Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) referred to the entrance of large players like BlackRock–who have their eyes on a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF)—as “hugely beneficial” during a Twitter Spaces earlier today.
“We welcome more players, the larger the better,” said Zhao, explaining that “it will offer more coverage.”
The Binance CEO was answering a plethora of questions from the crowd, until a user asked what he thought of these large institutions entering the space, and whether they pose a threat to companies like Binance.
“Short answer is no,” he replied. “It would be hugely beneficial to crypto for large entities to come into the space,” noting that they serve a clientele that is currently being underserved by the industry.
BlackRock, Fidelity, and other large Wall Street institutions have been slowly making their way into the cryptocurrency space. The last weeks have been a filing frenzy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC).
Zhao said many entities, individuals or institutions, interested in dipping their toes in crypto. According to him, they can’t use Binance.com, and Binance.US has less liquidity–which continues to drop after U.S. authorities continued applying legal pressure.
The issue, for Zhao, is that many of those institutions “are not comfortable using what we call pure crypto or a crypto native platform.” He added that they probably prefer existing relationships with legacy firms.
Binance’s CEO is actually bullish on these larger institutions–as a matter of adoption. On one hand, he said, it will bring non-crypto people into the space. On the other, it will bring innovation through competition, adding that “it will help us improve.”
The initial question touched upon whether these institutions pose a threat to Binance’s outsized footprint in the industry.
Zhao said he isn’t worried, and thinks there won’t be much overlap. He pointed to the fact that many listening to the Spaces come from outside the U.S., and most of Binance’s user base won’t be using BlackRock or other large institutions.