CZ at Davos Why Crypto Will Power AI Agents and What Finance Must Let Go Of
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao believes the next major shift in global finance will come from the convergence of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, CZ said that once AI systems evolve into fully autonomous agents, crypto will become their natural medium of exchange.
During a panel with executives from ING Group, BNY Mellon, and Primavera Capital, CZ described a future where blockchain functions as the core infrastructure for AI driven economies. He identified artificial intelligence as one of three sectors poised to reshape finance alongside tokenization and payments.
According to CZ, cryptocurrency is uniquely suited to serve as the native currency for AI agents because blockchains provide a programmable and permissionless environment. He argued that autonomous systems will require instant, global transactions that traditional financial rails are not designed to support.
CZ acknowledged that current AI remains limited in real world functionality. While today’s systems can analyze and assist, they cannot yet act independently by booking travel, managing expenses, or executing payments. Once AI reaches that level of agency, he expects payments to increasingly flow through crypto networks.
Tokenization was highlighted as another fast growing area. CZ revealed that he is advising more than a dozen governments on strategies to tokenize real world assets. He said these efforts could help governments generate early financial returns while modernizing industries such as mining, trading, and capital markets.
Payments remain crypto’s most difficult challenge. CZ admitted that digital assets have yet to achieve widespread adoption in everyday transactions. However, he pointed to emerging hybrid models where consumers pay using cards connected to crypto wallets while merchants receive fiat settlements. As these systems mature, he believes payments will undergo a significant transformation.
To illustrate crypto’s growing scale, CZ shared metrics from Binance. The exchange now serves roughly 300 million users worldwide, a figure he said likely exceeds the customer base of any single bank. Last year, Binance’s trading volume surpassed both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
He also emphasized Binance’s performance during periods of market stress. In late 2023, the platform processed 7 billion dollars in withdrawals in a single day and 14 billion dollars over one week without interruption. CZ contrasted this with traditional banking systems, which rely on fractional reserves and may struggle to withstand withdrawals of that magnitude.
CZ was also candid about which trends may not survive long term. He expressed doubt that Bitcoin will become a mainstream payment method, noting limited progress over the past decade. He also questioned the durability of most memecoins, suggesting many could follow the trajectory of NFTs, which surged in popularity before fading. Physical bank branches, he added, are likely to see declining demand as digital identity verification and online financial services continue to mature.
On regulation, CZ noted that crypto rules differ widely across jurisdictions. While Binance holds more than twenty licenses globally, most countries still lack comprehensive frameworks. Rather than advocating for a single global regulator, he supported the idea of regulatory passports that allow licenses issued in one jurisdiction to be recognized in others.
CZ concluded that crypto is fundamentally the same worldwide and should not require reinvention for each country. In his view, the future of finance will be autonomous, tokenized, and increasingly powered by cryptocurrency.