CZ Claims Bitcoin May Outperform Gold in Next Bull Market
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stated at the Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong that Bitcoin will definitely become more important than gold. Major powers already have complete gold valuation and holding mechanisms, and it will take many years to shift to crypto assets, but this will happen because Bitcoin itself is a better asset. He mentioned that the probability of another digital currency surpassing Bitcoin before it overtakes gold is very low; the market cap difference between the two is about ten times, and the next bull market could see Bitcoin catch up.
During the conference, Bitcoin was around $79,700, having risen over 25% last week, while gold was above $4,600. He also discussed reserves: the re-labeling by major powers will not happen overnight, but the direction is clear; Bitcoin should account for more than half of sovereign crypto reserves, supplemented by Ethereum and BNB. The Trump administration has included seized coins in its strategic Bitcoin reserves and opened up crypto allocations for 401(k) plans.
He defined the industry as non-zero-sum. If only Bitcoin remains, development will be slower; with Ethereum, BNB Chain, and other chains, Bitcoin will actually grow larger. What benefits Bitcoin also benefits other chains. Bitcoin is the largest and most decentralized long-term reserve, while other chains are better suited for experimentation; it would be better if Bitcoin could absorb these innovations. Most Bitcoin maximalists also realize that promoting a single asset is not always optimal.
He reflected on the naming history: early on, the entire industry was called the Bitcoin industry, later changed to crypto, but ordinary people found the term too mathematical and intimidating; Web3 is more acceptable. Labels are not important; the entire industry should be promoted: multi-chain, multiple exchanges, multiple DEXs, and multiple products, using competition to drive innovation. The core idea is decentralization, which should embrace diversity rather than pitting one against another.
He declined to list specific tracks for the next hot topic. Currently, RWA and AI are strong, stablecoins, centralized exchanges, DEXs, and meme coins will continue to grow, and NFTs may return in some form, while DeFi will also grow. At the beginning of 2017, he could not predict ICOs, but six months later, the industry was already engaged; similarly, he did not see the NFT craze six months prior. The next big thing will be created by entrepreneurs both on-site and off-site, not designated by speakers.
In terms of market mechanisms, this rewrites gold, multi-chain, and hot topics from adversarial positions into a conveyor belt. Buyers are sovereign and pension funds that want to hear about value storage stories, as well as altcoin and public chain teams that want to hear non-zero-sum stories; sellers are maximalist funds that view Bitcoin as a zero-sum belief. The funding narrative has expanded from "only buy Bitcoin" to "first buy entry assets, then flow into Bitcoin." Beneficiaries are platforms that simultaneously tokenize, create stablecoins, and provide Bitcoin channels; those under pressure are single asset positions that view other chains as diversions. The event-driven narrative is that the conference has framed the tenfold market cap gap as an executable reference for the next bull market.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Zhao uses gold as an escalator for Bitcoin, rather than a new narrative as an elevator. The tenfold gap is a ready-made ruler: there is no need to invent new fundamentals, just a change in a column of major power reserve accounts. He acknowledges that the inertia of mechanisms will take many years, yet includes "quickly surpassing" in the next bull market, effectively compressing long-term structures into a trader's calendar. The probability of alternative coins surpassing first is described as very small, serving as reassurance for maximalists while immediately urging them to accept multi-chain.
The capital path is a reserve formula plus a flow funnel. The official basket is allocated based on the top five by market cap, naturally giving Bitcoin over half, with Ethereum and BNB benefiting from policy gaps. Multi-chain is described as an innovation testing ground, with innovations flowing back to the most decentralized reserve layer. Exchanges place stock tokens, stablecoins, and Bitcoin on the same login page, allowing Asian funds that cannot access U.S. stock accounts to first become platform users. Diversity is not charity; it connects more entry points to the same reserve asset.
The analogy is the U.S. dollar and Eurodollars: offshore innovations have not weakened the dollar but rather expanded its settlement network. It took decades of institutional building for gold to transition from jewelry to central bank reserves; Bitcoin needs to replicate that account system. ICOs and NFTs prove that hot topics cannot be predicted, only later incorporated by platforms. The current phase is expansion: RWA, AI, stablecoins, and DEXs are listed together, indicating he seeks ecological surface area, not a single theme year.
Structural judgment belongs to capital concentration. While superficially discussing diversity, the mechanism ultimately directs the liquidity of all new entry points towards the largest reserve asset by market cap. Multi-chain competition reduces innovation costs, and the reserve narrative settles results back to Bitcoin. If nations continue to think in terms of gold accounts, the speed of re-signing will lag behind the price clock of the next bull market. The industry is allowed to flourish, but pricing power remains with the name at the top of the market cap.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Once the tenfold gap is treated as a ruler, the narrative will turn into a countdown.
Allowing other chains to experiment first is to minimize trial and error costs for the reserve layer.
Not being able to predict the next hot topic allows all hot topics to be gathered under the same city gate.