From decrypt by Vismaya V
Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, has made it clear—he’s never bought a meme coin or an NFT.
On Sunday, CZ expressed his commitment to “fundamentals” in crypto, distancing himself from the hype-driven meme coin culture that continues to dominate parts of the industry.
“I haven’t bought a single meme coin so far,” he tweeted Sunday, adding his holdings are limited to Bitcoin (BTC) and BNB (BNB).
“I am not into sports cars; I don’t collect art; I haven’t bought any NFTs; I also haven’t bought most altcoins,” CZ wrote. “But I am not against any of the above.”
While CZ has stepped away from Binance’s day-to-day operations, his words still influence the industry.
“CZ's latest remarks highlight the debate on speculation versus utility,” Vedang Vatsa, Founder of Hashtag Web3, told Decrypt. “As speculation grows, traders and builders may need to adapt to market dynamics wisely.”
Despite his disinterest in buying meme coins, CZ made it clear that he is not against them either.
“Not ‘into’ something doesn’t mean I am against it,” he said, claiming he has gone to great lengths to support many altcoins in the crypto industry.
CZ also offered insights into why meme coins have become so popular, suggesting that regulatory scrutiny against utility tokens may have played a role.
The former Binance CEO noted that over the past four years, a “powerful regulatory agency” had “sued anyone with any utility token, falsely claiming they are securities.” This, he argued, drove projects to launch meme coins instead of utility tokens.
While CZ didn’t name the regulatory agency in question, the crypto market faced intense scrutiny under the Biden administration from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under former chair Gary Gensler, who repeatedly classified crypto assets as securities.
CZ has personal experience of being under the SEC’s microscope; in 2023 the agency sued him and Binance for securities violations, prior to his ouster from the exchange as part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Last November, lawyers for Binance and CZ filed a motion to dismiss an amended complaint submitted by the SEC in the civil suit.