Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, said crypto will serve as the native payment system for a future economy built around AI agents, according to a recent interview with Japanese media outlet PIVOT GLOBAL.
Speaking from Abu Dhabi, Zhao discussed his ties to Japan, changes in the country’s tax regime, his legal experience, and how he sees AI and crypto converging over the next decade. He later wrote on X that the conversation focused on AI, blockchain, and why he believes now is the best time in history to build.
The interview was hosted by Sakiko Nojima and the video was released around Oct. 24, Taipei time. The following points were compiled from the English subtitles and center on Zhao’s public comments about the industry and the Japanese market.
From Tokyo Stock Exchange systems to Binance’s core engine
Zhao said his first job after university was in Tokyo, where he worked on order and matching systems for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, or TSE. He said he used C++ for low-level memory management, and that experience later carried over into the core systems behind Binance.
In July 2017, Zhao said his team started the company in Shanghai. About six weeks later, China banned crypto exchanges and ICOs, prompting the roughly 30-person team to move to Meguro in Tokyo. He said Japan had recognized Bitcoin relatively early and opened exchange registration, but only allowed about 10 to 20 major tokens. That did not fit Binance’s model at the time, which focused on listing a large number of altcoins, so the company later left. Zhao said Binance Japan is now licensed and works with companies including SoftBank.
About five months after launch, around Dec. 17, 2017, Binance became the world’s largest exchange by trading volume. Zhao attributed that rise to roughly 17 years of prior exchange-system experience, the ICO boom, and a decision during China’s ban to compensate users with about $6 million from his own funds, equal to about 40% of the company treasury at the time. He said the issue was not the exchange’s fault, but the compensation, customer service, and withdrawal experience helped build user trust.
Japan tax changes, yen stablecoins, and tokenized assets
On Japan’s crypto tax policy, Zhao said the country is moving from a top rate of about 55% under miscellaneous income treatment toward roughly 20%, closer to stock capital gains. He called that a positive change and said it could help bring trading volume back to Japan.
He also said Japanese founders tend to be relatively honest and that rug pulls are less common, adding that legal crypto fundraising should be encouraged.
Zhao grouped the policy agenda into two main areas: exchange regulation and asset tokenization. He said equities, bonds, real estate, rare earths, and infrastructure could all be financed on-chain. On stablecoins, he noted that about 99% of global stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. dollar and urged faster progress on yen-backed stablecoins. He described Japanese policymaking as cautious, but said execution can move quickly once decisions are made.
Why AI agents need native digital money
Zhao said the three biggest technologies of his adult life have been the internet, blockchain, and AI. He expects a future in which each person could have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of AI agents working in the background, handling editing, distribution, marketing, and payments.
Those agents, he said, are not well suited to credit cards or bank accounts. Native digital currency, in his view, is the better fit, meaning cryptocurrency. He estimated transaction speeds could increase by 1,000x to 1,000,000x and open the door to micropayments, such as paying 1 yen to watch a video.
As for timing, Zhao said the shift could happen in about five years or less. The bottleneck, he said, is not technology but human adoption and government legalization.
Giggle Academy and his message to young people
Zhao also spoke about Giggle Academy, the free education platform he is building. He said the world is not completely fair, but people should keep moving forward and shift their focus from creating wealth to creating opportunity. He cited figures showing that about 500 million children worldwide cannot attend school and about 700 million adults are illiterate, with roughly two-thirds of them women.
According to Zhao, the platform had about 100,000 students at the start of this year and now has about 2 million, a roughly 20-fold increase. He said the project costs about $5 million a year, has a team of about 50 people, and includes no in-app purchases. In the future, graduates may voluntarily donate a portion of their income back to the platform, with the goal of making it sustainable and eventually reaching hundreds of millions of users.
For younger people, Zhao said they should start building now and focus on AI and blockchain. He said he does not recommend the lifelong "salary man" path, arguing that entrepreneurship is painful but offers greater returns and broader impact.