Binance, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange, just wrapped up Binance Blockchain Week in Singapore on January 22. A lot was announced and talked about including Binance’s newly launched OTC trading desk, the upcoming Binance Chain, Binance DEX (decentralized exchange), and more.
However, what’s really interesting is what Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in an interview with prominent YouTuber, Boxmining.
In the interview, CZ said that large Ethereum-based ERC20 tokens are planning to leave the Ethereum network and switch over to Binance Chain.
Binance Chain Is Faster and Cheaper Than Ethereum
Binance Chain is set to launch early 2019 along with Binance DEX, a decentralized exchange. Not much is known about what new tokens will be launching on these platforms, but CZ recently noted that there will be some Ethereum-based ERC20 tokens switching from the Ethereum network when Binance Chain launches.
According to CZ, Binance Chain will be much faster and cheaper for tokens that are strictly currencies and do not utilize any of the smart contract features that Ethereum offers. Binance chain purportedly offers faster transaction times and cheaper fees than Ethereum due to its simplicity.
As put by Zhao himself:
“If you’re only using ERC20 as a token, there’s no real reason for you to stay on Ethereum. Whereas on Binance Chain, you get one-second transaction confirmations. One confirmation is final. So it’s a much faster chain and the transaction fees are cheaper. So there’s a lot of advantages for them to move to Binance Chain, which uses a native DEX.”
Explaining which tokens wouldn’t work on Binance Chain, Zhao said if a token uses a smart contract feature other than the issuance of tokens, then it will not be supported on Binance Chain just yet. However, Zhao insinuated that Binance Chain may be upgraded in the future to support more tokens.
Binance to Launch More Fiat-to-Crypto Exchanges
Apart from speaking about Binance Chain and Binance DEX, CZ talked about the exchange’s plans to launch more fiat-to-crypto exchanges as well. He mentioned that a big goal of theirs is to launch more fiat onramps in 2019, the lack of which has been a big limiting factor for the growth of the crypto industry.
“We do want to build five to ten fiat onramps around different parts of the world, hopefully spreading out from different continents… We want to help the industry grow and the crypto market.”
In addition to the comments about fiat onramps above, CZ highlighted the overwhelming success of their new exchange in Jersey, which pairs the British Pound and Euro with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
“So far, the Jersey market is just overwhelmed with demand. So, that shows there’s plenty of demand there. So the way I view it, most of the money is still in fiat… So it’s much larger than the crypto market cap, and we need to get the fiat in.”
Binance to List Security Tokens (STOs)?
The last topic Boxmining and Zhao talked about is whether or not Binance will get involved with security token offerings (STOs).
For those who don’t know, security tokens are poised to be the next big thing to lead the cryptocurrency markets into the next bull run. Essentially, an STO is a new method of crowdfunding, whereas the tokens being sold represent stakes in a company and its assets.
When Boxmining asked whether Binance will be participating in this market in the future, CZ informed him that they probably will not. He further stated that Binance will take a cautious, laidback approach due to regulatory concerns surrounding STOs.
“We are still not 100% sure what we can do, or what we can’t do with [security tokens], and that’s not our strength. So we’re waiting to see how other people do it, and once other people figure out what they can do and not do, then we can potentially copy them shamelessly.”
When Binance Chain launches, will they surprise the crypto industry with how many projects migrate and start up on Binance Chain? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
