The Journey So Far in the Eyes of CEO Changpeng Zhao

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is celebrating its sixth anniversary today. In commemoration of the feat, the exchange’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has reminisced on several events since the platform’s launch.

In a statement sent to CryptoPotato, the CEO revealed that Binance was launched in 2017 with $15 million worth of digital assets as a crypto-to-crypto exchange with five tokens and two languages. At the time, the company had no customer support team and had to borrow one from CZ’s friend’s company.

Binance Turns Six

Two months after Binance went live, China banned crypto exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs), causing affected projects to return the investments received to their investors. Binance was affected, and the firm was forced to spend $6 million (40% of its treasury at the time), amounting to the largest single spending in its history percentage-wise.

Sooner than later, Binance became the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume and has since remained in the same position, weathering through two crypto winters that caused the collapse of many entities, including rival exchange FTX, Celsius Network, Voyager, Three Arrows Capital, and the Terra ecosystem.

Binance emerged unscathed from the series of catastrophic events caused by the 2022 crypto winter, particularly with minimal exposure to FTX and Terra’s LUNA. The firm even offered to bail out some firms like Voyager and FTX; however, the deals fell through.

Regulatory Scrutiny is Not Unexpected: CZ

Furthermore, CZ disclosed that the current regulatory scrutiny that Binance is facing is “not unexpected,” considering the events of 2022 and the size of the firm.

“And when regulators look at crypto, they look at Binance. It comes with size. And it is our responsibility to take the lead and work with regulators all around the world to move the industry forward,” the CEO said.

Meanwhile, the Binance founder believes the involvement of traditional finance giants like BlackRock and Citadel in crypto validates the industry’s technology. He also sees decentralized finance becoming bigger than centralized finance in the next six years or so.

“Again, it won’t be all smooth sailing, but we will always do what we think is in users’ best interests. We will continue collaborating with regulators. We will also defend what we believe is right, even if we have to do it in court, to continuously protect our users and push for the benefit of the industry,” CZ added.