- During the Decrypt podcast, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance explained that the platform is not interested in offering traditional stock trading to its users.
- Last year Binance began offering tokenized shares and they were a great success, however, due to regulatory pressures, this service ceased just a few months after leaving.
- CZ noted that although stock trading has proven to be lucrative, Binance prefers to focus on building more Web3 tools.
without a doubt Binance It has been one of the crypto exchanges that has experienced significant expansion and growth, placing itself as the leading exchange in the market.
Binance also owes much of its growth to being one of the cryptocurrency platforms with the widest variety of services for its users. However, the diversification of Binance services has a limit and they are those marked by Web 3.
For those who do not know what Web3 is, it is a new vision of the Internet. essentially heWeb3 uses blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to put power back in the hands of users. Some of its fundamental characteristics are: decentralized, without permissions and without trusted third parties.
Although Web3 is still at a relatively early stage, the industry has developed greatly in recent years. In fact, To a large extent, the growth of Binance is explained by the evolution of the Web3 sector. However, there is always the possibility of growing beyond that sector.
Binance and stock tokens
In April 2021 the exchange announced the launch of their stock tokens or tradable “share tokens” which were exempt from commissions.
Each “stock token” represented one share of shares, which were backed by shares stored in an underlying securities depository portfolio, in cooperation with investment firm CM-Equity AG and asset tokenization platform Digital Assets AG.
This product was widely accepted, trading shares of companies such as Tesla or Apple, however in July of the same year, Due to the regulatory pressures that the exchange had to face in various countries, Binance had to remove Stock Tokens.
Will Binance Return to Offering Traditional Stocks?
Traditional stocks could be categorized into what would be Web2 and while this is not necessarily good or bad, they certainly belong to another sector.
It is because of that, during the podcast From Decrypt, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance and better known as CZ, explained that the platform is not interested in offering its users to trade shares.
Basically CZ explained that while offering shares on crypto exchanges is not right or wrong, this service does not align with Binance’s philosophy; And what is Binance’s philosophy? Well, according to a Press release published in 2020, its main goal is to “increase money freedom for people around the world.”
“We see cryptocurrencies as a fundamental means of increasing the freedom of money. As such, we work hard to promote the adoption of crypto. All of our products and services contribute to that goal, and being user-centric is our key factor.”, explains CZ.
Purity on the Web3
As Web3 has been developing, Web2 companies have begun to offer products or services based on blockchain and cryptocurrencies and with this, the question arises as to whether they now belong to Web2 or Web3, and even Contrary cases have been seen in which Web3 companies begin to offer services or products categorized within Web2. Confused, right?
It is probably for this reason that CZ explained to Decrypt that, Although stock trading has proven to be lucrative, Binance prefers to focus on building more Web3 tools.
“We are a pure Web3 company”CZ said. “We’re not going backwards, we’re going forwards.”
Therefore, although they are considering acquiring some companies, none would be focused on the exchange of traditional shares.
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