Speaking at Virtual Blockchain Week (VBW), Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao (CZ) argued that stablecoins and charity initiatives can drive meaningful cryptocurrency adoption.

CZ also discussed Binance Academy’s work with Chinese government institutions on blockchain projects and revealed that he hopes Binance can influence the shape of the country’s regulatory strategy

Crypto charity programs drive adoption

During his ‘fireside chat’ with VBW’s hosts, CZ asserted that crypto-based charity programs are driving meaningful cryptocurrency adoption worldwide.

“If I'm going to give you some donation in crypto, you are more likely to go and get a wallet or register an account on an exchange to accept it,” he stated. “That type of adoption is a positive first-contact for a lot of people. So it does increase adoption.”

“We also see that it also helps the Binance reputation [...] We have been much better received in a lot of [...] countries due to the charity initiative. So there [is] some selfishness to it.”

On April 30, Binance Charity announced that it had committed $666,666 towards distributing vital medical supplies to hospitals and health workers in Puerto Rico and neighboring Caribbean islands.

Stablecoins drive adoption for merchants

Speaking with Cointelegraph afterwards, CZ said he believes that stablecoins will help to drive adoption among merchants and retailers.

“Before [stablecoins] it was like two extremes — you either stay in USD or Fiat, [or] you’re either BTC or Ethereum or BNB, and the price fluctuates against fiat,” he said, adding that crypto can be “really troublesome for a shop owner because their expenses are in fiat”.

CZ describes stablecoins as an “intermediate step,” asserting fiat-denominated tokens solve the problem for individuals and merchants who want to be in crypto but still need their expenses to be covered using fiat.

Binance looks to partner with Chinese government on DLT

When asked about Binance’s plans for its recently launched Blockchain Research Institute in Shanghai, CZ stated that the institute will focus on exploring applications for distributed ledger technologies (DLT) alongside China’s central government.

“There's a very big push by Chinese government agencies to all learn about blockchain,” he said. “They are very smart in the sense that they said ‘Well if we’re going to understand this thing let’s understand it, let's not be outsiders trying to regulate an expert area.”

“We are working closely with the governments there and they are very receptive,” he stated, emphasizing: “We want to be influential in that process.”