On May 13, the Binance Online conference took place, featuring Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), co-CEOs Yi He and Richard Teng, BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Solana Foundation President Lily Liu.

The speakers discussed the scaling of the crypto industry, the convergence of digital and traditional finance, the role of stablecoins in providing financial access, and the tokenization of capital markets.

From 300 Million to 3 Billion Users

The conference opened with Yi He and Richard Teng. The Binance co-founder outlined the strategy to transform the exchange into a "financial superapp" and explained the company's ambition to scale from 300 million to 3 billion users.

"300 million users is just the beginning. When we first talked about the goal of reaching a billion, everyone thought it was crazy. But look — we already have 300 million. A billion is a clear target, and we will achieve it. The next milestone is 3 billion users. Then Binance will become not just an exchange, but a financial infrastructure for the entire world," Yi He stated.

Richard Teng addressed the issue of regulatory fragmentation. He noted that cryptocurrencies are classified differently in various countries — as commodities, securities, or virtual assets. Unlike the banking sector, where regulatory frameworks are harmonized across jurisdictions, the crypto industry has a long way to go for standardization.

"Cryptocurrency regulation is still in its formative stages. […] As a global player, we constantly adapt our local operations to different rules and standards. We are counting on much greater consistency in regulations — this is essential for mass adoption," Teng remarked.

Stablecoins, RWA, and AI Infrastructure

In a discussion with venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya and Professional Capital Management founder Anthony Pompliano, CZ described stablecoins as a tool for financial access for those unable to engage with the dollar and stock markets.

"You might think of a stablecoin as just a stablecoin. But for people in different parts of the world, it represents financial access. Those living in the U.S. take the dollar for granted. But for many, it is out of reach. The same goes for the stock market — stocks have provided good returns for decades, but most people have no access to them. With RWA and tokenized stocks, we can open these opportunities to many more people," Zhao said.

The Binance founder also highlighted AI infrastructure — data centers and energy — as a priority for investment. He expressed a preference for investing in the "picks and shovels" of artificial intelligence rather than the models themselves and anticipates the emergence of custom chips for AI computations that could challenge Nvidia's monopoly.

Anthony Pompliano supported the idea of the convergence of cryptocurrencies and traditional finance.

"There used to be internet companies, internet assets, and internet entrepreneurs. Now, they are just companies, assets, and entrepreneurs. The same is happening in crypto. I always use BlackRock as an example — are they now a crypto company? Their most profitable product is a bitcoin product. No, they are just a financial company," Pompliano noted.

CZ agreed, stating that in the future, there will be no distinction between Web3 and traditional finance — blockchain will become a technology used by every financial company.

Tokenization of Capital Markets

The closing session featured BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein and Binance Finance VP Kaiser Ng. Goldstein praised Binance's role in advancing tokenization:

"Binance plays a crucial role in delivering the value proposition of 'better, faster, cheaper.' Technologies need to be implemented correctly and explained to people. And Binance will play a very important role in this," he stated.

He added that BlackRock aims to make capital market exposures available in tokenized form, providing traditional finance clients access to digital assets.

"If you ask BlackRock's leadership whether the volume of capital in digital wallets will grow, everyone will raise their hand. Therefore, it is essential to make capital market exposures available in tokenized form. And if you ask whether traditional finance clients want to include digital assets in their portfolios, everyone will also raise their hand. We are inspired by both sides of this bridge," Goldstein said.

Other Sessions

During the conference, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu highlighted the development of machine payments — one of the early concepts in the crypto industry that is becoming a reality. She noted that machines "are inherently digital" and do not use credit cards — cryptocurrencies are becoming a natural tool for machine-to-machine transactions.

The Binance Online program also included an update on the BNB Chain roadmap, a session by YZi Labs head Ella Zhang on the convergence of blockchain and AI, and a discussion between Blockstream CEO Adam Back and The Block journalist Gareth Jenkinson about the roots of bitcoin and the cypherpunk movement.

The recording of the broadcast is available on Binance Square.

As a reminder, in April, Binance reported on the first 90 days of its TradFi derivatives. The daily trading volume for gold peaked at $7.6 billion, while silver reached $6.4 billion. The initial turnover for metals was $1.5 million — over the quarter, this figure increased by 5000 times.