The Point of Binance’s New CEO: Differing from CZ – Decrypt

When Binance CEO Richard Teng took over from his predecessor Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in November, he knew he was stepping into some big shoes.

But the newly appointed executive of the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume said he never intended to be the next CZ—at least insofar as trying to match one of crypto’s biggest personalities.

“I don’t think I will be able to fill those gigantic shoes,” Teng told Decrypt in an interview. “It was never the intention.”

In fact, Teng, who is believed to be 54 or 55, hopes to leave his mark on Binance by doing just the opposite. CZ’s “a giant, he’s an icon, he’s a legend within this industry,” Teng said. “But what is important is he has left a very important enterprise and he entrusted that enterprise in the hands of myself” and key managers.

During the past year under Teng, Binance has undergone a series of structural and strategic changes aimed at making the company more palatable to a new, hyper-wary crop of regulators and policy makers. He pointed out that Binance has now adopted a more traditional corporate leadership structure consisting of a board with three members, is focusing on hiring compliance and legal professionals, and is working to secure more licenses to operate in new markets.

The new CEO is far more cautious—and far less flamboyant—than CZ, who is forever barred from returning to the exchange he founded.

Born in Singapore, the soft-spoken Teng spent much of his career as a civil servant, serving as the director of corporate finance at Singapore’s top regulatory authority for 13 years. He later worked as chief regulatory officer of the Singapore Exchange and then as CEO of the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

He joined Binance in 2021, and most recently served as its global head of regional markets.

Under Teng, Binance has secured regulatory licenses to operate in Dubai, Kazakhstan, and Thailand, expanding its presence in key emerging markets. And just last month, the exchange got the green light to operate in India, one of the largest crypto markets in the world. The spate of approvals underscores a critical focus for Teng during his tenure: Ramping up Binance’s regulatory compliance efforts.

Binance’s increased focus on regulatory compliance comes as stringent regulatory frameworks such as Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) are coming into effect.

“The [crypto industry] landscape has shifted quite a fair bit,” Teng said. “There are more and more rules and regulations coming into this space. The direction of travel is very clear.”

This is a marked difference from Binance’s past. The exchange has a long history of fighting with federal regulators and law enforcement. In the past two years, the trading platform has encountered issues in nearly every corner of the globe, as regulatory scrutiny of crypto exchanges has intensified.

In 2023, Australian bank Westpac banned its customers from sending funds to Binance, forcing the exchange to stop supporting Australian dollar deposits and withdrawals from bank accounts—a major disruption to the trading platform’s operations in Asia-Pacific.

Meanwhile, Binance pulled out of Canada in May 2023, citing the implementation of new regulations for digital assets there.

And across the Atlantic, the exchange has hardly fared any better. Binance was forced to reconsider its European expansion plans in 2023 after German and Dutch regulators declined to grant the company licenses. The trading platform also faced an investigation into its anti-money laundering practices in France that same year.

But its problems in the U.S. became particularly acute for the exchange’s charismatic founder. In November 2023, Binance and CZ pled guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. The exchange paid $4.3 billion to settle the case, and, as part of the massive settlement, CZ was sentenced to four months at a correctional facility in California.

He was released from prison last week, but remains barred from rejoining Binance’s C-suite.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether CZ’s ouster from the company turns out to be a boon for Binance.

Under its new leader, the firm boasts a more traditional, buttoned-up air, much like that of Teng himself. Whereas CZ seems like Crypto Twitter personified—known for lobbing insults at mainstream media outlets and dismissing unfavorable reports about his company’s operations as “FUD”—Teng is deliberate and diplomatic in his interactions with the press and the public.

Amid Teng’s efforts to distance the company from its scrappy, shadowy roots, the firm is also planning to hire more compliance-focused employees and other professionals, a move that could help further repair the company’s image. Binance’s website lists roughly 353 job postings as of publication time; more than 70 are earmarked for compliance or legal-related roles.

Teng also said the company is actively working on establishing a global headquarters for the company—something its leaders have vowed to do for years due to pressure from regulators and law enforcement agencies. 

“In the last 10 months, I think what has been significant… is that [Binance] is a quite different enterprise,” he said.

When asked about Binance’s progress in selecting a location for its global headquarters, Teng declined to put a timeline on the process or disclose which cities the exchange is considering. Later, he cut short a question about Binance’s international arm previously serving U.S. users, and he cast doubt on a report that Binance had processed trades from mainland China-based users with the simple explanation that Binance doesn’t publicly disclose its user data.

The evasive responses were blander and more polished than something CZ might have said. And that, undoubtedly, was the whole point.

Additional reporting by Sander Lutz

Edited by Andrew Hayward