Binance Plans to Hire 1.000 New Employees
Date: 2024-08-22 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
The move comes as it seeks to strengthen its regulatory work, especially in the United States.
The compliance team is expected to grow from 500 to 700 employees by the end of this year. According to sources, Binance’s compliance costs have exceeded $200 million this year.
Binance CEO Richard Teng is currently in the United States, where he is meeting with regulators. In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Teng outlined his plans to strengthen the company’s compliance efforts. With a background in regulation, Teng noted the importance of engaging with government agencies in his strategy for managing Binance.
Richard Teng’s Regulatory Experience Is Key to His Rapid Rise at Binance Before joining Binance, Teng served as the Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he played a key role in developing financial regulations and policies. He was also the CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority at the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Teng joined Binance in August 2021, heading up the exchange’s Singapore operations. However, his tenure was short-lived as Binance decided to close its Singapore operations by early 2022.
Teng was then promoted to oversee Binance’s operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. He was later promoted to head all regional markets excluding the US. His rapid rise at Binance is largely due to his regulatory expertise, which proved to be a critical factor as the company faced increasing regulatory demands.
Binance Sees 10% Increase in Law Enforcement Requests, Increase in Compliance Costs The hiring plans follow a settlement with US authorities in November 2023. Binance and former CEO Changpeng Zhao admitted to multiple charges as part of the deal, which included paying significant fines totaling more than $4.3 billion. These fines were related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, failure to register as a money transmitting business, and violations of international economic sanctions laws.
Teng noted that the company has seen an increase in requests from law enforcement agencies around the world, with the number of requests increasing by nearly 10% year-over-year. He also added that Binance’s compliance costs have grown from $158 million a few years ago and are likely to continue to rise.
Teng has previously acknowledged the mistakes Binance made in its early years, specifically highlighting its lack of compliance efforts at the time.
