Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has in five years taken his initial interest in cryptocurrencies and turned his passion into one of the most successful cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
The young CEO has even graced the cover of Forbes magazine’s crypto rich list and was highlighted as being among the wealthiest entrepreneurs operating across the cryptocurrency industry.
In a new interview with CryptoGlobe, CZ shares details on his humble beginnings, and most importantly, sheds some light as to where he sees Binance and the cryptocurrency market as a whole going in the future.
Binance CEO: The Bull Market Will Return “Any Minute”
Zhao, who admits he can “kind of influence” the price of cryptocurrencies being an outspoken exchange operator, doesn’t believe we’re in a bear market at all and calls attention to Bitcoin’s seemingly unbreakable support at $6,000. CZ also points out that Bitcoin only reached $20,000 for a “week or so” and suggests that looking at the “long term” is the best strategy.
While CZ explained that he doesn’t like to “analyze markets because anything I say will be like super scrutinized,” he went on to comment that he thinks “that any minute the bull market will return,” suggesting that October to December are “good months.”
The cryptocurrency market historically has seen growth in prices during Q4 each year. In 2017, Bitcoin prices went parabolic reaching nearly $20,000 before falling to a 2018 low of $5,800.
CZ himself says he takes a more reactive approach, and “always” buys and holds.
From Humble Beginnings to $1 Billion in Profit
Zhao got his start in cryptocurrencies after learning about the emerging asset class from BTCC co-founder Bobby Lee and Sky9 Capital founder Ron Cao. After reading the Bitcoin whitepaper and attending some crypto conferences, he decided to quit his job and pursue a career in crypto full time.
Since then, CZ has built the number one cryptocurrency exchange by “adjusted” trading volume according to data from CoinMarketCap. CZ expects Binance, which has only recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, to generate as much as $1 billion in profits in 2018.
Binance’s Five-Year Plan
Having accomplished so much in so little time, CZ is focused on the future of Binance and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. In addition to building out a decentralized version of its cryptocurrency exchange, the Binance team believes there is room for growth in the wallet space, which was part of the motivation to partner with Trust Wallet.
CZ expects the industry to be “so much bigger” in five years, and says through his crypto business he wants to “push education and charity,” among other social responsibilities.
CZ was also asked about his bold prediction of the crypto market cap growing “1,000x” in USD value in the future. The prediction was made via Twitter in disagreement with comments made by Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin suggesting the market had peaked.
CZ stands by his comment, and believes the market could grow “much more” than that in the coming years as crypto reaches mass adoption.
Featured image from Shutterstock.