that, you know, your early adopters will come
[09:25] quite quickly. You know, the first 3 5% will come through. But for the percentage after that, right? For the mass adoption to take place, you need these two elements. Firstly, regulatory clarity so that people
[09:40] feel much more willing and have the trust and confidence to deploy into the sector. Secondly, with institution adoption, then you have different classes, different types of investors with different investment
[09:54] horizon, appetite, duration, holding power, etc. And that makes for much more power, etc. And that makes for much more vibrant and mature marketplace, right? coming to play, right? So, I mentioned you know, today we have more than 223
[10:09] million customers. This year alone, in terms of onboarding, we see more institutions being onboarded than, you know, the norm. So, in terms of institutional onboarding, that increased by 9%. In terms of new users, we
[10:23] increased by a total of 7% for year-to-date, right? So, you can see the institutions, the smart money, continue to invest quite heavily into this space. ET- ETF holdings today BTC is around 12% and
[10:38] that will continue to increase in my view. So, if you look at a 10-year horizon, with all the different use cases and utility that I mentioned, so if you look at stablecoin, I believe the demand will continue to surge.
[10:52] Uh the the use cases are very strong. The corporate trea- the big corporate treasuries around the world today, once they got to know stablecoin and they start to make use of stablecoin, it's so much more effective and efficient
[11:06] that from a capital efficiency velocity standpoint, most of the big corporates around the world don't have to hold so much capital if they use stablecoin for transfer on a global basis, right? And that is substantial savings for many
[11:19] corporate treasuries. So, those will con- continue to come true. When the likes of Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, and many other financial Exchange, and many other financial institutions put assets on chain, the
[11:31] type of products that can be traded on chain will continue to grow exponentially. And it only makes sense, right? So, once you put an asset on chain, you started to trade on a 24/7 basis,
[11:43] the first instance they're moving to 5-day trading about 21 to 23 hours depending. But, you know, on our platform, we already allow for 24/7 trading for US stocks, private stocks, etc. Where you can at the touch of a
[11:59] pressing a button, you can convert the US stocks into on chain products, right? For for different purposes. So, all those are available and investors, corporate investors, and even retail,
[12:15] they understand that it's very important to have 24/7 control because market move on a 24/7 basis, right? One of the biggest liquidity risk for any investors is not being able to hedge their risk, take new positions when new company when
[12:30] you know, uh unrest, tensions, or new developments, innovation coming out in new area. They need to take positions forward, you're going to see a gigantic trading being a very big part of trading
[12:46] in total. So, 24 trading, which has really been facilitated by crypto and blockchain, will be a big part of that global landscape. So, 10 years out, I do
[12:58] believe that crypto blockchain is going to be important part of the global financial infrastructure. And probably by that time, people won't distinguish uh crypto or blockchain because almost everything might be built on blockchain
[13:12] and AI by then. >> True. True. TradFi and CryptoFi are are converging faster this year than we've ever seen. When you say when I when I hear this from many notable people, on chain, RWAs, tokenization, uh stable
[13:27] coins, we're seeing TradFi converge on those narratives, get real-world use case on those narratives today. I see that primarily happening on, let's say, the three big ones: Ethereum, Solana, BNB. Um what is the benefit? Why
[13:41] will Why will we continue to see the growth in BNB? What's the >> Well, you see so many builders and exciting products continue to be built and launched on BNB. Um you know, recently BNB has also introduced
[13:57] recently BNB has also introduced supporting AI trading uh using very fast speed uh layer one. So, BNB continue to innovate on that front. So, I have I mean I I'm not involved in that, but
[14:10] looking at the BNB development, I continue to be very bullish and optimistic about the the development on that front. So, but I think what's important is continue to build products that user want to use
[14:23] and corporates want to be building them on, right? So, I think those are some of the key strength of any infrastructure, any chain. So, based on that, based on the things that I'm looking at, the new developments, the new new utility that's
[14:37] being built, I'm optimistic. >> Richard, going back to regulation and the the regulation around the world, a clip that went viral with you that I recently saw was after you guys pulled out of MiCA, um
[14:51] you said that your European users, the majority of them went to self-custody. that? >> Well, so it is very interesting data point for us as well. So, maybe just to explain, you know, uh MiCA, you know, we
[15:07] have submitted a compliant application. We were told that the application was compliant, and we were going to be approved, but, you know, until the 11 and 1/2 hour, you know, something changed, and, you
[15:19] know, the the keeps being delayed. And so, we feel it's our responsibility to withdraw the application from Greece. Europe, right? So, we are not withdrawing from Europe. We're still
[15:32] looking at our pathway uh in terms of getting regulated under MiCA. wanted to stress, right? We are very supportive of the licensing regime. We do want to serve the European customers. Uh Europe itself as a continent for us,
[15:49] you know, is not mission-critical, but you know, we want to be supportive of of regulation regulators and regulations. So, coming to the command I made, well, so it's a very interesting data point that we saw. 70% of the European
[16:03] users that withdraw funds from us following our EU service suspension uh went to self-custodied, self-hosted wallets, right? And 30% got transferred to MiCA- regulated platform. So, my I mean, I'm an ex-regulator of
[16:19] and I explained to the regulators, right? So, when MiCA was introduced, there are certain regulatory objective, right? It appears that those regulatory
[16:31] objectives are not being met, right? Um by not approving Binance. Because if you think about it, we are so big in terms of global liquidity. So, if you talk about the institutions, the corporates, they can always set up a
[16:45] to tap the global liquidity, which is very important for them because it results in substantial cost savings when the bid-ask spread is the narrowest and the liquidity is the you know, the best, right? Uh any
[16:59] trading in any product classes, whether it's commodities or equities, will know that. And big corporates, big institutions, big family offices have the wherewithal to set those up. But it's the retail that's going to be
[17:15] interest Because they're going to consistently pay higher fees, the better spread is going to be wider. So, they are going to pay more compared to customers anywhere else in the world on that front.
[17:28] saw. Um well, at this point in time, we are still making every effort to work with the European regulators on our pathway to obtain license in MiCA. And hopefully, everybody's
[17:43] interest can be served and is a win-win proposition. uh EU EU and allowing users the best execution
[17:55] that they deserve and the at the lowest price point that they deserve, right? So, we're looking forward to that. But, you know, we remain committed to our users. We have want to make sure that their assets are fully protected, and
[18:07] their interests are always safeguarded with us. So, those are things that we on the MiCA front. But, we continue to push forth on the regulatory front in fact, by now, we are the most regulated entity globally. So, if you think about
[18:23] entity globally. So, if you think about it, we are the only global exchange for people that understand this concept. We are the only global exchange with a home People in the traditional finance space will know this because normally, you
[18:36] have a home regulator and you have many host regulators around the world where you have small operations. So, we are the only one with a home regulator that regulate us on an end-to-end basis from our listing process to our wallet
[18:50] custody to how we manage our customers um in in terms of even things like AML, how we do onboarding of customers, transaction monitoring, market surveillance. So, the entire process,
[19:03] right? So, uh so, we are very that took a long time for us to to get it. Took us about 1 and 1/2 years of a lot of walk-through, a lot of explanation, providing insights to our home regulator, which is the
[19:18] at ADGM on that front. And by now, we are regulated in many parts of the world, different parts of Asia, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and so on. So, we'll continue with our global footprint, and we
[19:32] licensing. Recently, uh we introduced products in Philippines with our partnership with BlockShow, which is an extremely big market and very exciting market for us. So, we'll
[19:45] continue to announce new license as and when we secure them. >> Yeah, Binance is one of the most uh licensed crypto exchanges globally. So, there's no better person, Richard, to answer this next question than you.
[19:57] If you had a magic wand, and you could instantly get global crypto regulation on on a global level, what would be three of the most important components for that regulation? >> Well, um I do think that
[20:14] you need, firstly, proper harmonization. Because for a global firm like Because for a global firm like ourselves, every time we we want to localize and be licensed in a local jurisdiction,
[20:27] it is challenging in the sense there are no global standards. In the banking you have harmonization of standards through Basel standards, right? In the security space and equity space, you have IOSCO standards, right?
[20:43] right? So, whether it's asset management, uh securities on that front, challenging because there's no harmonization harmonized standards. So, one standard in one country is very different from the others. That makes
[20:57] global deployment very challenging. So, we have to tweak our operations, uh tweak our wallet management, etc., every time we are deploying in a new standards that we have to comply on the compliance side of things.
[21:11] So, that is definitely one. Secondly, the other thing that I wish to tweak is the mindset of regulators, right? Because most of the regulators are most of them are trained in traditional
[21:23] So, they do not understand blockchain and crypto so well. There's a misperception that this is an instrument that's used uh
[21:35] money laundering. That couldn't be further from the truth because crypto blockchain is a traceable technology. I can assure you if you have 100 million distribute them and you can't quite trace where they go to.
[21:50] But if you have 100 million on chain and you try you try to distribute them, I can tell you we can always trace where they go to, right? So, but many of the regulators around the world, they are not equipped uh they are not trained in
[22:03] that. They do not understand it enough. Uh I think there's there's a knowledge gap that we need to close on that front. So, I think that's the other thing that we need to bring global regulators up to speed about the technology and how you
[22:17] can make use of it to make sure that regulatory objectives are being complied with. I think that that's the second dimension. And thirdly, is responsible entities like our self and regulators, our interests are aligned.
[22:32] We are always there to protect users, right? We don't stand shy of protecting users. In fact, on the Binance front, we introduced many global protection Right? So, if you think about it, we are the first one to introduce our SAFU
[22:48] fund, safe asset for user fund that stand at $1 billion today, right? So, prescribe that, but we said that, "Look, this is something that we want to give our users in the untoward event that there's a security episode on our
[23:03] platform, it stands ready to to compensate users, right? So, this is our commitment to our users. Another thing that regulators don't prescribe is proof of reserve. We want to demonstrate to the to the
[23:17] regulators that all the assets of users are held on a one-to-one basis, can be traced, is there. Traditional financial institutions can't show you that. And many of the crypto exchange don't show users that. We do.
[23:32] don't prescribe, right? So, a lot of times we go beyond the call of duty because we have much greater and much more sophisticated knowledge than regulators, and we do all these things,
[23:44] but regulators are still not there in terms of understanding the industry, so will I will try to do. >> So, it was mindset, protection, and what was the third one?
[23:58] and knowledge. And knowledge. >> Yes. lot of things that, you know, no regulator specifically prescribed, but know, obviously that's one of the most important things. I want to transition,
[24:14] uh Richard, looking ahead. Looking ahead, what do you think is the biggest single risk to crypto? Because it seems like it's inevitable. Adoption is happening. What do you think the biggest risk is?
[24:28] >> Wow, that's a tough one. Uh uh a lot of people say corn could be one of the I actually think that crypto will continue to evolve, and I I mean, corn going to be a big risk. I actually think
[24:44] I actually think that one of the biggest risk is regulators refusing to change the mindset and putting in place many unfair treatment that's not
[24:58] being imposed on traditional financial institutions but imposed on the crypto Uh because then you're not competing on a level playing field uh with traditional financial institutions. If we're allowed to compete on a level
[25:11] I'm sure with the technology, with the speed of execution that blockchain and crypto firm has, uh they will continue to grow real fast and actually they can
[25:23] surpass a lot of what the traditional financial institutions are able to provide and provide some of those services at a better rate and a faster means with better access, right? Uh but you know, some regulators may
[25:37] Uh but you know, some regulators may feel protectionist about the existing those dynamics coming through and that's one of the biggest risk in my view that could put that can impede the continued growth of this sector, which is just
[25:52] >> And that makes me think of like the game theory of yes, we can see countries their financial system or hurts their people, but even the game theory aspect of it, they are going to be forced to adopt and
[26:07] they're going to fall behind. >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Richard, I know none of us can see the future. You know, I don't know what tomorrow, let alone next week,
[26:20] And I know you will never answer this, but if a little a little brother if your how would you respond? Be real with me. How low how how much lower do you think Bitcoin goes or how do you think about it?
[26:35] >> Well, so I am actually a believer of the four-year cycle, so I mean, I I've been telling people people privately have asked me this many times. I said, you I've been in the industry for some time now.
[26:48] And you know, the dynamics the supply dynamics doesn't change and the demand dynamics will will depend on things like utility coming through. And I'm seeing strong utility this year. Uh based on the few things that I mentioned, I think
[27:02] that demand will continue to pick up uh next year. And with the supply dynamics coming into play, I actually think that, you know, we are pretty close to that bottom. You know, it probably has, you know, if you look
[27:16] at traditionally uh from all-time high, it takes about 360, 380 days uh for the bottom to come through and then you'll go on this way up. We are close to 300 days now. So, we are
[27:30] about there, I would say, right? So, it's time to look at the market right closely. I think the first half of this year, you see a lot of interest flowing into AI and semiconductor stocks and that took a
[27:45] bit of thunder away uh from uh asset class such as crypto. Now, with some of those trades cooling, I do believe that, you know, you are seeing some healthy flow back into crypto. And so, I think we are ready for uptick
[28:01] towards the second half of this year. >> So, if your little brother was like still tugging on your your sleeve and saying, "So, what's your advice? Should I mean I should buy now or wait?" I know you would never give him specifics, but
[28:13] how what advice would you give him? >> I always say that you can do dollar cost averaging. You can start buying now and then accumulate, right? Yeah. For me, I I mean, I would I can't I can't advise people. I can just tell you what I would
[28:26] Uh I'm a long-term bull. I always believe the strength of this industry based on what I see around. So, I'll continue to do uh DCA uh on on the few
[28:38] tokens that I really like. Uh and hold it for the long term, right? I'm not quite a trader. I normally just buy hold hold long term. I mean, I see the price is about there. >> How do you see crypto and AI converging?
[28:52] >> Well, I do think that they are complementary in many sense. So, if you just I I would just take financial services, right? So, today uh a big part of financial services for financial institutions middle and back
[29:06] office, right? What they do are things like reconciliation, accounting, custody, settlement, um etc. etc. All those can be replaced if you rethink the future of finance using a
[29:19] don't have to do reconciliation. The records are immutable, right? And with the usage of AI, you can cut off and improve efficiency and effectiveness in many many sense, right? So, they are complementary technology. One improve
[29:34] efficiency, one make sure that the records become immutable, right? So, records become immutable, right? So, if you rethink that for every part of the value chain of not only financial services, but the different economic
[29:47] sector, these two technology will come together to transform every sector, right? So, you just like, you know, trading as we know it. Today, blockchain is transforming that. Once you put the different asset classes on chain,
[30:03] a lot of fund and activities uh even trading will go agentic, right? So, blockchain again with AI coming into play on that front can bring it on play on that front can bring it on agentic trading on a 24/7 basis on that.
[30:16] A lot of the interface with users will look very very different, right? It has to facilitate the agentic front going forward. Uh so, whether it's front office, middle office, back office within financial
[30:29] services, they'll be transformed totally with these two technology. And supply chains, media entertainment, etc. All those can be transformed using this. So, it's quite exciting to see how the world continue to evolve in the
[30:42] next 5 years. >> Richard, thank you so much for sharing down below. Final thoughts for the Altcoin Daily audience. >> Well, thanks to everyone for listening in. Thanks for all the support
[30:55] in. Thanks for all the support for all users through the last 9 years of our journey. We want to make sure that the next 9 years will be very very continue to build to make sure that we
[31:07] have the best products, the best access into assets of different types, right? anymore. It's commodities, it's there's a platform where you can do all your investments, all your savings, all
[31:20] your payments going forward. You don't have to open five, 10 different apps. It's just one super app, which is Binance.