At last year’s Point Zero Forum, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, was arguably the most influential crypto leader at the event. This year there were different crypto businesses represented at the forum. These included Ripple, Coinbase, Binance, Bybit, Crypto.com, and others. Amongst these Binance was of particular interest as the company’s CEO, Richard Teng, was one of the speakers at this year’s forum.
Teng was appointed as CEO of Binance in November 2023, having joined the leading cryptocurrency firm in August 2021. He has a long history in traditional finance, most of it in Singapore where he worked as a director in corporate finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore for 13 years.
Teng joined Sopnendu Mohanty, Group Chief Executive Officer at the GFTN for a fireside chat in the morning of the second day of the forum where the gentlemen discussed the outlook on digital assets.
The Outlook on Digital Assets with Richard Teng
Binance is arguably the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world today. Coingecko lists Binance as having the largest number of monthly users as well as the largest trading volume of all crypto exchanges on the market today. Teng was happy to confirm this by sharing how the crypto exchange has approximately 272 million customers worldwide today.
The charismatic leader shared with attendees how 2024 was a huge year for Binance. The exchange saw customer numbers shoot up from 170 million to 240 million through the year. Importantly, it wasn’t just retail investors that grew in numbers, they were joined by institutional investors too.
Teng started his talk by explaining how with time regulators have become more involved in the digital assets space. He believes that in the early days of crypto regulators were not interested in crypto due to it being such a small sector. Today things have changed.
“Compliance and regulation are the way to go,” Teng stated. “Having said that, two thirds of global regulators are still not regulating this space.”
“I wish for several things,” Teng continued. “I wish for much clearer regulations. And I wish for harmonization of standards. Even today, many policymakers and regulators around the world are not spending time on this sector. They are not spending time to understand this sector.”
Digital Assets vs Fiat Use in Illicit Transactions
Teng added his thoughts about money laundering to the conversation. He shared with attendees how he had been informed that between 2 and 5 percent of fiat transactions are involved in some illicit crimes. Whereas in the crypto industry, with assets between 800 billion and 2 trillion dollars, illicit transactions constitute just 0.14 percent of overall on-chain activity. This figure is confirmed by Chainalysis.
Teng shared how the percentage of illicit transactions is constantly coming down. This is partially due to surveillance tools improving. Crypto is a traceable technology. Binance itself works closely with law enforcement across nearly 80 different jurisdictions.
The Trump Effect on Crypto
When it comes to the boom in crypto adoption this year, Teng was very pragmatic. He asked delegates to raise their hands if they had been involved in crypto during the last four years. A handful of people raised their hands. He then asked how many of these people were below the age of 35.
On the topic of Trump’s second administration, Teng was positive about the change of policy towards crypto. He believes that we can expect much greater clarity in terms of regulation as well as much more proactive regulations coming from the U.S. Although Binance wasn’t on the list of companies involved in the March 7th White House Digital Asset Summit, Teng has visited Washington in 2025. He shared his observations with attendees.
Having spoken with policymakers in the U.S. capital, Teng shared how “it’s very clear that they’re going to be very thoughtful, they’re going to be very deliberate, they’re going to be very pro industry. Together with AI, these (digital assets and AI) are the two fundamental technologies that will drive all the economic subsectors going forward. They are very bullish. They really want to support the industry. It’s a big change.”
Retail Investors are Young Investors
Teng was very complimentary about how President Trump worked out that crypto is an industry for the future, and how he wants to embrace this industry. Teng went on to explain why he had asked whether there were any people younger than 35 at the event. He shared how there was lots of data around the world that showed that the first investment for young adults today wasn’t in traditional commodities, securities, or equities. It was in crypto.
70% of the investment portfolio amongst young adults today consists of crypto. Teng explained how anyone can see this change. Anything that the latest generation embraces will be the future. He also believes that Trump sees this. This is one of the reasons for his pro crypto stance.
Institutional Adoption
Once the U.S. introduces clear regulations, Teng believes that many other jurisdictions around the world will be forced to react. If they don’t, the U.S. will be in a winning position. He pointed to the GENIUS Act as one of the policies that could provide impetus to clearer regulation. He also shared how he has had many conversations with institutions who are very positive towards crypto.
“We are going to see many more exciting, different, new utilities coming true,” Teng concluded. He is a strong believer that crypto will be embraced by institutions in the not-too-distant future. What we have seen with BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, and others is just the start.
Do you think that Richard Teng is “on the money?” He believes that by the end of the third quarter this year the picture should become clearer. If he is correct, then hodlers across the world could be in for another exciting crypto bull market. If not, then the adoption of stablecoins as a utility might be the only reason that bitcoin and others don’t hit new highs again this year.
Author: Andy Samu
#PZF2025 #Binance #Crypto #Trump #Adoption #AML #RetailInvestor
See Also:
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Crypto Disruptors Meet at Point Zero Forum 2025 | Disruption Banking
