Binance's changes under CEO Richard Teng
What changes has the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange made to strengthen its position that is being eyed by many competitors after a legal crackdown from US authorities?
Binance's changes under CEO Richard Teng
As Coin68 reported, 2023 ended with a record $4.3 billion fine between Binance and the US government. Along with that are a series of terms that force the exchange to comply, as well as forcing founder Changpeng Zhao to resign as CEO.
Many people see this as a step backward for Binance when it has to pay a large amount of money and a series of lengthy legal troubles. But more than that, this can be seen as the end of a long chapter in the history of cryptocurrency, the end of the ideal of "borderless cryptocurrency".
Binance turns a new page under the leadership of new CEO Richard Teng, a person with experience in legal compliance.
Since then, nearly half a year has passed, and the crypto market in 2024 is also a different situation than at the end of 2023. So how has Binance developed and changed under this CEO?
Frequency of launchpool and dense listing
The most obvious thing is that new listings are happening continuously, with more continuous frequency than in the previous period. Especially during this period, Binance almost separated the listing of futures and spot, many coins were opened for futures trading while not being listed on spot by the exchange.
In fact, opening futures trading pairs without listing spot has appeared on other exchanges at the same time. But it was only when the new CEO of Binance implemented this strategy to attract more traders specializing in leverage trading.
Binance is still an exchange, in the context of Binance's market share still decreasing at the end of 2023, promoting trading features to attract users is obvious.
Token listing schedule on Binance 2023
As shown below, in 2024 Binance will start promoting launchpool projects followed by listing tokens on the exchange. This strategy is on the one hand to retain users, and on the other hand is to maintain the price of the floor token, BNB.
Token listing schedule on Binance 2024
However, not every launchpool goes smoothly. For example, most recently, the 53rd launchpool project Renzo (REZ) had a "tumultuous" information announcement.
Furthermore, the token listing also faced many criticisms.
"Death" of stablecoin BUSD
BUSD is the "joint child" of Binance and Paxos, first launched in 2019. At its peak, this token was in the top 3 strongest stablecoins on the market with a total supply of more than 23 billion USD .
But in February 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services requested Paxos to stop issuing new issues as well as all services related to BUSD before Q1 2024, considered a "death sentence" for this stablecoin. That same day, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Paxos alleging that BUSD was an unregistered security.
From here, BUSD becomes increasingly invisible on the stablecoin "map". In November, Binance announced the removal of stablecoin BUSD from December 15, 2023.
Suspicion of information disclosure and internal transactions
As reported on the evening of February 5, 2024, after Ronin Network's RONIN coin was listed on Binance, there were countless discussions surrounding the continuous decrease in price of the coin, especially the suspicion of trading. insiders from knowing in advance of the listing time.
Immediately after Binance announced the listing, an account allegedly sold off 1 million USD of RONIN on OKX, causing the coin's price to fall from about 3.5 USD to 2.7 USD.
Previously, the Binance wallet was said to have collected 138 thousand RON since January 26, raising speculation that the exchange was about to list.
Finally, Binance co-founder Yi He had to speak up, announcing an adjustment to the disclosure of listing information. Specifically, Ms. Yi He said that in the future, if the listing information of a coin is leaked to the outside, the listing of that coin will also be canceled by the exchange.
A series of new products launched
Another noticeable strategy is the launch of many new products and services. In just the past 6 months or so, Binance has launched:
Futures NEXT
Futures NEXT is a platform that predicts which tokens will be listed with the USDT futures pair on the exchange. This is a completely new product in the current exchange game. Previously, there were only forms of predicting the results of some important events such as the US Presidential Election, such as futures contracts on FTX.
Megadrop
Binance Megadrop is a new token issuance platform that integrates with Binance Simple Earn and Binance Web3 Wallet, innovating the airdrop experience for users.
Users who sign up for BNB Locked Products and complete tasks in their Binance Web3 Wallet will have early access to select Web3 projects, before their tokens are listed on Binance.
The first project supported on the platform is BounceBit (BB), the first BTC staking solution.
Copy trade spot
Spot Copy Trading allows Binance users to copy and automatically execute trading orders of qualified professional investors (Pro Traders).
The feature will initially launch on Binance Web, then gradually be integrated into the Binance mobile app. Now available in select markets across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. It will initially support over 100 Spot trading pairs, with more to come in the future.
Copy Trading is not a new keyword for Binance. Previously, the exchange partnered with Traderwagon, a third-party platform, to bring Copy Trading capabilities to its users. However, this is a collaborative product, limited to only a few users and not widely applicable to all customers.
Most recently, opening a copy trade for Binance Futures in September 2023.
Binance Labs is separated from Binance, operating independently
In March Bloomberg reported that Binance quietly spun off its $10 billion venture capital and incubation fund Binance Labs earlier this year.
Mr. Alex Odagiu, Chief Investment Officer of Binance Labs, said that the fund has become an independent entity and severed some connections with Binance Group. Binance Labs employees currently have separate contracts from exchange employees, similar to the setup at Binance-backed blockchain platform BNB Chain.
Notably, Binance Labs is led by Yi He, co-founder and the person rumored to hold the real power at Binance. The venture capital operation is mainly funded by profits from the exchange and is an active backer of early-stage cryptocurrency projects.
This is both a venture investor and an incubator, running programs focusing on startups built on BNB Chain: Incubation Program and MVB Accelerator Program.
Since its inception, Binance Labs' portfolio includes 250 projects across 25 countries, with a 14x return on investment.
Binance Labs' investments in Web3 have resulted in backing notable companies such as: Optimism, LayerZero, Celestia, Aptos, Mysten Labs, Trust Wallet, etc. The fund's assets are currently worth over 10 million billion USD according to book value.
Tensions with the Nigerian government
Legality is still a headache for the exchange. Having just reconciled with the country's government, Binance continues to have trouble with Nigeria.
In February 2024, the press reported that Nigeria temporarily detained two Binance employees to serve the investigation process targeting the exchange. These two individuals have American and British nationality, and their passports were confiscated by the Nigerian Ministry of Security.
Nigeria is having problems with foreign currency reserves and is said to be doing everything it can to limit the flow of money abroad, including increasing taxes on foreign workers, as well as closer monitoring of transaction activities. cryptocurrency.
And Binance unfortunately got hit with the first shot.
Then in March, Nigeria accused Binance of "indirectly" causing national losses, forcing the exchange to provide user data and transaction history.
Although efforts to negotiate were unsuccessful, the country's government accused Binance of tax evasion and insisted on bringing to trial the two arrested employees.
The community continues to hold its breath to observe further developments.
Barriers in other markets
Not only the US or Nigeria, Binance also has difficulty in some other countries.
To further develop its user base, the exchange implements a market penetration strategy by acquiring or merging with licensed local exchanges. But it's not always favorable.
· Russia
CommEX, Binance's questionable exchange, announced it would cease operations just a few months after being acquired.
· Hong Kong
HKVAEX, an exchange believed to be affiliated with Binance, announced its permanent closure from May 1.
· Korea
Binance is looking to reduce its stake in the GOPAX exchange due to regulatory concerns.
Previously, after being forced to leave this market, Binance acquired a majority of the shares of the GOPAX crypto exchange in February 2023 to create a regulatory-compliant entity. But in the end it failed.
· Philippines
Binance continues to encounter legal obstacles here. Last March, the Philippine SEC officially blocked access to Binance because it did not have an operating license.
Currently, Filipinos cannot access the floor. But it is currently unclear what Binance's next moves in this country will be.
· India
The local newspaper reported that Binance is willing to pay a $2 million fine to return to the Indian market.
In January, the Indian government blocked nine cryptocurrency websites that operated illegally and did not comply with government regulations. Following this action, Apple and Google's app stores removed crypto exchange apps from the region.
Before the ban, Binance accounted for about 90% of Indian investors' cryptocurrency trading volume, estimated to be worth $4 billion. So it's understandable that the exchange wants to continue operating in this country's market.
For the first time, there was a Board of Directors
Another unexpected change is that for the first time in its 7-year history, Binance established a Board of Directors.
This council currently includes 4 members from Binance, including:
- Binance CEO Richard Teng;
- Heina Chen - powerful female manager without position, considered the "right hand" of former CEO CZ;
- Jinkai He and Lilai Wang - two other directors with long experience at the floor.
The remaining 3 members are characters from outside Binance, including:
- Gabriel Abed - former ambassador of Barbados to the UAE;
- Arnaud Ventura - Gojo & Co. fund manager; and
- Xin Wang - CEO of Bayview Acquisition Corp.
Mr. Gabriel Abed has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors. And notably, there is no appearance of Yi He, who is considered the "brain" of the exchange today.
In addition, the exchange also conducted a review of American customers at the request of officials.
Convert SAFU fund to USDC, gain an additional 900 million USD
Most recently, Binance announced the conversion of all assets in the SAFU fund to USDC to ensure stability amid market fluctuations.
According to evidence transactions provided by Binance, the exchange transferred nearly 1 billion USD in Bitcoin and 722 million USD in BNB from the storage address, then only sent back 800 million USDC to the insurance fund address.
Therefore, it can be seen that Binance has profited more than 900 million USD by holding BTC and BNB in the SAFU fund since February 2022. The exchange did not specify what purpose the excess money would be used for, but only stated that it would continue to maintain the value of the SAFU fund at 1 billion USD.
