%{{tag.tag}} {{articledata.title}} {{moment(articledata.cdate)}} @{{articledata.company.replace(" ","")}} comment Canadian entrepreneur and cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng "CZ" Zhao says a lack of privacy is preventing widespread adoption of digital assets such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC ) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH ). CZ co-founded Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Speaking at the Consensus Hong Kong conference, he said a lack of privacy is also a barrier to widespread institutional adoption of digital assets. Addressing questions during a panel discussion, CZ said that blockchain is promoted as the ultimate democratization of finance. But it also means that anyone can see people's send amounts, wallet balances, and deals using crypto such as Bitcoin. "Lack of privacy may be the missing link for crypto payments adoption. Imagine, a company pays employees in crypto on chain. With the current state of crypto, you can pretty much see how much everyone in the company is paid," CZ wrote on social media following his comments. However, CZ's comments run counter to law enforcement, which increasingly says that cryptocurrencies are used for illegal activities because they are hard to trace. A new report from Chainalysis says crypto payments to suspected human trafficking syndicates surged 85% in 2025, with hundreds of millions of transactions traced on public blockchains. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are also said to be used in the drug trade and to launder money around the world. Law enforcement agencies have said repeatedly that it is difficult to track the movement of cryptocurrencies across international borders. CZ is from Vancouver, British Columbia and holds a Computer Science degree from McGill University in Montreal.