Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO and founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, participated virtually in the Token2049 conference last week. CZ said during the conference that while smaller nations can be more progressive in terms of their openness to cryptocurrency because it can be easier for them to adopt new regulations, he highlighted France as an example of a larger country that has been open to crypto.
CZ participated in a virtual fireside chat moderated by Balaji Srinivasan, author of "The Network State," according to a Binance blog post.
Srinivasan asked CZ for his view on "the most technologically progressive jurisdictions," both in terms of cryptocurrency as well as other new technologies, according to a video of the conference shared on YouTube.
"I think some of the smaller nations are more progressive," CZ said, noting that it can be easier for those countries to adopt new regulations and frameworks. "But some of the bigger ones, like France, is quite open, too."
During another fireside chat last week, CZ also praised Europe’s proposed Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework, which would enable crypto companies to obtain a single license to operate across 27 jurisdictions within the European Union, CryptoSlate reported. He called the framework “fantastic” and suggested that it could serve as a model for other regulators across the globe. CZ highlighted the role that France's Ministry of Technology played in drafting MiCA and said that Paris is “probably the financial hub of crypto in Europe and a larger part of the world.”
European Parliament lawmakers recently held a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, where they voted in favor of the eighth iteration of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC8), CryptoNews reported. DAC8 introduces tax reporting requirements for crypto transactions in an effort to increase transparency, reduce the risks of tax fraud and ensure that authorities have the tools needed to assess crypto transactions.
In the U.S., more than a dozen crypto companies have faced enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged registration violations, including Binance, Coinbase, Linus Financial, Impact Theory, Celsius, Coinme, Bittrex, Beaxy, Kraken, Nexo Capital, Genesis and Gemini, according to the SEC website.
Lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, have criticized the SEC's "regulation by enforcement" approach to the crypto industry, warning that failure to implement comprehensive regulations for the industry will result in innovation moving offshore.
"The SEC has failed to provide a path for digital asset exchanges to register, and even worse has failed to provide adequate legal guidance on what differentiates a security from a commodity,” Lummis said in a post on X after the SEC's lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase in June. "The SEC's continued reliance on regulation by enforcement continues to harm consumers. Real consumer protection requires creating a robust legal framework that exchanges can comply with, not pushing the industry offshore or into the shadows.”