Binance CEO says ‘never easy’ running a crypto exchange as ‘new chapter awaits’

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of Binance — the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume — today said it was “never easy” running a crypto exchange in a series of tweets about key products Binance has launched over the past four years.

Fast facts

• “Never easy,” Zhao tweeted, referring to an extract from the Binance white paper. “There are many risks involved in running an exchange. We understand this and have the skills, experience, and leadership to overcome them.”

• “Just the beginning. A new chapter awaits us, as we embrace compliance and regulations,” said CZ as he concluded his tweet thread.

• Binance has come under fire from regulators around the world for its stock tokens and derivatives trading services, as well as its know-your-customer practices. On July 16, Hong Kong and Lithuania joined a growing list of jurisdictions that have issued warnings or launched investigations of Binance, including the Cayman Islands, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

• In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority’s warning has resulted in companies such as Barclays bank blocking customers from making deposits to Binance, payments provider Clear Junction stopping the processing of transactions for Binance, and Binance suspending euro deposits via the EU’s single euro payments area bank transfers.

• Faced with the regulatory onslaught, Binance, which has grown its international compliance team and advisory board by 500% since last year, intends to double that team’s size by the end of the year. 

• Binance today completed its 16th quarterly Binance Coin token burn of 1,296,728 BNB, equivalent to around US$393.6 million. Binance has committed to “burning” — permanently removing from circulation — 100 million BNB, or half of the token’s total supply. According to the Binance website, the quarterly BNB burns are intended to permanently reduce the supply of BNB, thereby increasing its value. The amount of BNB burned is based on Binance’s overall quarterly trading volume. 

• The burn appears to have had little impact on the price of BNB. As of publishing time, BNB was trading at US$298.61, down 7.5% over the past week, according to CoinGecko data.