CZ Says RWA Adoption Faster Than Expected, Stocks Should Go On-Chain
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stated at a "Binance Life" book club meeting in Central Hong Kong that the on-chain adoption of real-world assets (RWA) is happening faster than he initially anticipated. Many people want to buy U.S. stocks but cannot open accounts; once stocks are on-chain, global trading will be much easier. He encouraged development in this area, specifically mentioning stablecoins and other niche sectors, while noting that real estate on-chain is more challenging due to insufficient price volatility.
He considers stablecoins as part of RWA because fiat debt rights are placed on-chain. His remarks focused on tokenized securities: they can bypass traditional trading hours and cross-border account opening barriers. As of March 2026, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has approved 13 tokenized products; the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Project Ensemble is testing tokenized deposits, funds, and bond settlements. The scale of on-chain RWA is approximately $38.4 billion, with around 2.5 million holders; tokenized U.S. Treasury funds remain the largest segment, while tokenized stocks amount to about $2.48 billion. Binance research shows that in the first half of the year, tokenized stocks and private equity grew by approximately 177% and 164% year-on-year, respectively, with bStocks reaching a market value of over $500 million in just seven weeks since launch.
He also discussed hiring. He claims to be less involved in recruitment now, but his personal standard is proactivity: remote positions can lead to laziness, and employees who are not proactive may not produce results for two months; he does not chase progress but waits for reports from others instead of waiting for the boss to check performance. Binance still has many remote positions available, covering the Asia-Pacific time zone, with a user base nearing 300 million. That day, he also sold books on-site, accepting payments in Hong Kong dollars or RMB, and plans to attend Bitcoin Asia 2026 for interviews.
Regarding entrepreneurship for university students, he suggests first working at a good company for a few years to develop expertise and not rush into starting their own business. If U.S. regulatory pressure eases, he expects decentralized exchanges to accelerate, but he did not announce specific projects. Nasdaq was approved in March to support tokenized stocks alongside traditional stocks, and the New York Stock Exchange followed up with a framework in April, with a custodial trust company's tokenization platform planned to launch in October 2026.
In terms of market mechanisms, this is a founder's directional indicator, not a product listing. Buyers are cross-border retail investors lacking U.S. stock accounts and developers looking to create tokenized securities; sellers are from the traditional brokerage account system. Funding expectations are shifting from the demand for accounts that cannot be opened cross-border to the settlement layer of tokenized stocks and stablecoins. Beneficiaries include licensed and custodial token issuers and Hong Kong sandbox projects; those under pressure include low-volatility, complex property tokens, and positions that only start working when tasks are assigned in remote teams. The event-driven aspect is clear: the book club translates "difficulty in opening accounts" into RWA orders.
Source: Public Information
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Zhao's attitude towards RWA has shifted. Earlier, he criticized the difficulty of asset verification and insufficient volatility; now he summarizes the pain point as: wanting to buy U.S. stocks but unable to open an account. This is not about asset philosophy, but about equal trading rights. Stocks are going on-chain before real estate because stocks can already be transferred in electronic accounts, while real estate is hindered by registration, mortgages, and local judiciary issues. He includes stablecoins in the RWA basket, treating cash legs as part of the same production line.
The capital path is the exchange founder delineating the ecosystem. Binance has used bStocks to capture market share in tokenized stocks, while Hong Kong uses Ensemble and 13 approved products as a compliance shell. Teng discusses regulation externally, while Zhao talks about development lists at the book stall. The hiring logic is rooted in this: remote empires do not rely on inspections but on employees delivering results themselves. Two months without results is a trial period clock, not cultural platitudes. Money will follow the niches he names—securities and stablecoins that can be traded globally 24/7, rather than low-volatility real estate shares.
Comparative examples include how USDT brought dollar accounts online and how Robinhood retailized U.S. stocks: both first broke down account opening barriers before discussing asset quality. BlackRock's tokenized fund targets institutions, while Coinbase sells tokenized U.S. stocks to non-U.S. users, following the same "account replacement" path. The current phase is expansion: infrastructure and the number of holders are growing faster than the scale of individual assets, indicating that pipelines are being laid, not just hoarding properties.
Structural judgments indicate a transfer of pricing power. Whoever enables those without U.S. stock accounts to buy U.S. stocks will take the broker's entry tax. The mechanism is: traditional markets restrict buyers by nationality and branch offices, while tokenization dismantles these restrictions using wallets and stablecoin settlements; high-volatility assets first see trading demand, while low-volatility assets are left with only legal fees. Real estate is difficult not because the chain is unworkable, but because if prices do not move, no one is willing to pay for rights confirmation.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
The demand for account opening precedes the asset itself going on-chain.
Things with insufficient volatility will only have transaction fees left on-chain without a market.
Remote organizations not tracking progress effectively hand over the elimination power to silence itself.