India A Natural Frontrunner in Web3 Startups: Binance CEO ⋆ ZyCrypto

• Binance remains committed to the future of web3 and metaverse.
• They’ll bring more financial freedom, transparency, and unique experiences.
• New licenses in Dubai, Bahrain show Binance’s commitment to compliance.

India will be a natural frontrunner in web3.0 startups and Binance is looking to work with them, said its founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao.

“India is a huge market, as well as a leader in technology, and therefore will be a natural frontrunner for web 3.0 startups. We are looking forward to working with outstanding startups in India,” CZ told Inc42.

Binance is the holding company for India-focused crypto exchange WazirX. It is also one of the early investors in Matic, now Polygon. In March 2020, Binance and WazirX announced a $50 million Blockchain for India fund to support Indian startups.

Taking cognizance of the opportunities in web3, metaverse, gaming, defi, and NFT, Zhao tries to reposition the company and be future-ready. “We are no longer just an exchange – we are now the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider,” he says.

CZ was in Brazil last month to sign an MoU to acquire Brazilian securities brokerage Sim;paul Investimentos. In early January, a Bloomberg report had ranked the Binance CEO as the 11th richest person with $96 billion in net worth.

Although the exact dimensions of web3 developments are not clear yet, Binance believes that blockchain technology will be fundamental to how the internet and digital lives shape up in the future. There, it finds a reason to remain committed to web3 and the metaverse.

“Web3 and the metaverse will create more financial freedom, transparency, secure information delivery, and other unique experiences,” CZ said in the interview.

Sharing his opinion on how far decentralization will be in force in web3, he says it will be more decentralized than web2 for two reasons. One, the tokenomics of web3 is more fluid and accessible than the equity of web2 companies. Two, web3 will be both user-powered and user-owned, unlike web2 where users can create content but can’t own it.

“As to exactly how decentralized web3 will be, there are multiple forces at play here. If the current financial system becomes less restrictive, more freedom driven, low cost, and less inflation, then there is less incentive for users to move to decentralization,” CZ explains.

Regulatory Compliance 

Talking about operational transparency and frequent run-ins with regulators, the Binance CEO said that the recent licenses it got from Dubai and Bahrain authorities are testimony to its commitment to regulatory compliance.

“We recently got crypto exchange licenses in Dubai and Bahrain, demonstrating our commitment to regulatory compliance. We understand the importance of regulation and we look forward to growing the industry in a responsible way,” he said, adding that its international compliance team and advisory board have grown five-fold last year alone.