Despite 2018’s prolonged and notorious bear market across all cryptocurrencies, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao remains optimistic about the future of the volatile asset class; proclaiming a bull run can be expected “sooner or later.”

Bitcoin Deposits Increasing

Popularly known by his initials “CZ,” Zhao notes that Binance is having a stellar year regardless of the market slump. He reveals that active traders on the platform have increased month-on-month, while deposits of bitcoin, ether, and other altcoins have gradually grown as well.

Zhao stated his thoughts on crypto-focused talk show CNBC Crypto Trader, expressing the broader cryptocurrency market and his crypto-exchange remain in a “healthy” position. Binance registered revenues of over $3 billion in the first half of 2018, while the crypto-market saw its value decrease from $800 billion in January to sub-$200 billion at the time of writing. Pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin has fallen by 70 percent, while XRP and Ethereum have seen 80 percent losses. The most affected are altcoins and hyped-ICO tokens, which have dropped over 90-95 percent.

Asked about the reasons of a bull run, Zhao stated:

“Even if I don’t know what will catalyze a bitcoin bull run, I am certain it will happen. Sooner or later, something will trigger it.”

He added that the market is severely affected in comparison to January, but if analyzed relative to two years ago – cryptocurrencies are “still trading at huge volumes” and remain profitable for early investors.

While Zhao remains clueless about the inevitable bitcoin catalyst, his peer Erik Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, thinks the rising U.S. debt will trigger the next bitcoin price surge. Voorhees notes the world’s $20 trillion debt looms over all significant governments and banks, which needs to be printed unethically. He outlines his thought in a tweet:

When the next global financial crisis occurs, and the world realizes organizations with $20 trillion in debt can't possibly ever pay it back, and thus must print it instead, and thus fiat is doomed… watch what happens to crypto. — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) November 8, 2018

Meanwhile, Zhao is hoping institutional investors are attracted to the volatile asset class. Last week, a Medium post stated plans about the exchange creating services and products aimed at institutions, hoping that high-net-worth individuals and venture funds allocate capital to the industry.