Binance co-founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao stated in a recent podcast interview that he anticipates cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will become an invisible, ubiquitous part of daily infrastructure by 2031, similar to the internet today. He argued that countries avoiding these technologies, along with AI, will be disadvantaged. Industry projections, including from ARK Invest and Tether’s co-founder, support a vision of massive growth and mainstream adoption for digital assets within the next decade.
Changpeng Zhao expressed his hope that cryptocurrency will become a seamless, everyday technology within five years. “I’m hoping that we don’t talk about crypto as crypto in five years, just like we don’t talk about the internet anymore,” he said during an interview on Scott Melker’s podcast. He added that new use cases for blockchain will continue to emerge, but the focus should shift from discussing the technology to simply using it.
Global crypto adoption is already significant, with an estimated 559 million users worldwide according to data from DemandSage. Industry figures share optimistic long-term forecasts for the sector’s expansion. ARK Invest predicted in a January report that digital assets could grow into a $28 trillion market by 2030.
Tether co-founder Reeve Collins stated last October he expects all currencies to become stablecoins within the same timeframe. Other analyses, including from Chainalysis and a Citi survey of financial institutions, project substantial growth for stablecoins and tokenized securities in the coming years.
Zhao also suggested artificial intelligence could accelerate blockchain development and adoption. “The speed of development, the speed of writing code is going to increase quite dramatically, and AI agents are going to use crypto a lot,” he said. He previously advised AI agent developers to focus on utility over launching native tokens.
The Binance co-founder emphasized the strategic importance of embracing key technological waves. “I think there’s really three big industries in my adult lifetime: the internet, blockchain and AI. Any country that misses one of them is going to be severely disadvantaged,” he added. Switzerland was ranked as the most crypto-friendly country in a January blog, while a Microsoft AI report named the United Arab Emirates as the global leader in AI adoption and usage.
