User demand-driven expansion
Since 2017, the platform has significantly
expanded its product lines and offers something for everyone. From Trust Wallet
to CoinMarketCap, Binance NFT to Binance Earn, they cater to virtually any
interest across the broad spectrum of what blockchain and crypto have to offer.
The past year also saw the introduction of Auto-Invest, Binance Live, Learn and
Earn, and many newer services. To mark such an iconic anniversary
1. What have been some of
the most important achievements of Binance over the past five years?
Over the past 5 years, Binance’s growth has been tremendous. Becoming
the world's largest crypto exchange shortly after our launch and sustaining it
hasn’t been the smoothest ride but our commitment to users as well as
maintaining high standards has been integral. Binance has become the world’s
leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider and has
become the leader in one of the world's fastest-moving industries. Since 2017,
the team has grown over 200 times, and now there are Binancians from all over
the globe.
The growth and impact of our education initiatives
have also been a major achievement. Binance Academy, Learn and Earn, and
Binance Masterclass are integral to educating our users and helping them make
more responsible, informed decisions.
Over the past year, we have made great strides in
engaging with governments and regulatory bodies across the globe. Within the
past year alone, we've received regulatory approvals and registrations in
Spain, France, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Italy, and Bahrain & generally take a
collaborative approach in working with all regulators across the world.
2. What informed the decision to diversify your
offerings and from your perspective, how has it impacted Binance’s operations
amidst the bearish stance on the market?
With a mission to increase the freedom of money
globally, Binance continuously iterates and builds infrastructure and products
that enhance the industry. When we launched Binance, we decided that it would
be our unwavering commitment to users that would differentiate us in the
market. As a result of that commitment, we constantly ensure our users have
access to new technologies, ideas, and use cases.
Our diverse offerings is one of the reasons our
users across the world continue to use and love us. As such, even during
bearish markets, Binance remains strong and continues to diversify its
portfolio - prioritizing users, ensuring safety and investing in the ecosystem.
3. Recent developments in
the crypto market space have left some investors burned and others at the edge
of their seats. How are you navigating this period?
For us at Binance, our first focus is always to
protect users and so, we’re focused on education, ensuring the highest
standards of security and collaborations across the industry. The industry is
still relatively nascent and I believe it will continue to grow stronger.
Additionally, we will always inform our users that with any investment or
asset, proper research needs to be done to understand the risks and benefits.
Although some cryptocurrencies can be highly volatile, cryptocurrencies and
their underlying blockchain technology can be utilised in almost every area of
life and as such, many will continue to have utility.
4. What has been the
impact of Binance’s education drive so far? Kindly share numbers, if available.
Binance Academy, Learn and Earn and Binance
Masterclass is a testament to Binance’s commitment to equipping crypto
beginners with resources for lifelong financial and career development.
In Africa for example, we have hosted multiple
events to educate people in the region about the opportunities within the
crypto space and how to make a living from them. Our education initiatives have
been instrumental in deepening cryptocurrency adoption in Africa. Since the
launch of the Binance Masterclass programmes, Binance has educated over 600,000
Africans on the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, how to identify scams and
safeguard their crypto journey.
BNB Chain flourishing into an independent network
Another valuable achievement has been the
development and the growth of BNB Chain. In the past year, BNB Chain has
recorded over 2.4 billion transactions and hosted over 1200 projects. It is the
most active layer-1 network, with a thriving life and ecosystem of its own.
5. Kindly elaborate, in simple
terms, on what the BNB Chain is?
BNB Chain is a community-driven, open-sourced and
decentralized ecosystem. The support of its community of users, developers,
validators and delegators is vital to its health. BNB (Build N Build), is the
native token that “fuels” transactions on BNB Chain. BNB also empowers users in
the decentralized on-chain governance of BNB Chain.
BNB Chain’s mission is to build the infrastructure
powering the world’s parallel virtual ecosystem, and BNB Chain’s commitment to
the community is that it is open, multi-chain, for creators and inventors,
permissionless, forever decentralized, and bigger than Binance. Holding BNB
gives you the right to make your voice heard and is necessary to participate in
BNB Chain’s decentralized on-chain governance.
6. What has been the performance
of BNB Chain so far this year, with specific evaluation in Ghana?
BNB Chain was born in time for the DeFi
revolution, as the public showed increased interest in alternative financial
solutions and use cases powered by blockchain. Today, BNB has its own living,
breathing ecosystem with over 183 million unique chain addresses. It has
continued to grow due to the growing utility, affordable fees, supportive community
and lots more.
Fostering a regulation-focused mindset
Over the past year, there have been unprecedented
levels of engagement in the industry with governments and regulatory bodies
across the globe. This happens against the backdrop of a shifting policy
environment and marks a substantial step forward toward creating greater
regulatory certainty for the industry. It also highlights a broader acceptance
of the fact that cryptocurrencies are here to stay, and that the industry is
gaining steam toward mainstream adoption.
7. In Ghana,
financial sector regulators have remained publicly opposed to crypto. Has there
been any form of engagement at the back end?
Many regulators across the world are now beginning
to learn about crypto, understand its impact and look towards regulating in
order to protect users while encouraging innovations. At Binance, we welcome
this and take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take
our compliance obligations very seriously. While I cannot mention what
regulators we are currently in communication with, we are fully committed to a
safe and secure experience for crypto users across all regions.
8. Some high-profile incidents within the
crypto space have not helped engender confidence in the hearts of skeptics. How
do you seek to address this?
Let’s look at the internet, something which is more commonplace and trusted
today - there was a time where the majority of the world wasn’t using the
internet and there was minimal adoption as well as skeptics. Now, imagining a
world without the internet is unfathomable. I believe that this will also be
the case for cryptocurrencies as these digital currencies are transforming the
way people interact, trade and have autonomy of their assets.
People can only be confident in what they know and understand. As mentioned
earlier, education is necessary to encourage a better understanding of crypto
and help newbies/skeptics learn, understand and engage in the
space.Additionally, we take active steps in ensuring that all bad actors are
eliminated from the system as much as possible and also teach users how to
avoid scams through the wider ecosystem.
9. What major regulatory hurdles would you say persist and if
there was a way to address them, what would be Binance’s approach?
At present, many countries actually have differing perspectives on the future
of crypto. Crypto and even the regulation of crypto are still relatively new
concepts and so some hurdles include lack of clarity and limited understanding.
Now, as regulators have shown an interest in the space, we believe regulatory
collaboration with key stakeholders in the blockchain ecosystem is essential.
Around the world, we are collaborating with regulators and industry players,
hosting blockchain workshops for law enforcement personnel generally committed
to supporting the development of regulatory frameworks as it will help give
confidence to new users and new people wishing to innovate in this area.
Incubating and investing in the most promising blockchain and crypto projects
Since 2018, Binance Labs has already invested in and incubated over 200
projects worldwide. And recently, Binance Labs closed a $500M investment fund
to boost blockchain, Web3, and value-building technologies. The fund would
allow Binance Labs to continue its successful run and invest in more promising
projects.
10. The figure mentioned in relation to promise projects is quite
impressive. Doyou mind sharing what some of these projects are and how it will
enhance the ecosystem?
To us, the overarching goal is driving blockchain adoption and so, the
different components of the Binance ecosystem champion this mission. Binance
Labs’ portfolio projects are enhancing the ecosystem in several ways and we
think every way matters. We are committed to supporting fast-executing,
technical teams who are shaping the future of Web3.
11. What is the success rate of projects from the Binance Lab?
Just like VCs across the world, Binance Labs sees both success and failure.
However, we currently have 2100% of the return rate and pride ourselves on
investing in solid projects with a long-term mission.
12. How much has been invested so far for Africa-based projects and
Ghana specifically?
Binance Labs invests in global blockchain projects across various regions,
sometimes with undisclosed amounts so I don’t have the figures currently for
how much has been invested so far for Africa-based projects.
Moving Beyond 5 Years: Future Plans
The current market environment is an opportunity to build a base for the next
industry growth phase. Web3 has a massive potential to transform lives. In the
next five years, it will be paramount that Web3 begins to tackle tangible
problems that Web2 users continue to face.
13. What developments should we expect from the wider blockchain
and cryptocurrency ecosystem over the course of the next five years, and what
is in the pipeline for Binance, in particular?
Across the wider ecosystem, I think we can expect continued conversations on
regulation as well as more institutional adoption. We’ll also continue to see
wider applications of blockchain being explored beyond exchanges. For Binance,
we’ll generally remain focused on driving the mainstream adoption of crypto
through investments in the ecosystem, infrastructure building and education. We
will not just be focused on the growth of binance.com, we will also be focused
on driving people to build on the blockchain.
Source:
Peacefmonline.com/Ghana