Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took the stage at Token2049 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he told the audience that his investment in social media platform X was aimed at protecting freedom of speech.
The former Binance executive joined a fireside panel with macroeconomic analyst Raoul Pal to discuss the rationale behind his 2022 investment in X and artificial intelligence. Zhao said:
“I think freedom of money is important, but to have freedom of money, you have to have freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is kind of the bottom line. If you don’t have that, nothing — no other freedom — works.”
“So, when we invested in Twitter back then, it was based on that philosophy,” Zhao continued.
The former Binance CEO also criticized Europe’s crypto policies, characterizing them as dead in the water compared to more pro-business