Compiled by: Frank , Zen, PANews
On the evening of April 6, CZ unexpectedly appeared at the BNB Chain Super Meetup Hong Kong Station and had a candid fireside conversation with community representative Big Brother Tuao. Faced with the current industry status quo of MEME coin craze, belief differentiation and market volatility, CZ bluntly said that rushing to Tugou should not be the only thing in the currency circle.
If you cant hold, you wont be rich - this classic motto of Binance founder CZ has influenced countless investors, but in the new cycle, the HODL strategy seems to be facing challenges. In this in-depth dialogue with the Hong Kong community, CZ publicly analyzed the development bottleneck of BNB Chain, the community controversy of MEME coin, and his expectations for the healthy ecology of the industry for the first time. He emphasized that making fast money and slow money needs to be balanced, and drew a survival rule for investors where risks and opportunities coexist.
Tuhao Senior Brother: I have known CZ online for many years, but this is the first time I met him online. I am called Tuhao Senior Brother. I came to Australia in 2016 to join the industry. But I think the best thing I did in the cryptocurrency circle was to join Binance Exchange when it just started. Then, I bought a coin at the ICO, and I still have it now. So I am honored to have this opportunity to interview CZ on behalf of the community today.
I have collected a lot of questions from the community, some of which I havent had time to organize... and because time is short, I will try to choose some slightly stimulating questions.
Tuao Senior Brother: First of all, I think many people feel that this cycle is very different. Whether it is the VC coin slowly starting to decline, or the MEME coin starting to rise, or Trump in the United States also starting to support cryptocurrencies, so the whole cycle seems to have a certain degree of faith collapse. So CZ, what do you think of the current market situation?
CZ: Let me ask first, how many people play MEME for the sake of coin? (Many people raised their hands). Sorry, you may get angry about what I am going to say next. I think coin-buying is allowed, but it should not be the only thing in the cryptocurrency circle. This round of coin-buying is too strong, which is not a very healthy thing for the entire industry.
There should be people in the industry who are looking for the code of wealth, who are keen on tokens with relatively large increases, and who should also have long-term builders. But now all attention is focused on MEME coin, but these MEEM players are actually very disappointed, because it is not every day that you can find a token that increases tenfold or a hundredfold. No one pays attention to what the long-term builders do, and they don’t find it fun. They don’t know which coin to list on the exchange. So the whole community is not particularly healthy. I think there is still a need for some solutions to break the deadlock.
Senior Brother Tuao: Have you found a way to break the impasse now?
CZ: I think this is a process. It is not something that can be done overnight. For us, in the long run, we still need to support construction. Long-term construction will be more effective. There must be real users, real income, and profits, and users can also benefit, so that the price of the currency can be maintained in the long run... I think there should be people who want to make quick money and people who want to make slow money. But now people who make slow money may not get enough support. So we are also investing in the MVB we held this afternoon, and I personally communicate with the builders.
Brother Tuao: I think I am also a HODL person. In fact, many people... are truly priceless or hoarding coins. In the early days, I did listen to a lot of your sharing and was deeply touched. Because you said at that time, If you cant hold, you wont be rich, and my friends and I also regarded it as a motto. In the past few cycles, we did get a lot of benefits. But in this cycle, we also found that we were punished. Do you think we should continue to HODL now?
CZ: I think if you want to have this point of view, you still have to look at the technical side or the fundamentals. You cant just hoard all the tens of millions of tokens on the market. Most tokens may eventually return to zero... Some really have fundamentals and practical applications, and you can hold them for a long time.
Senior Brother Tuao: So you think that besides Bitcoin, there are some other projects that may be worth trying and can outperform Bitcoin?
CZ: I think there are still many projects that have outperformed Bitcoin so far. Although people are not very happy holding Ethereum now, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin from the beginning to now. BNB has also outperformed Bitcoin and Ethereum from the beginning to now (here CZ refers to the period since the creation of these two tokens that has outperformed Bitcoin in the same period, not the issue price of Bitcoin). But Bitcoin is now a reserve asset. In the long run, holding Bitcoin will still increase in value. However, there are still dozens or even hundreds of coins that may outperform Bitcoin.
Senior Brother Tuao: This is more than I thought. I thought there might be only a few?
CZ: Bitcoin’s market value is very high, so it is still difficult to increase by 100 times. Therefore, some coins with better fundamentals will have the opportunity to outperform Bitcoin for a period of time. However, if you want to seize these opportunities, you still need to be able to discover and persist.
Tuao Senior Brother: What are your expectations for BNB? Recently, some articles have estimated that BNB should be above $3,000.
CZ: The person who wrote this article should be Hash global. They are a long-term supporter. When BNB was 6 dollars, they said it would reach 40 dollars, then 140 dollars, and then 1,000 dollars. Their research on BNB may be deeper than ours. I think the specific value is determined by the market. Our efforts are still to expand the use scenarios of BNB, whether it is on centralized exchanges or DEXs. The more use scenarios, the higher the value of BNB. Whether it is on Binance Chain or other chains, we are working hard to do this. Our main goal is to get more users to use BNB. We have made a lot of efforts in application scenarios offline and online in various countries.
We are now also investing in DeFi, NFT, and GameFi, hoping to have more projects on BNB Chain… Some countries have also come to us and said they want to use BNB as the digital currency recognized by their country, etc.
I think this model is feasible, and these are slowly being promoted. We dont have any secrets, we just simply do things well and increase the use cases.
Big Brother Tuao: How high do you think BNB will go?
CZ: As for how high the number will go, I can’t say, and it’s not something I can control. I can only say that we will continue to build the ecosystem so that more people are willing to hold BNB.
Big Brother Tuao: Speaking of BNB Holders, there is a saying recently - BNB big holders are like nursing homes, with too good benefits. Especially after each new coin is launched, big holders get a lot of benefits, then dump the market, and finally retail investors take over... Is this not good?
CZ: I think the more BNB Holders there are, the better. The more people who use BNB for retirement, the better, because BNB is limited. The more people hold BNB, the better, and the whole ecosystem will be more prosperous. Of course, some people say that Hodlers are not doing anything, but I think holding BNB is a kind of doing something. In fact, it is precisely because of these Holders that BNB is also very resistant to decline, so we should thank those who hold BNB for retirement.
Brother Tuao: Then let me ask a question about BNB Chain. In the past, I saw that BNB Chain did a lot of things and tried to create an artificial bull market. Has the current height of BNB Chain reached your expectations?
CZ: I think it is still a level lower, to be honest. I think BNB Chain has not done enough in the entire ecosystem. When I was the CEO of Binance, I spent more time on it. As for the BNB chain, we don’t want it to develop according to the plan, but let the community develop it. In the past one or two years, I personally spent more time on things related to the United States and paid less attention to BNB Chain. This also led to the fact that although meme coins have been popular for more than a year, BNB Chain has basically not participated.
BNB Chain has recovered slightly in the short term, but the degree is far from enough. I think no matter what the next hot spot is, this kind of thing (negligence) will not happen again, and the entire BNB Chain community will definitely seize it. There are still many things to do. I think AI, DeSci and other fields should develop very well in the future.
To be honest, BNB Chain had limited resources when it started, and the attention it received in the beginning was not as high as Ethereum. Over the past year or so, I have been busy dealing with some compliance or other matters in the United States. However, BNB Chain is currently developing well, but it has not fully tapped its potential. We will further invest in infrastructure, Dapp, and DeFi. This ecosystem cannot be achieved overnight and requires continuous efforts. We also hope that more developers are willing to come to BNB Chain, and I believe there will be more opportunities in the future. When I met with 16 projects from MVB today, all kinds of ideas were possible.
Tuao Senior Brother: You have done a lot in meme some time ago and are also learning. Let’s talk about Meme Coin again, such as the recent PVP. Many people think it is a short-term craze, while others think it is a trend in the community. What do you think?
CZ: I can tell you that I failed to learn memes, which caused a lot of problems for the community. Because I didnt know enough, people asked me to post dog photos, and I thought that posting dog photos would attract some traffic and create some hot topics, which would be more fun. But later I found a few mistakes, and the community also told me that once I posted a few photos at a fixed time, everyone knew that hundreds or thousands of meme coins would be posted at the same time, causing serious PVP.
After the PVP incident, the community wanted me to choose one (memecoin), but it was difficult. I think it should not be me who should choose, but the community. I think Memecoin has its community popularity, but it also comes and goes quickly. Sustainability depends on how the community develops in the future. In principle, we (Binance) will support things that are popular in the community, but we will also see whether it is legal and compliant and whether it has value.
I am not sure whether memecoin will be as popular as before. Many people say that there are many meme coins with a market value of $1 billion on Solana, but there is no meme coin on BNB Chain. But at this stage, can Solana have another $1 billion market value? I dont know, and I think it is difficult. So we still have to support the community. If the community is enthusiastic, we will support it. If the community turns to other things, we will also turn to other things.
My starting point is to keep working hard to be a good builder and truly be a long-term builder. I will also interact with the community and interesting projects. As for how far memecoin will go in the future, I really cant see clearly. I personally dont speculate on coins. I dont buy memecoin, and I havent bought NFTs. I am very supportive of this industry. I want to build its infrastructure, and I am very optimistic about this foundation, but I will not be the one who buys, sells, and speculates.
Tuao Senior Brother: I see you often go to Twitter to read peoples suggestions or comments. Will you adopt their suggestions?
CZ: I have more time now, so I spend more time on Twitter. Of course, it depends on the specific situation. For example, I have to attend a meeting today, so I have less time to interact (on Twitter). It is normal for everyone to have positive and negative comments. I personally don’t mind too much, but I will see if it is constructive. If it is insults or false information, we may clarify it appropriately. I hope to hear the actual thoughts of the community. Whether it is praise or criticism, it will help improve. We will adopt them. Some of the suggestions we see are quite (constructive). I read Twitter a lot, but less WeChat groups.
Australian Senior Brother: Do you feel uncomfortable when you see negative comments on Twitter?
CZ: Actually, no, I am quite thick-skinned. When I see criticism, I think I should not be too upset, but should calmly understand and learn why others criticize me in this way, and comprehend the essence of others criticism. So we dont need to take ourselves too seriously, whether others scold you or praise you, dont pay special attention.
Tuao Senior Brother: The last few questions: If you are a novice, is it a good time to enter the circle now? How to avoid risks?
CZ: I think it is never too late to enter the circle, but it depends on how you enter. The most important thing is to have a basic understanding of the project, and dont fantasize about getting rich overnight. People who have just entered the circle should try to look at the fundamentals. Things that increase tenfold or a hundredfold overnight will also lose money very quickly. People who have just entered the cryptocurrency circle should not put too much money in. Investing a small amount of money at the beginning will make the results more acceptable. You can consider investing in batches, DCA (fixed investment), and choose some mainstream currencies, and dont go all in. In addition, you should keep a calm mind. Once you enter the circle, you must accept its fluctuations and not be affected by short-term ups and downs. The industry is still in its early stages and it takes time to build. If you are optimistic about the long-term value, you can hold it. In the long run, there is no problem with the future development of the industry, but this kind of fluctuation will be very strong in the short term, so everyone must pay attention to the risks.
Big Brother Tuao: What book are you reading now?
CZ: I read a book by Nvidia, The Nvidia Way. I think this book is well written and you can see how others start a business.
Big Brother Tuao: OK, our time is almost up today. Do you have anything else to say to the community?
CZ: Actually, I just want to tell everyone that we must pay attention to fundamentals and long-term construction. Short-term speculation is allowed, but you have to assess the risks yourself. The cryptocurrency industry is a highly volatile industry, especially DeFi and Meme, which are not very stable. I hope everyone can participate in a healthier and more rational way. We will continue to invest in the industry and provide more support and services to the community.
Tuao Senior Brother: Okay, thank you CZ. That’s about it for today. Thank you very much for accepting the interview.
