Returning to Hong Kong, Zhao Changpeng’s on-site interaction record: Recently traveled a lot, enjoys experiencing aerial surfing, mainly focusing on RWA, compliance, and biotechnology

Organized & Edited by: ChainCatcher HK Observation Team

Today, BNB Chain held its fifth anniversary event in Hong Kong, and CZ is back! Regarding the development of Web3 in Hong Kong, his overall feeling is that Hong Kong is currently supportive of innovation and is doing well in attracting new industries to enter this space. In the future, once the mainland supports digital currencies and the Web3 industry, a large number of talents may be attracted back because the market is larger. Now, with Hong Kong as a pilot, it is a good time for development. The following is a compilation of his series of viewpoints from the on-site interaction session, hoping to inspire you.

Q: A few months ago, you were often surfing on Twitter and paying attention to BSC memes, but recently your surfing frequency has decreased. What interesting new content are you focusing on now? You also changed your profile picture to one of aerial surfing.

CZ: When I was playing with memes on BSC before, I got caught multiple times, and later realized that publicly learning wasn’t very good. I studied Trust Wallet for a long time and Pancake for a long time, but when it came to actual application, I found that the user experience is still different from CEX. Meme coins are quite fun, but I’m not sure how long they can last. I think RWA has a lot of potential now, but there are many challenges when assets go on-chain. Financial assets are often defined as securities, which come with a set of compliance requirements. If defined as commodities, there are also compliance requirements for commodities. Beyond these two categories, other assets going on-chain will encounter issues like liquidity and redemption. Our team has encountered many problems that need to be solved when collaborating with institutions like BlackRock, which is quite interesting. Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time focusing on AI and biotechnology, and I might invest in related projects.

Additionally, I’ve been traveling more than before. I was confined in the U.S. for a while, which was a bit boring. Now that I’m out, I travel more. One benefit is that many high-level officials from various countries are willing to consult me on how to regulate Web3 and how to manage national digital currency funds. For these questions, I’m very willing to help, so I spend a lot of time traveling. When I travel, I update Twitter less, and generally post more during exhibitions. My X is mostly operated by myself; when I have free time, I post more, and when I’m busy, I post less, which is quite random. Also, after being confined for a long time, I found that there are many joys in life that I haven’t experienced, so after getting out, I’ve become more playful and tried surfing and skiing.

Q: Hello, Big Cousin! I want to ask you about changing your Twitter profile picture to aerial surfing. Have you calculated how much seawater you drank to successfully leap? How did it feel when you leaped?

CZ: Sports are really fun! I’ve drunk a lot of seawater; I almost drank the sea dry, haha! I enjoy being in nature. Skiing is a bit more dangerous for me. I’ve been skiing for over thirty years, but going fast comes with risks, and my back isn’t great, so I’m afraid of falling. Water sports are safer when you fall, so aerial surfing is very interesting; I recommend you try it.

Q: I noticed that you mentioned in your speech in Japan that there is a gap in RWA token price tracking data. We at Rootdata have been a crypto data platform for three years and are now focusing on RWA data. In your view, what opportunities for integration exist for RWA asset data infrastructure for products like ours?

CZ: Traditional financial products (like currencies and stocks) have well-established pricing and historical data, but data for assets like real estate and art is often unreliable or very subjective. Once RWA matures, on-chain trading volume and liquidity will shift pricing power to the chain (for example, stablecoins achieving high trading volume through AMM). Currently, transactions are mostly bulk trades, which are very opaque. Therefore, data transparency (like historical prices and trend comparisons) can promote trading, forming a positive cycle of “data improvement → increased trading → enhanced liquidity.” Currently, there is a lack of RWA data, and building a good data platform will create traffic opportunities. I have also suggested that platforms like CMC pay attention to this area.

People often ask a question: how much is this thing worth? However, many things have opaque prices. Once everything is on-chain, prices will be transparent. So I believe there are many opportunities in building related data platforms.

Q: In your opinion, why don’t publicly listed companies create native stock tokens themselves and instead choose third parties (like Robinhood)? What is the ultimate product form of stock tokens? For example, X stocks, Robinhood, or stable stock, which would be more ideal?

CZ: The core issue is compliance. Publicly listed companies are regulated by the securities regulatory authority, and directly issuing stock tokens may be defined as securities, requiring compliance with regulatory requirements (like KYC and accredited investor systems). On-chain wallets do not require audits, which creates regulatory conflicts. Intermediaries are involved to avoid direct association risks, but this leads to tokens not being able to distribute dividends, harming user interests. The ideal situation is for regulators to allow publicly listed companies to issue tokens, making them globally tradable (for example, if the U.S. promotes the commercialization of securities, it means that in the future, everyone around the world can buy U.S. stocks; if Hong Kong doesn’t adjust, it will suffer, and if Japan doesn’t do it, it will also suffer). Technically, issuing tokens is very simple; the difficulty lies in adjusting regulatory rules. Currently, the prices of tokens are decoupled from actual stocks, and the price difference cannot be arbitraged, indicating that the products are not fully linked. However, the core issue now is compliance rather than technology.

Q: We are working in the DeSci field, which is more led by leaders, and the attention from crypto investors is very insufficient. However, we hope to convey knowledge and bring new data types to blockchain. We currently need the support of Web3. What do you think about this?

CZ: The difficulty in combining DeFi and Science lies in the contradiction of time cycles. Scientific research is measured in years, while Web3 users pursue short-term gains (like “speculating on meme coins”). However, theoretically, excellent researchers need small amounts of funding (like $100,000 to $200,000) for support. For example, if research is successful (like in cancer drugs), the returns can be substantial. If future profits can be shared with token holders, the logic holds. I understand that there are already projects attempting to reduce research costs by processing biological data through AI. Once there are breakthrough results, the field will explode, but what is currently lacking is a “flagship case.”