CZ pitches BNB Chain’s role in AI as BNB Standard rings Nasdaq bell

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said crypto will be the "native currency for AI" as he shared his vision for the exchange's BNB Chain.

The comments came on Monday at a media briefing following BNB Standard's Nasdaq opening bell ceremony.

Zhao, known as "CZ", said AI could use bitcoin, existing stablecoins or future tokens launched by AI companies, but wants BNB Chain to become a major network for that.

"We hope to make the BNB Chain the major one, but that’s still to be done," he said at the briefing attended by The Block.

Zhao also said he had discussed tokens tied to computing resources earlier in the day, and wants to bring those onto BNB Chain, though he did not elaborate on any specifics.

BNB Standard, formerly CEA Industries, formerly marked its new name and appointment of Alex Odagiu as CEO. The company, which still trades under the BNC ticker, changed its name last month.

BNB Standard currently controls the largest BNB treasury among publicly traded companies, with more than 515,400 BNB worth roughly $383.5 million.

Active BNB strategy

Odagiu said BNB Standard plans to build an operating business on BNB Chain, starting with running its own validator.

"We're not here just to hold the asset," Odagiu said during the bell ceremony. "We're here to build an operating business on BNB Chain."

At the briefing, Odagiu pointed to payments and AI agents as potential future sources of activity for the network, but stressed that for now, BNB Standard is not a payments company.

CZ also acknowledged that crypto payments remain a pain point for the average user.

"I try to pay everything in crypto, and it’s pretty clunky," he said, speaking about which tokens users hold and which are accepted by merchants.

He suggested startups should first focus on underserved markets and remittance routes rather than immediately trying to compete with Apple Pay or Google Pay in the U.S.

BNB Standard overhaul

Today's bell ringing follows a governance overhaul at BNB Standard. In June, the company ended a proxy fight with its largest shareholder, YZi Labs, which included an agreement that added Odagiu, Ella Zhang and Matthew Roszak to its board.

BNC shares traded around $5.36 on Monday. The stock remains down by nearly 17% year to date.