On Thursday (July 28), Binance Co-Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (better known as “CZ”) shared his thoughts on the crypto market.
CZ — who has, according to Forbes, an estimated net worth (as of 30 July 2022) of around $17.4 billion made his comments during an interview with Carl Quintanilla , co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street“.
When Quintanilla asked why $20K seems to be the support level for Bitcoin, CZ said:
“Nobody knows for sure, but the last peak in 2017 was about $20K, and it’s been below that for like a couple of years and been them above that. So, I think that’s probably one of the reasons why there’s a slight psychological barrier there.“
Quintanilla then asked what the catalyst is for Bitcoin’s next major move, and CZ replied:
“I don’t think anyone can forecast very accurately, like nobody really forecasted NFTs, DeFi, etc, which probably drove the last bull run. before that, in 2017, it was mainly ICOs. Six months before those things happen, very few people can forecast it.
“So, for the next one… there’s so many more applications in the space, not sure which one, but I think all of those things are moving in the positive direction. The regulatory landscape is checking up to be quite well — most countries are adopted regulatory frameworks; they’re not banning… cryptocurrencies. The macroeconomic situation… drive adoption into… crypto.“
Someone then asked CZ if the U.S. is in a recession, why would the crypto market be able to avoid getting punished, and he replied:
“To be honest, logically, cryptocurrency should move counter to the stock market. In theory, they should be negatively correlated, but today, the cryptocurrency market is so small that whenever the stock market crashes… people want to hold cash, and today most people who are trading cryptocurrencies also trade stocks. So, right now it’s positively correlated, which is illogical, but it’s just the way it is right now.“
As for the crypto industry’s take on the regulatory climate in the U.S., this is what CZ had to say:
“So, right now in the U.S., it’s really interesting. We have multiple regulators fighting for jurisdiction over the industry, which is good in a way, which also causes some other problems in different ways. It’s a bit unclear, but in most other countries, this problem doesn’t exist. [In] most other countries, the regulatory agency is quite clear, sometimes [it’s] the central bank.
“Sometimes, [it is] the securities market regulator. Sometimes it’s a brand new regulator. So, most regulators are trying to clarify regulatory framework in their countries, which is very positive… The U.S. is a little bit unique in that is a large country with multiple regulatory agencies, and now it is unclear who controls this space.“
