Summary
- Reported that Changpeng Zhao denied the president's statement that he had proposed establishing a private bank that handles cryptocurrencies in Kyrgyzstan.
- Changpeng Zhao stated that he was not involved in proposing or operating the bank and is not associated with Bereket Bank.
- It was reported that Changpeng Zhao is serving as a blockchain and virtual asset regulatory advisor to the Kyrgyzstan government.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), co-founder of Binance, denied the local president's remark that he proposed establishing a 'private bank handling cryptocurrency' in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.
According to CoinDesk on the 3rd (local time), Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov said in an interview with local media that "Changpeng Zhao visited Kyrgyzstan last May and proposed establishing a private bank that deals with virtual assets." President Japarov added, "I wanted to establish a state-owned bank, but CZ refused, so we agreed to establish the private bank 'Bereket Bank' (Bereket Bank)."
However, Zhao rebutted the next day on X (formerly Twitter), saying, "That is not true. It's not complete falsehood (FUD), but a wrong claim," and "I have never directly proposed setting up a bank, and I am not interested in running a bank." He added that he may have said something to the effect that it would be good to have more digital banks that support cryptocurrencies.
He emphasized, "I have never heard the name of the bank mentioned in the reports," and said that the establishment of Kyrgyzstan's 'Bereket Bank' is unrelated to him.
Meanwhile, Changpeng Zhao is currently serving as a blockchain and virtual asset regulatory advisor to the Kyrgyzstan government. In April, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kyrgyzstan Foreign Investment Agency and took on advising on national-level cryptocurrency policy.
Son Min
sonmin@bloomingbit.ioHello I’m Son Min, a journalist at BloomingBit
