Bear market or not, Binance has been one of the crypto industry’s biggest shakers and movers in 2018. The exchange has undergone massive expansion both geographically and internally with a raft of new products and services. Chief Executive, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has rounded up the year and posted a few thoughts for the coming one.
Binance Buidling into 2019
It is remarkable to think that Binance is only 18 months old. In that short time it has become the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume. The charismatic leader of Binance has aired his thoughts on the year gone and one to come on the company blog.
With price being the first thing addressed CZ outlined a number of factors for the massive bear market of 2018. Firstly the huge over-swing at the end of 2017 was bound to correct itself sooner or later, secondly a lot of ICO projects expected to deliver in 2018 failed to. Add to that a number of high profile exchange hacks, regulatory uncertainty, and infighting between rival crypto clans and you’ve got negative pressure on prices.
“In the midst of the chaos, Binance stayed close to our core values. We worked hard to increase the freedom of money globally, while not sacrificing security and ease of use. We fought hard to protect our users and our community. We focused on two of the best ways we know: BUIDL and adoption,” the blog added.
With that ‘Buidl’concept, Binance has opened new exchanges in Africa and the channel islands in addition to obtaining a security token license and increasing fiat to crypto on ramps. Its native decentralized exchange, Binance Chain, has also been developed and expanded during 2018.
The Binance Labs investment fund was launched alongside Binance Incubator and Binance Research, aiming to aid blockchain and crypto startups to expand the industry and increase adoption. On the philanthropic side Binance Charity was launched to use blockchain for social good. Binance Academy was also launched to provide educational articles in multiple languages.
Security and safe keeping of digital assets has also been a priority this year. The secure asset fund, or SAFU, insures users against accidental losses in addition to offering a $10 million bounty for a successful hack attempt. Binance helped almost 4,000 users retrieve over 3.2 million tokens in 2018.
The outlook is definitely a positive one;
“There are more opportunities now than when the price was near the ATH (all-time-high). Project valuations are more reasonable, stronger teams have emerged from the ashes, and governments around the world are studying crypto and racing to see who adopts it first.”
More of the same has been slated for 2019 by CZ who envisions greater expansion and adoption of crypto. Binance is definitely going from strength to strength regardless of the crypto winter.
Image from Shutterstock