ASEAN Crypto Passporting Gains Momentum with Binance Co-Founder's Support

Binance co-founder Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao recently spoke at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026 about regional passporting for cryptocurrency companies in Southeast Asia.

Zhao supported a proposal by FinTech Alliance PH founding chair Lito Villanueva for regulatory passporting or license portability, which would allow licensed companies to operate across multiple member states with less bureaucracy and duplicated work.

According to Zhao, the main challenge in implementing regional passporting is not technical but rather political. He stated that 'I think that's mostly a political problem,' suggesting that building systems to support regional access could be relatively simple.

A passporting model could reduce legal and compliance expenses for exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and other digital asset companies seeking to operate across Southeast Asia. It could also make regional expansion more practical for smaller regulated firms that cannot afford separate licensing teams in every market.