CZ Wants One Crypto License to Rule Them All Across ASEAN 🌏

Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, threw his weight behind a regional crypto licensing passport at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026 on July 28, telling attendees that firms already authorized in one ASEAN member state should face only a streamlined approval process, not a full re-application, when expanding to other markets in the bloc. Speaking during the "One ASEAN, One Digital Economy" fireside chat alongside FinTech Alliance PH founding chair Lito Villanueva, Zhao endorsed Villanueva's pitch for license portability and mutual recognition across Southeast Asia's digital asset sector.

The proposal targets a structural problem: ASEAN currently has no bloc-wide passport for crypto companies, with each member state maintaining separate digital asset licensing regimes, anti-money laundering requirements, conduct rules and capital standards. A firm seeking a genuine regional footprint must run parallel licensing processes across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously, a setup that inflates compliance costs and disadvantages smaller, well-regulated operators relative to larger incumbents. Regulators would retain the right to review applicants entering their jurisdiction, but Zhao argued the threshold should be fundamentally lower than starting from scratch in every market.

"I think that's mostly a political problem," Zhao said of cross-border coordination, adding that the underlying technology posed no meaningful obstacle. He framed the case as straightforward pro-competition economics, saying that allowing more licensed platforms to compete regionally would improve services and lower costs for consumers.

The framework Zhao described mirrors the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, under which an authorized crypto-asset service provider can use passporting rights to operate across EU member states after notifying its home regulator. ASEAN has narrower precedents in traditional finance, including the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum's Collective Investment Schemes Framework, first operationalized in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in 2014 with the Philippines joining in 2021, and the ACMF Pass under its Professional Mobility Framework, which grants eligible investment advisers fast-track registration in participating jurisdictions. Zhao acknowledged that differences in national policies make alignment harder than building common technical rails, but said firms and consumers alike would benefit from a unified approach.