CZ Talks About Founding Binance: From SaaS to Running an Exchange On February 10, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) shared in an interview on the All-In Podcast that the team initially focused on SaaS software licensing, charging a fixed monthly fee. However, in March 2017, as Chinese regulations tightened, the majority of their clients were shut down, and the business foundation quickly disappeared. The team began searching for a new direction and ultimately decided to stop external investments or simply providing systems. Instead, they leveraged their existing technical capabilities to directly build a pure crypto-to-crypto trading platform. In May 2017, the team officially decided to establish their own cryptocurrency exchange, which became a key starting point for the later creation of Binance. Source: All-In Podcast