On the day he stepped down as CEO of Binance, Lao Zhao actually cried. He wrote the resignation announcement at 4 AM in Seattle, writing and crying at the same time. After that, he went skiing and kite surfing, feeling that life suddenly became easier. Now he believes that handing over the reins to He Yi and Richard is the right choice. He Yi is extremely diligent, has strong strategies, and maintains close community connections, while Richard has a strong regulatory background. CZ says he will not return to daily management; life must move forward.
Payment issues: Lao Zhao still believes that payment is the biggest unsolved problem in encryption. The Bitcoin white paper is an 'electronic cash system', and after so many years, it is still not fully resolved. The volatility is high, there are issues with eggs, and offline adoption is difficult. Binance Pay and Card were great before, but they got stuck due to regulation during Biden's administration. Now the situation is improving, and there is hope for a restart. In short, payment remains a challenging problem.
Who Can Win in the Next Bull Market: Product-oriented + User-centered + Long-termism. The industry is highly volatile, with regulatory swings; only those who can survive the cycles are the true kings.
Life Wishes: Old Zhao says he doesn't have any big wishes; the fun of life lies in the unknown. The only hope is for everyone to be healthy (including himself). He doesn't seek immortality; life is precious because time is limited. After hearing this, the poster feels that Old Zhao has a really good mindset, having endured even prison.
DAT Model (Digital Asset Vault): Logic is valid, especially for traditional companies indirectly holding coins. But the risk depends on the team. MicroStrategy simply buying BTC is impressive; BNB using Launchpad and other tools has an annualized return of 10-50%. However, complex investments turn into funds, which carry higher risks. During overheated periods, many people rush in, and a batch will be eliminated.
U.S. Market: After Trump's pardon, Old Zhao is extremely grateful and hopes to help America become a crypto hub. Previously forced to withdraw, now reopening, Binance US's market share dropped from 35% to almost 0, and now opportunities have come. Institutions are interested in the BNB ecosystem.
Mainstream Adoption: Requires clear regulation + bank cooperation + infrastructure. Developing countries have greater opportunities; many places have low bank account access but high mobile penetration, and crypto directly improves lives. Old Zhao has received many heartfelt thank-you letters.
Giggle Academy: A free education platform that has served 88,000 children, adding several thousand each week. 300 classes, thousands of storybooks, multilingual AI. The team consists of 60 full-time staff and contributors. Recently, meme coins donated 11,000,000 dollars, all for the platform. It's not a business; it's pure charity, and Old Zhao loves this project.
Future Charity: Focus on education, also looking at soil remediation, prison education, etc. Hope donations will be transparently recorded on-chain.
The Future of Web3: When 1 billion people use it, the term 'crypto' will disappear, just like TCP/IP at the base layer. Users only care about payments and don't care about gas or addresses.
Other aspects include mental health (filtering noise, seeking constructive feedback), daily habits (learning new things every day + working hard + maintaining health), etc.
The full text is super long, the poster highlighted the key points. What do you guys think? Is Old Zhao more laid-back after stepping down? Is the Giggle Academy project impressive? Is America really going to turn into a crypto paradise? Are you willing to play the DAT model?
Welcome to flood the discussion, rational boasting!
