Binance CEO denies information about the exchange’s ties with China

What’s new? Changpeng Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has responded to proponents of the theory that the platform is “a criminal entity” and “secretly in the pocket of the Chinese government.” According to him, such speculation stems from the fact that he and several other Binance employees are Chinese by nationality. Zhao noted that this makes the platform “an easy target for special interests, media, and even policymakers that hate our industry.” Binance, like any other offshore exchange, has been recognized as a criminal organization in China, he added.

Binance Blog

What else does the blog say? The statement was a response to a The Washington Post journalist who asked Zhao, “who is Guangying Chen?” According to the head of the exchange, the question refers to a theory that his friend Chen is the secret owner of Bijie Tech, an exchange software company founded by Zhao in 2015, and possibly also the owner of Binance. Zhao explained that Chen is a colleague he hired to “manage the back office” at Bijie Tech, and then invited her to join Binance.

Zhao also denied rumors that Chen owned 93% of the shares in both Bijie Tech and Binance. Such speculation, he said, stemmed from an “old campaign that a competitor launched via an anonymous microsite.” Zhao said that he would never have hired Chen if he had known the negative impact it would have on her life.

A Fortune India article describes Binance as a “Chinese-origin] crypto exchange.” The publication’s journalists claimed that Binance and other centralized crypto exchanges affiliated with China were “invading” India, freely offering their services within the country through illegal methods. In response, Zhao stressed that the platform was never legally registered in China. He added that Binance has subsidiaries in several countries such as France, Spain, Italy, and the UAE. According to him, the exchange is “active in pursuing top talent, no matter where they hail from.”

Binance was legally registered in the Cayman Islands since its founding in 2017 but does not currently have an official headquarters.

In early August, the Indian authorities launched an investigation into the local exchange WazirX, owned by Binance, on suspicion of laundering $350 million. On August 6, Zhao denied the allegations against the company. He stressed that Binance has no financial ties to WazirX and has no capital in its parent company, Zanmai Labs.

In the same month, Forbes reported on the intention of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate all crypto exchanges that operate in the United States. The regulator targets, among others, the US arm of Binance.