Can Bitcoin truly live up to the "Bitcoin Century" expectation in the coming decades?
Compiled by: Sanqing, Foresight News
At Hong Kong's "Bitcoin Asia 2026" conference, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) shared his views on topics including Bitcoin's price expectations, utility expansion, regulatory attitudes across countries, multi-chain ecosystems, and the role of cryptocurrencies in the era of AI agents.
Bitcoin at $1 Million and Utility Expansion
CZ stated that Bitcoin reaching $1 million is inevitable and will happen faster than 25 years. However, he believes utility expansion is more important than price—Bitcoin payments need to achieve large-scale adoption, and Bitcoin should become a reserve asset for retirement pensions.
He mentioned that people often overestimate what can be done in a year but underestimate what can be achieved in a decade; a lot of infrastructure will be built in the next ten years. The attitude of traditional finance toward Bitcoin has changed drastically over the past two years. Tokenized stocks have grown rapidly in the past year, with Binance's bStocks growing quickly just three months after launch.
He added that besides these, sectors like payments, AI, agentic financial infrastructure, stablecoins, and tokenization will see significant growth in the next decade, making now the most opportunistic moment in history.
Tokenization and Bitcoin Mutually Reinforce Each Other
CZ noted that Bitcoin's blockchain does not currently host tokenization services—tokenization mainly occurs on other blockchains. However, sectors in the crypto industry mutually reinforce each other: those who understand Bitcoin will eventually learn about other blockchains and tokens, while those entering via stock tokenization will eventually pay attention to Bitcoin.
He gave an example: it’s hard for Asians to open U.S. stock brokerage accounts, and U.S. stock trading hours are inconvenient. Once stocks are tokenized, more people who couldn’t trade U.S. stocks before can participate via crypto platforms, and these users may then gain exposure to Bitcoin they previously didn’t have.
Bitcoin and Government Power
When talking about Bitcoin’s relationship with state power, CZ said Bitcoin itself does not weaken or strengthen government power; the real factor is the government’s own choices. Historically, weak governments sometimes deliver better economic performance—for example, the U.S. government is relatively weak but has built one of the world’s strongest economies. The current SEC’s decision to cede some regulatory power has led to industry growth, while former chair Gary Gensler’s attempt to control everything stifled growth.
He stated that as a decentralized technology, Bitcoin gives individuals more sovereignty, but its privacy design has flaws—on-chain transactions are easily traceable. Governments can choose whether to leverage these features: for example, declaring Bitcoin ownership illegal or imposing a 36% tax on every transaction would kill the industry. Governments seem to have great power, but taxing zero still yields zero, while a 6% tax on a trillion-dollar market generates huge revenue.
He also mentioned that most governments now take Bitcoin relatively seriously, but many lack crypto regulatory frameworks. Few government officials understand Bitcoin, and some countries led by older generations have conservative attitudes. However, he does feel changes are happening, though some still hold the biased view that Bitcoin is mainly used by drug lords.
Regulatory Progress Across Countries
When advising governments, CZ usually starts with building crypto regulatory frameworks, setting up crypto reserves, issuing national stablecoins, and promoting asset tokenization. Many countries have not yet established crypto reserves or issued national stablecoins, and he advises them to advance these quickly.
He said the UAE currently has the most advanced crypto regulation: the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has granted Binance a global license covering almost all products, though the UAE has not issued a major stablecoin. The U.S. has made progress in stablecoin and exchange regulation, with the CFTC advancing rapidly on federal-level futures and derivatives licenses. Japan is currently active, Hong Kong is progressing quickly, and Singapore is relatively conservative.
He also noted that Pakistan’s regulation is advancing fast but implementation lags—Binance has not yet opened a client fund bank account there or issued a stablecoin. Kazakhstan is progressing rapidly, with good bank support for Binance, and Binance Pay already supports QR code payments. He said he will visit Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan next week.
Bitcoin as a Strategic Reserve Asset
CZ said many countries misunderstand Bitcoin as a risky asset, but in reality, not using Bitcoin is more dangerous—just like not investing in AI technology is a real risk for a country.
Regarding strategic reserves, he said Bitcoin will definitely be more important than gold. Large countries take time to shift, but this trend will happen—Bitcoin itself is a better asset than gold. He believes the possibility of a better digital currency surpassing Bitcoin before Bitcoin overtakes gold is very small. Bitcoin will overtake gold soon; currently, the gap between the two is only about 10x, which may be achieved in the next bull market.
On reserve allocation advice, he usually suggests countries allocate to the top five crypto assets by market cap (excluding stablecoins) in proportion to their market values—this is the simplest and most market-oriented way. Bitcoin typically accounts for over 50%, Ethereum for 10%, and BNB and others are included.
Multi-Chain Ecosystem is Win-Win, Not Zero-Sum
When asked if only Bitcoin should be promoted, CZ said if the industry only had Bitcoin, its development would be much slower. Other public chains do not weaken Bitcoin; instead, they help it grow. Without other chains, Bitcoin’s scale would be smaller.
He stated that Bitcoin has the largest market cap and highest decentralization, so it will long exist as a reserve currency. Other public chains innovate faster—new ideas are easier to test on other chains first, then reverse-adopted by Bitcoin. He emphasized that the crypto industry should adopt an open attitude, accepting multiple public chains, exchanges, DEXs, and perpetual contract platforms. This brings more competition and innovation; the industry is not a zero-sum game of "winner takes all."
Drivers of the Next Cycle Are Hard to Predict
When talking about the next cycle’s drivers, CZ said RWA (Real-World Assets) and AI sectors are currently strong. Sectors that have grown before—like stablecoins, centralized exchanges, DEXs, and meme coins—will continue to grow, and NFTs may return in some form.
He said it’s hard to predict the next breakout point, just like no one could predict the 2017 ICO boom or the NFT craze six months before it happened. This needs to be created by entrepreneurs.
Integration of AI Agents and Cryptocurrency
CZ said the funds used by billions of AI agents for automatic buying, selling, negotiation, and transactions in the future will definitely be cryptocurrencies—likely starting with stablecoins, then gradually integrating other public chain assets like Bitcoin.
He said he has discussed the possibility of issuing tokens with several top AI companies. Building data centers requires huge funds: 1 GW of computing power costs about $30-50 billion, and some AI companies plan to build hundreds of GW in the next few years. Therefore, they can consider issuing data center tokens, allowing holders to get computing power usage rights in the future.
He also mentioned that AI agents’ payment scenarios may land later than transaction scenarios. Currently, AI companies focus more on letting agents find optimal transaction solutions, and transaction scenarios need AI to process information quickly, which can improve transaction efficiency by about 10x.
Bitcoin as a Savings Tool; Payments Will Gradually Shift to Native Tokens
CZ said whether in the human or AI world, Bitcoin will likely remain primarily a savings tool, while stablecoins or other cryptocurrencies will handle machine-to-machine commercial and transaction scenarios.
He said as people use stablecoins more for payments, many future payments will shift to native cryptocurrencies. Because those holding Bitcoin and other assets long-term don’t want to convert to fiat-pegged stablecoins for payments—this adds an unnecessary step. He took himself as an example: he usually holds BNB and Bitcoin, and when using Binance Card, he directly deducts BNB at the current exchange rate instead of converting to USD first.