Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, expressed his commitment to making a positive impact on the world during his fireside chat at the Fintech Forward 2023 conference in Bahrain. CZ stated that his and Binance's goal is to have as much of a positive impact on the world as possible. He emphasized that being the biggest or richest is not the priority, but rather making a difference in people's lives.
"My motivation is just to know that I - and we - are doing the most we can to make a positive impact on other people’s lives. Luckily for me, and for Binance, we’re in a position to make a very positive impact for hundreds of millions of people today, and, hopefully, billions of people soon, and that’s meaningful enough already. We don’t have to be the biggest in the world, we don’t have to be the richest in the world, we don’t have to be the most handsome, we don’t have to be any of that. We just do what we can, and we should be fortunate to know that we’re in the position to be lucky enough to be able to contribute to the world, and I’m already very thankful for that," CZ said.
Binance has been actively involved in various charitable, educational, and cybersecurity initiatives worldwide. In October, Binance Charity, the exchange's philanthropic arm, airdropped $100 USD in BNB tokens to registered Binance users affected by Hurricane Otis. The initiative aimed to provide financial aid to those who lose access to traditional banking during natural disasters.
Earlier in October, Binance Academy, the exchange’s Web3 learning hub, announced that through a partnership with the nonprofit research lab Blockchain Center, more than one million students around the world will receive education in blockchain compliance and engineering by 2026, according to a blog post. The initiative includes a 20-week blockchain engineering program and a 13-week compliance program and will be available to students in more than 200 universities spanning more than 50 countries. Binance Co-founder Yi He described blockchain education as "a key pillar for driving transformation" in the rapidly evolving ecosystem of digital finance.
Binance has also collaborated with government agencies to combat illicit activities. In June, the exchange partnered with Israel's Ministry of Defense to freeze $1.7 million from digital asset accounts associated with the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Additionally, Binance investigators worked with Israeli law enforcement to freeze funds tied to Hamas and Hezbollah following Hamas's recent attack on Israel.
Earlier this year, Binance assisted the FBI in seizing more $100 million in crypto from scammers. The company said in a post on X that the case demonstrates “how the transparency of blockchain enables law enforcement to disrupt organized crime that can operate under the cloak of darkness in traditional finance."