Binance CEO issues ‘existential’ warning after wild bitcoin, Ethereum and cryptocurrency swings

by Arthur · February 13, 2023

BitcoinBTC, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have surged higher in the past month as the Biden administration unveils a cryptocurrency “roadmap.”

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Bitcoin price has climbed above $24,000 per bitcoin this week, up 40% since the beginning of the year to a level not seen since last summer (earning it a surprise spot on Goldman Sachs’ 2023 list of best assets).

Now, after the Federal Reserve delivered a “surprising” blow to bitcoin and crypto, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has warned the Wall Street giants could “fall behind” on technology adoption due to the failure of crypto companies over the past year.

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warned that price fluctuations in bitcoin, ethereum and crypto could mean Wall Street giants falling “behind the adoption curve”.

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“The consequence of the few failed crypto projects last year? In the short term, they hindered the growth of the crypto industry. But we are already seeing recovery,” CZ posted to Twitter.

The Bitcoin price has now recovered the losses it suffered in the immediate aftermath of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange’s shock implosion in early November, when it was trading at around $21,000. However, the price of bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies remain well below the level they were trading at ahead of the Terra stablecoin ecosystem that led to the collapse of crypto lender Celsius and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

The collapse of these crypto companies and projects “hampered traditional financial players from adopting the technology and is likely to put them further behind the adoption curve, which could have existential implications for them 10-20 years from now,” CZ said.

During 2021, amid the broad bitcoin, ethereum and cryptocurrency rally that saw the market reach a combined $3 trillion, many Wall Street giants announced plans to offer crypto services only to dial back plans as the crypto market plummeted through 2022 .

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low, but remains well below the levels it reached in 2021 and early 2022.

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However, some of the world’s largest traditional financial services companies are working on major cryptocurrency and cryptotechnology projects.

In December, the CEO of BlackRockBLKBLK, the world’s largest asset manager with about $8 trillion in assets under management that signed a major deal with Coinbase earlier this year, predicted that crypto’s blockchain technology will usher in “the next generation of markets.”

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I am a journalist with significant experience in technology, finance, economics and business around the world. As founding editor of Verdict.co.uk, I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its rise from a niche technology to the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for, among others, CityAM, the Financial Times and the New Statesman. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me at billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold a small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.