CZ Foresees an Era of AI Agents in the Crypto Industry

Each individual will have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of AI agents conducting payments.

Each individual will have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of AI agents conducting payments in cryptocurrencies. This view was expressed by Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on the All-In podcast.

“They will pay for hotels, book restaurants, and conduct transactions millions of times more than people,” he noted.

The entrepreneur did not specify a particular crypto project that could provide the necessary functionality due to potential impacts on token prices.

Digital assistants will not find banks suitable due to AML/KYC and the lack of infrastructure with the required throughput.

Agents will also be able to trade cryptocurrencies and other assets on behalf of users.

Regarding the digital assets industry as a whole, Zhao noted that he was once a Bitcoin maximalist, but that is now in the past. He believes digital gold lacks fungibility and privacy.

“I think privacy plays a fundamental role in our society. But right now, Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies do not provide it sufficiently. BTC was conceived as pseudo-anonymous — every transaction on the blockchain can be traced, especially now with centralized exchanges and KYC,” CZ remarked.

Zhao cited an example where privacy is important. If a person books a hotel and everyone knows their address, it poses a security risk.

From China to Canada

Zhao spoke about his move from China to Canada. CZ’s father went there to study in 1984 — five years before the Tiananmen Square protests. He visited the family about twice a year but spent most of his time in the northern neighbor of the USA.

CZ and his mother received visas a few years later. After arriving in Vancouver, he started working at McDonald’s at the age of 14. The future entrepreneur worked during the school year and summer to pay for his education. Part of the money came from his family.

The former Binance CEO graduated with a debt of $32,000, which his boss Mike Fisher helped him pay off.

“Canada is amazing in that you can get an education without being crushed by debt that is impossible to manage. In the USA, this is often not the case,” he noted.

Zhao does not consider himself a computer prodigy. He was interested in programming and described himself as a “normal developer.” At the age of 28-30, CZ moved away from coding and focused on business development and sales.

After his studies, Zhao went for an internship in Tokyo. He wrote software for an order execution system — essentially the same thing that underpins Binance today.

In November 2001, CZ moved to New York to work at Bloomberg. He worked there for four years. In early 2005, he resigned and flew to Shanghai to launch a new IT startup with friends. He worked there until 2013.

Bitcoin — the Second Internet

In 2012, Zhao switched to Bitcoin. In 2013, he was advised to invest 10% of his capital in it. It took CZ six months to study the workings of the first cryptocurrency. By the end of the year, he told himself:

“I’m convinced. I’m ready.”

In December, he flew to a conference in Las Vegas. Vitalik Buterin, Charlie Lee, and many other well-known figures were there. Shortly before, Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road had been arrested.

CZ told his partners that Bitcoin was the most important thing in his life, one of two fundamental technologies alongside the internet. He sold an apartment in Shanghai for about $900,000 and invested in cryptocurrency.

Simultaneously, Zhao left his old job and sought a new one in the Bitcoin industry. He was offered a position at BTCC, but eventually, the entrepreneur met Roger Ver and became the third person on the Blockchain.info team.

After working there for six to seven months, Zhao moved to OKCoin. He also worked there briefly, leaving in early 2015 and, with a couple of former colleagues, created an exchange engine in Tokyo. However, due to a lack of Japanese language skills, instead of launching their own platform, the team focused on providing services to others — they sold the trading system under license.

The Emergence of Binance

In March 2017, the Chinese government shut down most of CZ’s client companies. By the end of May, the team decided to create a clone of Poloniex (then the largest exchange). Zhao wanted to create his own platform since the engine was already ready. Thus, Binance was born.

Soon, the developers conducted an ICO, selling BNB tokens. About 20,000 people participated, 80-90% from China.

In September, Chinese authorities issued a ban on crypto exchanges, ICOs, and mining, prompting the team to relocate to Tokyo.

During the initial sale, BNB could be purchased for $0.1, then it fell to $0.06, but soon began to rise rapidly.

Binance grew, and after a couple of years, the team decided to open a separate legal entity in the USA — Binance US. Meanwhile, FTX was gaining momentum, and CZ invested in the platform, at one point holding about a 20% stake.

At a valuation of $32 billion, Binance exited its FTX shareholder position.

CZ then spoke about a legal case in the USA. He admitted guilt and served four months in prison.

Life After Binance

After being released from prison, Zhao is involved in advising governments on creating crypto-regulatory policies. He also invests in blockchain, AI, biotech, helps various teams, and develops an educational project Giggle Academy.

Zhao stated that he does not want to issue a token for the academy, as it would be taken over by speculators. Although this step has positive aspects: a digital asset could encourage learning and motivate teachers to prepare new material.

Regarding his departure from Binance, CZ stated that he is happy because he no longer has to manage the exchange. He now has more time for himself and his family.

In January 2026, Zhao identified tokenization, payments, and AI as key areas in the crypto industry.