In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC's Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao shared his outlook on Bitcoin, his personal legal journey, and the evolving regulatory landscape. CZ expressed a bullish long-term view, specifically predicting a potential "supercycle" for Bitcoin in 2026 that could break its historical four-year market cycle pattern.
He attributed this potential shift to the pro-crypto policies being implemented in the United States under the second Trump administration. Since January 2025, initiatives have included the creation of a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a White House Digital Asset Working Group, whose recommendations are now being enacted by agencies like the SEC and CFTC through "Project Crypto" and "Crypto Sprint" initiatives. CZ believes this U.S. leadership is prompting other countries to follow suit, creating a fundamentally different macroeconomic environment for crypto.
Reflecting on his own past, CZ discussed his 2023 guilty plea for Binance's anti-money laundering failures and his subsequent four-month prison sentence, which he described as "brutal." He was pardoned by President Trump in October, a process he called a "black box," and denied any personal or business connections to Trump. When asked what he would do differently, CZ stated he would have blocked U.S. users from Binance "from day one" to avoid legal complications.
Regarding the market, CZ emphasized he is a long-term holder and does not attempt to time prices. While declining to give short-term targets, he reiterated his confidence in Bitcoin's long-term upward trajectory, contrasting it with the asset's recent slump of over 5% in a week, which pushed its price below $90,000 at the time of the interview.
