The exchange has plans of establishing global headquarters and is currently in talks with regulators around the world.
Binance US will close a pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO) funding round in the next one or two months. That was stated by the founder and CEO of the exchange’s parent company Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. Zhao revealed this at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Friday. The crypto exchange’s US unit is expected to make “a couple hundred million” pre-IPO. The Binance chief also added that a future listing of the global Binance was not out of the question.
The exchange has plans of establishing global headquarters and is currently in talks with regulators around the world. CZ brought up some regions like France, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore as some of the more accepting regions in terms of cryptocurrency but did not indicate which of these would host the company’s headquarters. The location is set to be announced “very shortly”.
Binance’s Regulatory Woes amid Plans for Binance US Funding Round
Binance has come under intense regulatory scrutiny in recent months. Financial institutions in various countries have either issued warnings against the exchange for “illegal” operations or have simply cut off access to Binance for their users. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, for example, issued a statement that the company’s affiliate Binance Markets Limited was not allowed to operate there. This led to various banks in the country taking questioning their relationship with crypto in general or simply halting Binance transactions. Financial regulators in Thailand and the Cayman Islands have also raised similar concerns.
Concerns over the amount of control Zhao has over Binance US have also contributed to a delay in the entity going public. CZ maintains that he has limited control over operations at the exchange’s US branch and is not even part of their internal communication network. He revealed that his involvement only goes as far as his position on the US division’s board. He however does have weekly calls with Binance US’s CEO.
Increased Trading Volumes and Talks with Regulators
With the increased mainstream adoption of digital assets, crypto exchanges have seen an overall increase in transactions and trading volumes. The report shows that Binance’s spot crypto trading volumes in the month of July were a total of $454 billion and increased to $789 billion in September. Zhao confirmed that the company was making billions in profits and was thus considering charging reduced fees in a bid to outdo their competitors.
According to the CEO, Binance is in talks with regulators to address security concerns. “We want regulation, I am not a complete libertarian, I’m not an anarchist,” CZ commented.
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