Former Binance boss criticizes crypto adoption in Europe

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the former CEO of the KryptoBörse Binance, says that most European countries “do not progress” when introducing cryptocurrencies.

In his speech at the crypto conference token2049 in Dubai on April 30, Zhao said accordingly that the United Arab Emirates were “extremely economic-friendly”, which leads to the introduction of cryptocurrencies in Dubai, while other countries such as Bhutan are even national reserves in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

According to Zhao, the USA put other countries under pressure by fathoming their own plans for a crypto reserve, but the Europeans do not yet seem to react to it.

“I don't see Europe in this discussion,” said Zhao, pointing out an exception. “Montenegro is actually quite per crypto. We had an active dialogue with (the) prime minister there, and he is a very predictive person, a leader. But apart from Montenegro, I saw no other countries, somehow a gap.”

Zhao, who has a place of residence in Dubai, resigned in November 2023 as a comparison with the US authorities who had charged the stock exchange as CEO of Binance. Since his resignation of Binance and serving a four -month prison sentence in the United States, he has increasingly dealt with his Giggle Academy educational platform.

Europe lags behind in crypto reserves

Montenegro's finance minister, meanwhile, announces that the country will make the “Center for Innovation in Blockchain technology”, but other parts of Europe also continue to work on regulatory framework for digital assets and promote innovations. The European Union (EU) began in December 2024 with the implementation of its new regulatory framework called Market in Crypto-Assets (Mica).

However, the efforts of the EU countries to introduce a strategic crypto reserve seem to be behind those in the United States where politicians at the federal and state level are increasingly urging them. In January, on the other hand, representatives of the Czech National Bank referred to Bitcoin's “significant volatility” when they were considering cryptocurrency as a reserve currency.