Altcoins
Is Binance’s Changpeng Zhao the ‘Zuckerberg’ of Crypto?
Matthew North | Apr 30, 2019 | 19:00
Believable parallels have been drawn between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook on podcast #74 of Coin Talk hosted by Aaron Lammer & Jay Caspian Kang, titled “When Trolls Get Rekt.”
The podcast was later covered by Forbes contributor Billy Bamrough who covers cryptocurrency-related content for the publication.
In his article, Bamrough shared several parallels between blockchain and social media companies and their leadership. For instance, before Facebook, there was Myspace; a platform that reportedly “struggled to grow beyond its original interests.”
“Then came along Facebook,” wrote Bamrough. “Building a userbase of 2.3 billion people worldwide and successfully integrating itself and social networks into aspects of life that seemed entirely unnecessary as little as 10 years ago.”
Bamrough then gave a summation of how the social media and blockchain landscapes have converged in terms of their key challenges:
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency developers are now faced with a similar challenge to that of Myspace—how to grow beyond the niche uses that currently exist to something more that can be used by people around the world for things that we find hard to imagine today.
Zuckerberg’s and Zhao’s parallels
Personal parallels were also drawn between Zuckerberg and Zhao — such as their unconventional business styles and humble caricatures described as “alternative company leaders.”
Zuckerberg was reportedly known for wearing jeans and t-shirts instead of suits “thumbing his nose at many of the traditional chief executive tropes” writes Bambrough.
While Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is described as the real-life version of ‘Zuckerberg’ in the film The Social Network, which depicts the creation of Facebook.
He was play acting a cool guy that doesn’t care about anything, seemed to be just rolling with the punches but is totally in control. CZ is like the real version of that in crypto.
CZ’s and Zuckerberg’s shared charity and humility
There also appears to be a deeply empathetic human side to both CEOs. CZ went as a far as putting down his own blockchain a peg in a series of tweets covered by Bitcoinist stating that
Ethereum can can do much more than BNB in features. Let’s grow together.
Binance also has its own charitable organization. Through donations from the Binance community, the organization donates during time of disasters and has started an initiative to feed the hungry titled “Binance Lunch for Children.” At the time of writing, this initiative, in particular, had raised 8.7227 BTC or USD $45972 to feed hungry children in countries such as “Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.”
While the “Chan Zuckerberg Initative” on Facebook’s side is a limited liability company with an investment of “up to 1 billion in Facebook shares in each of the next three years.” The initiative aims to “advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research, and energy.”
Is CZ similar to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg? Share your thoughts below!
Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoinist archives
