- Centralized exchanges serve as a necessary on-ramp to crypto for consumers not familiar with the space, CZ said
- As people become more familiar with blockchain technology, they will transition to DeFi
Despite founding the largest centralized exchange in the world, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) thinks decentralized finance is likely to become more prevalent in the future.
This evolution, he told Messari co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis Wednesday at the Mainnet conference in New York, would likely take “a number of years.”
The majority of people in today’s society are not familiar with cryptocurrencies, CZ said. For this reason, it is likely that their first interactions with blockchain technology will be through centralized exchanges, such as Binance.
Once people become knowledgeable about crypto, they may then transition into DeFi technology, he said.
Despite being a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has been actively pushing the adoption of its native BNB Chain, an Ethereum virtual machine-compatible chain, and BinanceDEX.
The platform recently revealed that it would be transitioning user balances in USDC, USDP and TUSD to its own Binance USD (BUSD) token on Sept. 29 at 11:00 pm ET. The move, CZ said, will improve trading liquidity for its users.
The exchange will continue to allow withdrawals in USDC, USDP or TUSD at a 1:1 ratio from the BUSD balances following the conversion.
CZ emphasized that the crypto industry is still in its early stages — and the market is not “saturated.”
To achieve mass adoption, he believes that regulatory changes are necessary and businesses building in the space must adapt to these changes to move the industry forward.
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