Changpeng Zhao (CZ Binance) has publicly backed a proposal for a crypto license passporting system across ASEAN member states, suggesting that companies already licensed in one country should face a streamlined approval process to operate in others. The proposal, put forth at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026 on July 28, aims to reduce compliance overhead for crypto and stablecoin service providers operating within Southeast Asia’s fragmented regulatory landscape.
According to Changpeng Zhao, the current system requires firms seeking a regional presence to undergo parallel licensing processes across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. This, he argued, scales compliance costs in a way that disadvantages smaller, well-regulated operators relative to larger incumbents. Zhao endorsed an idea of license portability across the region, stating that cross-border regulatory coordination is primarily a political issue rather than a technical one.
Southeast Asia currently lacks a bloc-wide passport for crypto companies, with each ASEAN member state maintaining its own digital asset licensing regime, including separate anti-money laundering requirements, conduct rules, and capital standards. Zhao argued that allowing more licensed platforms to compete regionally could improve services and reduce costs for consumers.
A Model for Harmonization
The regulatory framework proposed by Zhao mirrors the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Under MiCA, a crypto-asset service provider authorized in one EU member state can passport its services across all 27 member states by notifying its home regulator, without requiring a fresh application. Zhao referenced this EU model as a functional template for what ASEAN could build.
While the comparison to MiCA is structurally apt, political dynamics between the EU and ASEAN differ. The implementation of MiCA is ongoing, with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) involved in its timeline. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, has made a parallel case in the U.S. context, framing regulatory incoherence as a drag on institutional crypto adoption, a problem of legislative will rather than technical incapacity.
Regional Precedents
There are regional precedents for streamlined processes within ASEAN. The ASEAN Capital Markets Forum’s (ACMF) Collective Investment Schemes Framework, operationalized in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in 2014 and joined by the Philippines in 2021, allows funds authorized in a home jurisdiction to be offered in participating host markets through a streamlined authorization process. The ACMF Pass also extends a similar fast-track model to investment advisers.
These existing frameworks are narrower than the crypto-specific passporting proposed by Zhao and Lito Villanueva, the FinTech Alliance PH founding chair with whom Zhao spoke. They remain subject to host-market requirements, but they establish that ASEAN regulators have accepted the logic of mutual recognition in principle. However, crypto-specific passporting would require agreement on supervision standards and consumer protection floors that do not yet exist at the bloc level, though the institutional machinery for building them is present.
Path Forward and Uncertainties
Regulators would retain the right to review applicants entering their jurisdiction under Zhao’s proposal, but the threshold for entry would be fundamentally lower than starting from scratch in every market. The success of such a system hinges on how nine politically distinct ASEAN regulators may agree on mutual recognition standards and the specific supervision standards and consumer protection floors that would be established.
For crypto exchanges like Binance, the remarks in Manila align with a broader pattern of positioning Asia as a primary licensing growth market. Ripple’s multi-jurisdictional expansion strategy illustrates the operational reality CZ is addressing: operating at scale across Southeast Asia requires either accepting full licensing overhead in every market or pushing regulators toward a lighter mutual-recognition model. The adoption of the proposed streamlined approval process by ASEAN member states remains uncertain.
Why This Matters
The materials describe a narrow update: At the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, Changpeng Zhao (CZ Binance) publicly supported a crypto license passporting system for ASEAN. How nine politically distinct ASEAN regulators may agree on mutual recognition standards.
Broader Context
Source materials place the factual news in this context: Changpeng Zhao (CZ Binance) publicly backed a crypto license passporting system across ASEAN at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026 on July 28, arguing that firms already licensed in one member state should face only a streamlined approval process, not a full re-application, to operate across the rest of the bloc.
