Coindesk interview video full transcript with @cz_binance (50 minutes)
Jenn: Take me back to the moment you first realized that money mattered.
CZ: I realized it when I was very young. I grew up in a struggling family. My father lived on a student stipend and my mother earned minimum wage. We never went hungry and we had a roof over our heads, but many things were unaffordable.
The first quantitative understanding of money came when I was 14 and worked at McDonald’s. The hourly wage was CAD 4.5, below the minimum wage. At that time you learn how much time you need to exchange for a certain amount of money and what that money can buy. Every raise later made that feeling even clearer.
My father has always been frugal, and that habit passed to me. I think money is important, but you don’t need a lot of it to take care of yourself. After a certain threshold, money becomes just an amplifier for business. Beyond that, its importance diminishes.
Money is both a trading tool and a measure of value. It is crucial for the global economy to function, yet today the technology is still poor. This is something I have come to understand gradually throughout my career.
Jenn: My parents also emigrated to Canada and were very thrifty. They taught me to save and prepare for the future. To get where you are today, you have to break that survival‑mode mindset to some extent.
CZ: I come from an Asian family where my father always taught me to save. I have almost never been in debt in my life; the mortgage for my house is probably the biggest loan I have taken. I have never borrowed money to start a business. My sister gave me some money, friends and relatives have helped, but I have never taken high‑interest debt.
Every company I’m involved with has cash‑flow positivity at its core, allowing the business to be self‑sustaining. I never adopted a massive‑debt mindset. In the U.S. and most capital markets, debt is a powerful tool that can leverage rapid expansion, but I have never taken that path. This stems from my Asian cultural background.
My business philosophy is very capitalist: you need a sustainable business that provides value. Money is the incentive for people to deliver maximum value and also the engine of societal progress and innovation. So I blend both sides: my commercial practice leans U.S.‑style, but I avoid debt.
Jenn: I know your father spent five years alone in Canada before the family reunited.
CZ: He was indeed affected by the Cultural Revolution. He was supposed to go to university, but the schools were shut down. Later he immigrated to Canada on a student visa and eventually brought the whole family over.
Our experiences share similarities, but my situation is much better. I stand on his shoulders. He made huge sacrifices; I am a second‑generation immigrant. Watching your parents hustle passes on those values. I grew up in the West, worked in New York, Tokyo, and Singapore, and feel like an international citizen. He moved from one country to another and worked hard for his children.
My English isn’t great, but I moved to Canada at age 12 and grew up there. He only learned English in his thirties, which was even harder. We share common ground but also differ. I feel more like a global citizen.
Jenn: Your book is titled “Freedom of Money.” Finance has always been built on the foundation of financial freedom. Do you think people today have financial freedom?
CZ: Those are two different concepts. I define financial freedom as having enough money to do whatever you want without sacrificing your lifestyle. A modest lifestyle reaches that quickly; a lavish one takes longer.
Monetary freedom is entirely different. It asks: regardless of how much you have, can you freely spend it, transfer it, receive it, or invest it in whatever you want, and are those investment opportunities open to you?
In the U.S., most people have access to the stock market—roughly 60‑80 % of Americans invest in equities, and much of their wealth comes from stocks. In Asia and Africa those numbers don’t hold. People lack access to the same financial tools, get trapped in low‑pay jobs, and have little hope of improvement.
Providing these people with the ability to connect to the financial system is far more important. All you need is a smartphone and internet to reach an entire suite of financial tools that were previously unavailable. Having free, direct control over your money is more critical than financial freedom itself.
Jenn: You said you want to spend more time in the U.S., but it sounds like there are many gaps outside the U.S. that need filling. Why choose the U.S.?
CZ: There are several angles. First, from a global perspective, the U.S. is an incredibly influential decision‑maker. Whatever policy the U.S. adopts, the world tends to follow. The previous administration was anti‑crypto; the current one is pro‑crypto and aims to become a crypto capital—a very positive signal. That positive ripple has already spread globally: the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act, Hong Kong passed a stablecoin law, and other countries are catching up.
Second, even in the U.S. money isn’t completely free. High taxes and many policies make moving money from the U.S. to China difficult, and vice versa. The cost for U.S. consumers to engage with crypto is still high. Even here about 40 % of people don’t have a bank account. In the world’s most developed economies, a large population still lacks access to decent financial systems.
Getting access is only the starting point. How do we make the system cheaper, faster, more user‑friendly, and safer? AI is arriving now—AI can help us search for flight tickets, but it can’t yet place the order. AI can’t trade yet, but that’s coming soon. The financial system must open to AI agents.
Third, my personal and BNB ecosystem have deliberately avoided the U.S. for years, leading to many misconceptions. I think we need to invest time and capital in the U.S. We’ve invested heavily in startups and founders within the ecosystem.
I want to help the U.S. become a crypto capital and bring more crypto services to U.S. consumers. Binance is the world’s largest exchange, yet U.S. consumers don’t get the best liquidity. That’s an exception in crypto: in traditional markets—stocks, futures, even Amazon—U.S. consumers usually enjoy the best prices. Crypto lacks that, which hurts U.S. consumers and could be easily solved.
Jenn: You mentioned before dealing with the U.S. Department of Justice, that some U.S. exchanges may have lobbied regulators against you. Do you still feel that pressure?
CZ: Let me correct something— the DOJ has never sued me. I did plead guilty, which is a different matter.
Back then, there were indeed U.S. crypto platforms spreading negative rumors about us. I can’t verify every claim 100 %, but the feedback I received strongly suggests it was true. Even today I still hear many U.S. crypto firms are afraid of Binance entering the U.S.
Binance.US continues to operate in the U.S.; it never entered a DOJ guilty‑plea agreement. It once had a lawsuit with the SEC. At that time Gary Gensler’s SEC called BNB a security. After the new administration took office, that case was permanently dismissed, meaning the same lawsuit can’t be filed again.
U.S. consumers are paying too much for crypto. I heard the people behind the push were SBF and FTX. They’re gone now. Some other U.S. exchanges occasionally make minor moves. I respect competition, but using policy and regulatory pressure to unfairly suppress a rival harms consumers.
Jenn: The previous administration chased you relentlessly; the current one pardoned you. After all that, has your trust in the country or its government been shaken?
CZ: Yes. I lost a lot of trust. At the time I wanted to get as far away from the U.S. as possible. About a year and a half ago you asked me if I would come here for an interview—I said no. I didn’t want to be remembered or seen; I wanted to stay as far away as possible.
But that made me realize the U.S. Constitution is actually a brilliant white paper. It creates a framework that lets the country self‑adjust and self‑repair. If it goes off course or becomes extreme, there are built‑in correction mechanisms. That’s important.
So I’m grateful to the current U.S. administration. Even though I’ve been hurt, I now see that the nation can correct itself. That also explains why the U.S. is the global economic and military leader and why its policies influence the world.
I hold no grudges.
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