Binance won’t offer stock trading services, says CZ

Binance remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, and the company said it intends to remain within the Web3 ecosystem.

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the world’s leading cryptocurrency, has revealed that the company doesn’t plan to offer stock trading services.

He mentioned this during a podcast interview with Decrypt, adding that Binance is a pure web3 company, and trading stocks don’t align with the company’s values. He said;

“Some exchanges want to go back to stock trading. We don’t have any plans on doing stock trading We’re not running a fiscal broker store anytime soon.”

Some companies like Robinhood have been able to allow their users to trade stocks and cryptocurrencies. Despite its lucrative nature, CZ said Binance would focus on building Web3 tools. He said;

“We are a pure Web3 company. We’re not going back, we’re moving forward.”

The Binance CEO added that the cryptocurrency exchange would continue to expand its presence within the crypto space via crucial acquisitions. However, he maintained that none of those acquisitions would be stock-related.

FTX is one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world and has recently adopted the method of potential acquisitions via loan structures and bailout. CZ said Binance wouldn’t adopt that method despite its merits. He said;

“That is not to say that complex deals are bad. But my preference is always to keep everything very simple, very straightforward, boil everything down to very basic core principles, and go from there.”

CZ also talked about the $500 million line of credit extended to bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital by Alameda Research, stating that Binance would never conduct those types of deals.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, has been expanding his presence within the crypto space during this bear market. In May, Bankman-Fried bought a 7.6% stake in Robinhood. 

Recent reports suggest that the FTX CEO is interested in acquiring the publicly-listed stock and crypto trading app outright. However, he denied those rumours, stating that there were no active merger and acquisition conversations about Robinhood currently taking place.