Binance’s 何一 Says Easy Financing Weakens Incentives to Keep Working

Binance co-founder and co-CEO 何一 said easy financing and liquid tokens can reduce ordinary people’s incentive to keep working, as fewer crypto projects pair healthy long-term models with tokens that support token value.

During a roughly 23-minute talk at a Binance learning camp dinner, 何一 discussed listing practices, the health of crypto businesses and a recent security incident. She linked easy access to financing and quickly tradeable tokens with weaker motivation to keep working over time.

She said the industry has fewer projects that bring together a healthy long-term business model and a token that supports its value. She described that gap as a sign that economic substance is thinning across crypto.

Early Binance listings often rose when projects had listing or liquidity advantages, she said. Decentralized exchanges made those advantages less pronounced, while many token prices had already climbed before they reached centralized exchanges. Some project teams point to governance-token structures or a lack of revenue links when distancing themselves from a token’s performance, she said.

Binance has opened listings to lower-market-cap memecoins and channels assets through Binance Alpha, its centralized exchange, decentralized exchanges and wallets, 何一 said. She described users as wanting a fair platform and the chance to earn. Binance prepared tokenized stock and commodity products last year and listed many this year, she said, while cautioning that those products can lose value.

何一 said Binance aims to become a global financial platform and sees artificial intelligence and blockchain driving crypto’s future. On security, she said Binance blocked more than 50 attacks of different types over the past year. Attackers had adapted their methods, including by using AI, she said, while social engineering could still catch trained employees off guard. She said traditional security measures and AI defenses should work together.

She said she and Binance founder CZ remained calm after the incident. She added that CZ continued traveling and speaking and was doing all right despite online talk about his hair turning gray overnight.