PANews reported on February 16 that, according to Financefeeds, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) delivered a speech at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos on February 15, frankly reassessing why cryptocurrencies have not yet become a mainstream medium of exchange.

CZ points out that "nobody really uses cryptocurrency for payments" in everyday transactions. High fees and low speeds have been major bottlenecks over the past decade, but he notes a new, more fundamental obstacle: a complete lack of transaction privacy on public blockchains. CZ explains that public, permanent financial transparency is simply unacceptable to ordinary consumers or businesses. He believes that for cryptocurrencies to transform from a speculative store of value into a functional currency, the "transparency issue" must be addressed without sacrificing the regulatory compliance required for institutional adoption.