Big investors flock to Binance in post-CZ era, CEO says
Binance CEO Richard Teng announced this week that the crypto giant has seen a 40% increase in corporate and institutional investors over the past year. In an interview with CNBC, Teng also touted Binance’s 225 million userbase, which he says is exponentially growing.
“The first hundred million took us five years to onboard,” Teng said. “The next hundred million took us two years and the pace of adoption is going to be much faster.”
Teng stepped into the role of CEO in late 2023 after both Binance and the company’s founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty last November to criminal charges related to money-laundering on the platform. Binance agreed to pay a $4.3 million fine to resolve the matter, one of the largest such settlements in U.S. history.
In the wake of this transition of leadership, Binance saw an outflow of nearly $1 billion and its native coin, BNB, abruptly fell by 9%.
At the time, it was uncertain if Teng would be able to shore up confidence in Binance but, based on his remarks, it appears the company has turned the page on its legal troubles and continued to grow.
A former regulator, Teng has sought to shake off Binance’s lawless reputation, in part by adopting a measured tone and leaning into compliance efforts. In the wake of the historic settlement, he has made significant changes to the company’s corporate structure. This has included introducing a board of seven directors as part of an effort to distance the company from Zhao, though most are company insiders.
Teng has also increased compliance spending to $200 million and is expanding the department to ensure the company is conforming to regulatory requirements around anti-money-laundering laws and know-your-customer protocols. In May, Binance introduced two external monitors who report to U.S. agencies, and were imposed on the company as part of the settlement. Teng also plans to increase the compliance headcount by five hundred to seven hundred by the end of the year, according to Bloomberg.
“This is also a demonstration of our willingness—a demonstration of our ability to comply with all the rules and regulations,” Teng told Fortune in April.
Binance’s rebound comes at a time when the broader crypto market has been on a prolonged upswing, aided in part by mainstream firms like BlackRock and Fidelity joining the industry.
Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin returned to near-record levels this week in the wake of the federal reserve slashing interest rates. The original cryptocurrency briefly rose above $63,000, while Binance Coin is up 81% since the start of the year.
