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Richard Teng: The Ex-Regulator Stabilizing Binance
Under Teng’s leadership, Binance has majorly boosted its compliance spending in an effort to stay on the right side of global regulations.
Updated Dec 10, 2024, 6:13 p.m. Published Dec 10, 2024, 2:05 p.m.
Unlike his predecessor Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance CEO Richard Teng isn’t exactly a household name among crypto enthusiasts – and that’s probably intentional.
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Since taking the reins last November, Teng has worked to transform Binance from a founder-led organization, as it was during CZ’s six-year reign as CEO, to one steered by a board of directors. He’s also made a concerted effort to bring Binance into compliance with a host of global regulations, spending big on growing the crypto exchange’s compliance staff and securing regulatory approvals from regulators around the world.
Teng’s focus on compliance is unsurprising, considering his personal history – before working for Binance, he was a regulator in both his native Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Having a former regulator at the helm is a massive shift from the crypto exchange’s early years spent skirting the law.
Last November, Binance agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine to various U.S. regulators to settle charges that it failed to implement an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) program and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, which allowed criminals and sanctioned entities to use the platform. CZ spent four months in prison for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and agreed to step down as CEO as part of Binance’s plea agreement.
In an interview with CoinDesk earlier this year, Teng said CZ is no longer involved in the exchange’s operations. The two don’t speak, though he said that CZ’s partner and co-founder Yi He remains a “critical part” of Binance’s management team.
Under Teng’s leadership, Binance’s management team has ambitious aspirations for the crypto exchange’s future: “It’s really about building a sustainable enterprise that will not only succeed over the next few years, but continue to prosper for the next 50 to 100 years,” Teng told CoinDesk. “That’s certainly our aspiration.”
This profile is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year's nominees, click here.
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