CZ Binance Takes to Reddit For an AMA

CEO of Binance and avid social media user, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), participated in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), where he answered questions on various topics, including investment advice, which even he says not to follow him on.

“Investment-wise, I am not a good example. I don’t diversify,” Zhao said. “I recommend most people to diversify. But for me, I am all in Binance.” He added that he's “all in crypto, BNB, and BTC. I use my Binance Card everywhere I go.”

The Chinese-born 44-year-old started Binance back in 2017, after working at the Tokyo Stock Exchange building trading systems and Bloomberg Tradebook developing futures trading systems. He is currently the 19th richest man in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of $17.4 billion, he also holds a 30% stake in his company.

During the entertaining AMA, CZ answered a myriad of questions on a wide range of topics like how Binance handles users' money, the future of the Binance Chain, and even Binance's decision to trade LUNA even though it was crumbling.

On the topic of the company's decision to continue trading Luna, even after the halting of the blockchain by its validators, Zhao explained, “We suspended trading briefly when the validators paused the blockchain, even that caused a lot of complaints,” he wrote. “But I believe our action forced the validators to resume the network within a couple of hours.”

Zhao also highlighted the ubiquitous lack of bias in markets. “Lastly, no one is forcing anyone to buy just because trading is on. There are high-risk tolerance buyers willing to take over from sellers,” he said replied in the AMA. “The marketplace is neutral.”

Answering a question about the centralized way the Binance Chain works, Zhao countered that the low validator count helps makes transactions on the network faster. He went on to mention how he wasn't involved in such decisions but would bring it up with the chain's core developers.

“My limited tech understanding is there is a trade-off between a number of nodes vs performance at this time of our blockchain evolution,” Zhao said.

Pertaining to how the exchange handles user funds, CZ claimed that those are never crossed with the company's operational funds. So in the event of a bankruptcy or similar, he promised: “funds would be refunded to users first, before any shareholders.”

After the treacherous saga of Luna these past two weeks, one could easily see was the CEO of the largest crypto exchange (by volume) wanted to answer his community’s questions and be more transparent about the company's operations.

More CEOs should adopt this action though I doubt they'd be as transparent as Mr. Zhao.