Binance CEO says crypto industry needs clarity of regulations

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks at a Binance fifth anniversary event in Paris, France, July 8, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Wilson/File photo

NUSA DUA, Indonesia – Dominant cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s chief executive Changpeng Zhao called for new but stable and clear regulations for the industry, in light of recent developments and participants “cutting corners”.

“We’re in a new industry, we’ve seen in the past week, things go crazy in the industry,” Zhao told a gathering of G20 leaders at the summit in Bali. “We do need some regulations, we do need to do this properly, we do need to do this in a stable way.”

His comments come as crypto industry peers and partners outline steps to deal with the collapse of rival exchange Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Friday after a week of seeing customers pull assets and Binance abandoned a rescue offer.

“I think the industry collectively has a role to protect consumers, to protect everybody. So it’s not just regulators. Regulators have a role but it’s not 100 percent their responsibility,” Zhao said.

On the weekend, he had tweeted that Binance had stopped accepting deposits of FTX’s FTT token on its platform, and urged other exchanges to do the same.