Ex-Binance CEO Planning Tokenization Project With Several Countries

Binance’s co-founder and ex-CEO is reportedly in discussion with several countries about tokenizing their assets.

Changpeng Zhao told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he has spoken with “probably a dozen governments” about the effort, CoinDesk reported Thursday (Jan. 22).

While he did not specify which governments or assets, the report added, this concept could let countries raise funds by offering small portions of state-owned assets to citizens or investors, in the way that some countries have sold stakes in nationalized businesses.

As CoinDesk notes, tokenization involves turning real-world assets, such as real estate, infrastructure or commodities, into blockchain-based tokens that can be traded and divided into fractional ownership.

“This way the government can actually realize their financial gains first, and use that to develop these industries,” said Zhao.

According to the report, Zhao has previously said in social media posts that he was in talks with countries including Pakistan, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan, the last of which introduced a stablecoin pegged to its national currency in 2025. Kyrgyzstan also plans to launch a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by $300 million in gold reserves.

Zhao left Binance in 2023 after the U.S. Justice Department accused him of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He was later pardoned by the Trump administration. He wasn’t the only crypto-world figure talking up tokenization at Davos this week.

“While artificial intelligence has dominated headlines, the discussion, ‘Is Tokenization the Future?,’ made clear that tokenization work has continued steadily in the background, setting the stage for broader embrace,” PYMNTS wrote Tuesday (Jan. 22).

Among the panelists was Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who said tokenization addresses structural inefficiencies in the financial system, especially around settlement speed, fees and access. He added that while tokenization enables real-time settlement and lower fees its most powerful impact is widening participation in investment markets.

The CEO underlined what he described as a global “unbrokered” population — the approximately 4 billion adults who lack access to invest in high-quality assets — and pointed to stablecoins as the first successful expression of tokenization’s potential.

“From his perspective, stablecoins demonstrate how tokenized representations of assets can unlock broader participation across borders,” the report added.

Meanwhile, Euroclear CEO Valérie Urbain painted tokenization not as a rupture with existing market structures, but as a normal evolution that expands access while reducing costs.

Tokenization, she argued, can “reach out to a bigger range of investors” while also helping issuers by “reducing the time to market” and “reducing the cost of issuing.”