CZ Claims He Never Bought Memecoins or NFTs, Denies Involvement in TST’s Binance Listing

Highlights:

• CZ said in a lengthy X post that he was not involved in TST’s listing approval on Binance.
• The former CEO reiterated support for fundamentals and utility over memecoins.
• The Binance founder said he had never invested in memecoins and NFTs. However, he still supports their expansions.

Yesterday, Binance listed a memecoin, Test (TST), on its trading platform, which attracted widespread reactions from market participants. The uproar among the crypto community stems from the fact that Binance founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Changpeng Zhao “CZ” has always been vocal about preferring fundamentals over memes.

CZ Clarifies TST Token Listing on Binance

Following TST’s listing and market participants’ reactions, CZ responded with a lengthy tweet on his verified X handle. In the X post, the Binance founder said he did not approve the TST token. Part of his tweet read, “I posted to clarify that TST was NOT endorsed by me/us. It was just a test token used in a video tutorial. But every clarification post just made it more viral for whatever reason.”

Having exempted himself from the procedures that resulted in TST’s listing on Binance, CZ did not fail to explain why the token debuted on the exchange. According to him, most exchanges will always compete to list popular cryptocurrencies, not minding the status either as memes or utility tokens. He added that exchanges do not need prior notice to list tokens heavily sought by traders.

CZ Speaks on Memecoins and NFT Investments

As part of his response, the former CEO clarified some speculations, portraying that he is gradually abandoning the fundamentals he so much cherished in the past. In his words, CZ reiterated that he is a builder who will always prioritize fundamentals. Speaking on his choice of investments, the former CEO stated that he has never bought memecoins or non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In addition, he said that apart from Bitcoin (BTC) and Binance Coin (BNB), he had never bought most altcoins. While he might have never spent on memecoins, NFTs, or most altcoins, that does not equate to him being against them, CZ noted. Per the Binance founder, he had always supported the crypto space growth, which entails ensuring that every entity in the crypto market is thriving.

TST got listed on Binance. A few thoughts:

1. CZ said “fundamentals”, then talks about a test coin turned meme coin.

I posted to clarify that TST was NOT endorsed by me/us. It was just a test token used in a video tutorial. But every clarification post just made it more viral…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) February 9, 2025

Why People Tend to Spend More on Memecoins than Utility Tokens

Still, in the same tweet, CZ mentioned investors spending more on memecoin investments than utility tokens. He noted that the reason for this was that a powerful regulatory agency was against every utility token, tagging them as security tokens. This regulatory body, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), terrorized the crypto space over the past four years with strict and unclear regulatory guidelines.

Hence, to escape the regulatory watchdog’s wrath, most developers and market participants resorted to memecoins. Another reason for increased meme token investments was because of a group of traders known as speculators.

CZ explained:

“There are groups of traders known as speculators. Things with tangible value are harder to speculate on. They stay around the clear value. This is indeed a challenge for RWA.”

CZ also attributed memecoins relevance to its fun nature. He mentioned that every memecoin is a cultural thing with many die-hard enthusiasts. Therefore, it’s unwise to go against the community, as they are always ready to defend the project. Rounding up his post, the Binance founder reiterated support for utility over meme. He said there are many people with capital for investments. However, developers must build what will attract this group of people to invest in their projects.