Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is having another public dispute with Bloomberg over his recent efforts to advise various governments on crypto policy.
The Binance founder once again called out the publication for negatively framing his advisory efforts. CZ continues to stress that several media outlets take his remarks out of context to drive breaking news.
In recent months, CZ has been actively advising the government on crypto policies and digital asset regulations. This month alone, he advised Kyrgyzstan on building its crypto hub and joined the Pakistan crypto council.
Earlier this week, he met with the Prime Minister of Malaysia to “discuss [the country’s] potential to become a major hub” for crypto.
This particular meeting was the center of Bloomberg’s report today, framing the regulatory efforts in a negative context.
Specifically, the article repeatedly called attention to his prison stint for money laundering charges, which he pleaded guilty to. It mentioned his criminal past several times in addition to previous reprimands from regulators.
In other words, several US-based media outlets find it ironic that CZ influences crypto laws due to his struggles with the legal system.
However, his actual advice is pretty standard. As a major crypto leader, it’s unsurprising that CZ advocates for balanced or even loose regulation.
Bloomberg also quoted a few of CZ’s comments at various public appearances, which he claims were taken out of context. For example, it referred to a Q&A about Giggle Academy.
Giggle is a non-profit online education platform that helps youths in emerging markets find employment. When asked about concerns of promoting child labor, he responded:
“I’ve got to be careful on this one. We don’t want to violate any laws about working age. Giggle doesn’t offer a job market on the platform today, but it plans to in the future. We are also willing to work with labor ministries to review or at least explore what’s the right working age for kids,” CZ said.
CZ called this quote a joke, chiding the publication for focusing on it instead of the talk’s main points. Giggle has enrolled over 28,000 children, he claimed.
The article paints his activities in a dark light by constantly referring to his criminal conviction and pairing this remark about “working with labor ministries” with his efforts advising government policy.
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Bitcoin (BTC) reclaimed the $93,000 threshold during the early hours of the Asian session on Wednesday. The show of strength came after President Trump articulated his position about Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell’s replacement talks.
Over the past several months, the pioneer crypto has demonstrated increased correlation with broader economic and political issues. This suggests that macroeconomics is growing in influence on Bitcoin.
The report followed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s announcement that the Trump administration was planning to interview candidates to replace Jerome Powell.
“The Fed would be much better off cutting rates as US Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
On the other hand, Powell insists on a cautious approach to monetary policy decisions, rejecting further interest rate cuts. The Fed also made significant downward revisions to its 2025 economic projections.
These opposing views fanned speculation that Jerome Powell’s job as Fed chair was at risk. In a recent development, however, Trump stated that he has no plans to fire Powell.
“I have no intention of firing him…I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” Reuters reported, citing Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
In the immediate aftermath, Bitcoin shattered past the $93,000 threshold. As of this writing, BTC was trading for $93,136, representing a surge of almost 6% in the last 24 hours.
Notably, there are about 13 months left in Jerome Powell’s tenure as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Bitcoin Benefits From Eroded Trust in Government
BitMEX founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes commented on the swift reaction to this topic on the Bitcoin price chart.
“Trump says he wants to fire JAYPOW – dollar dips, BTC rips Trump says he has no intention of firing JAYPOW – dollar rips, BTC rips some more,” Hayes quipped.
In tandem, Bitcoin rallied as investors viewed it as a potential hedge against a weakening dollar and inflationary pressures.
As Trump’s stances cause market volatility, fluctuations in the dollar are bullish for Bitcoin, reflecting its appeal as a hedge against traditional financial (TradFi) instability.
BeInCrypto reported this status in a recent US Crypto News publication, citing Geoff Kendrick, the Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered.
According to Kendrick, Bitcoin is increasingly seen as a hedge against TradFi and US Treasuries risks.
“I think Bitcoin is a hedge against both TradFi and US Treasury risks. The threat to remove US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell falls into Treasury risk—so the hedge is on,” Kendrick told BeInCrypto.
Meanwhile, Nate Geraci, the president of the ETF Store, says Bitcoin is benefiting from the erosion of trust in governments and politicians, which is pushing people towards alternatives.
“Bitcoin is one of the biggest winners from events over the past several weeks IMO, at least from a philosophical standpoint. Further erosion of trust in governments and politicians will push people towards alternatives. Not saying that is good or bad, but think logically,” Geraci remarked.
Over 50% of all cryptocurrencies ever launched since 2021 are now defunct. An even more alarming trend is emerging in 2025, where the percentage of failed tokens launched this year has reached the same level in just the first five months.
That percentage will naturally rise with more than half of the year left. Representatives from Binance and Dune Analytics told BeInCrypto that these failures are just another reminder of the need to launch viable projects, backed by solid tokenomics and a robust community.
Ghost Tokens Skyrocket
A recent CoinGecko report revealed some jaw-dropping data. Of the approximately 7 million cryptocurrencies listed on GeckoTerminal since 2021, 3.7 million have subsequently died.
Several factors are considered when evaluating whether a coin has reached its end.
“A coin is classified as ‘dead’ when it loses all utility, liquidity, and community engagement. Key indicators include near-zero trading volume, abandoned development (no GitHub commits for 6+ months), and a price drop of 99%+ from its all-time high. Teams often vanish without warning—social media accounts go dormant, domains expire,” Alsie Liu, Content Manager at Dune Analytics, told BeInCrypto.
Half of all tokens launched since 2021 have died. Source: CoinGecko.
A significant 53% of listed cryptocurrencies have failed, with most collapses concentrated in 2024 and 2025. Notably, the over 1.82 million tokens already stopped trading in 2025 significantly outpaced the approximately 1.38 million failures recorded throughout 2024.
With seven months out of the year ahead, this trend of increasing failures in the current year will continue to grow.
CoinGecko specifically suggested a potential link between economic concerns like tariffs and recession fears, noting a surge in meme coin launches after a certain election, with subsequent market volatility likely contributing to their decline.
However, not all responsibility can be placed on a greater economic downturn. Other aspects can contribute to these project failures.
“Common factors include inability to find product market fit leading to negligible interest from users or investors, or project teams that focus too much on short-term speculation with no long-term roadmap, and sometimes abandonment by developers (rug pulls). Broader issues like fraudulent intentions, weak user traction, novelty-driven hype, financial shortfalls, poor execution, strong competition, or security failures also contribute to project failure,” a Binance spokesperson told BeInCrypto.
The rapid rise in ghost tokens also came with the exponential launch of projects en masse, particularly since the start of 2024.
Analyzing the Life-Death Ratio
Last year was novel in its own right following the proliferation of meme coins. This new narrative emerged particularly after the launch of Pump.fun, a Solana platform that allows anyone to launch a token at a minimal cost.
According to CoinGecko data, 3 million new tokens were listed on CoinGecko in 2024 alone. Half of these projects died, but the other half survived. However, the situation in 2025 appears less stable.
The difference between token launches and failures in 2025 is minimal. Source: CoinGecko.
While the number of new token launches remains high, the number of failures is nearly equivalent, with launches only marginally exceeding deaths by about a thousand.
“Ecosystems with low barriers to token creation see the highest number of ghost coins. In general, platforms that make it very easy and cheap to launch new tokens see the most abandoned coins. During this cycle, Solana’s meme coin surge (e.g., via token launchpads like Pump.fun) drove a flood of new tokens, many of which lost user traction and daily activity once initial hype faded,” Binance’s spokesperson explained.
As of March 5, the meme coin market capitalization had sharply decreased to $54 billion, marking a 56.8% drop from its peak of $125 billion on December 5, 2024. This downturn was accompanied by a significant decrease in trading activity, with volumes falling by 26.2% in the preceding month alone.
Certain token categories have been hit harder than others.
Music and Video Tokens Among the Hardest-Hit Categories
A 2024 BitKE report indicated that video and music were prominent categories with many failed cryptocurrency projects, reaching a 75% failure rate. This outsized percentage suggests that niche-focused crypto ventures often face challenges in achieving long-term viability.
“These niches face adoption and utility gaps. Music tokens struggle to compete with Spotify/YouTube, while ‘listen-to-earn’ models often lack demand. As more mainstream celebrities get into the space without knowing much about blockchain technology, tokens have become the new cash-grab business,” Liu explained.
Binance’s spokesperson noted that legal and technical hurdles, such as music licensing and the significant resources needed for video delivery, complicated the scaling of decentralized alternatives.
They further explained that many projects struggled to remain sustainable without substantial user adoption or strong network effects.
“This highlights that a good concept alone is not enough; crypto projects must also compete with entrenched Web2 platforms, navigate complex industry challenges, and deliver real-world utility to succeed. Without aligning with user behavior and market needs, even well-intentioned initiatives risk fading into ghost tokens,” Binance told BeInCrypto.
Despite the discouraging number of failed tokens, this situation offers important insights into building resilient projects that withstand unfavorable market conditions.
What Can We Learn From Catastrophic Token Collapses?
Prospective token creators can learn significant lessons from once-popular projects that ultimately failed. The negative outcomes experienced by these ventures, particularly in severe instances, can motivate the development of new projects responsibly and avoid similar pitfalls.
Binance referred to notorious ghost coin cases BitConnect and OneCoin.
“BitConnect, once a top-10 coin, collapsed in 2018 after being exposed as a Ponzi scheme promising ~1% daily returns. Investors lost nearly $2 billion. OneCoin, raising ~$4 billion, never had a real blockchain and relied on aggressive multi-level marketing before collapsing. Both cases highlight the dangers of projects built on hype, unrealistic promises, and lack of verifiable technology,” Binance’s spokesperson explained.
While concerning, the rising number of ghost coins serves as a crucial reminder that discernible warning signs often precede the downfall of these cryptocurrencies.
These cases underline the necessity of rigorous research, validating underlying principles, and maintaining a cautious perspective, especially when investment gains appear unrealistically high. Prioritizing risk management and sustainable long-term factors should outweigh short-term speculative trading.
Binance particularly highlighted the importance of “Do Your Own Research” (DYOR) when evaluating crypto projects.
“Practically, this means reviewing the whitepaper, assessing whether the project solves a real problem, verifying the team’s credibility, examining tokenomics and supply distribution, and checking community and development activity,” Binance said, adding that “In essence, DYOR is about empowerment and protection. It helps investors identify solid projects and avoid scams or ghost tokens by spotting red flags early. Given how fast crypto markets move, personal due diligence remains essential for navigating the space safely and successfully.”
Ultimately, the prevalence of ghost tokens highlights a critical truth for crypto participants: thorough research and fundamental value are paramount for identifying lasting projects.