Binance crypto exchange venture capital arm has separated from Binance Group

What’s new? The venture capital arm of the crypto exchange Binance, Binance Labs, has separated from Binance Group into a separate independent organization. According to its spokesperson, the change will not affect operations, “Our primary goal is to identify projects and invest in them and this has not changed. It’s been our focus for the most part since the inception of Binance Labs, which we started as a team in 2018.”

Material by Bloomberg

What else is known? The Binance Labs website states that the company operates independently and is not involved in any of the businesses operated by the Binance Group, including (but not limited to) the Binance crypto exchange. “Binance Labs is licensed by Binance to use its trademark but otherwise have no other relationship with the Binance Group,” the website states. According to Internet Archive, the change was made sometime between February 19 and February 24.

Binance Labs is headed by Yi He, who also co-founded Binance along with Changpeng Zhao. The arm’s early-stage venture capital investments in crypto startups were mostly funded by the exchange’s profits. Binance Labs also runs an incubation program focused exclusively on projects based on Binance’s blockchain, BNB Chain.

To date, Binance Labs has backed nearly 250 projects on various blockchains, including Sky Mavis, Aptos Labs, LayerZero, Polygon, and The Sandbox. According to Binance Labs’ recent announcement to open applications for the seventh season of its incubation program, the company’s assets are valued at more than $10 billion.

In November, crypto exchange Binance agreed to pay $4,3 billion in fines to US regulators. Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulations, he could face up to 18 months in prison. The sentencing announcement date was postponed from February 23 to April 30. Fearing flight, the US Attorney’s Office demanded that the businessman surrender his passport.

Also in money laundering the exchange was accused by the Nigerian authorities. They stated their desire to recover from Binance $10 billion in fines. Later, two senior executives of the exchange who had arrived in the country for negotiations were arrested.