Binance plans to expand its regulatory compliance team from 500 to 700 employees by the end of the year.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance plans to hire 1,000 new employees in 2024 with a primary focus on regulatory compliance positions. The move comes as part of its strategy to address regulatory challenges, especially in the United States; the platform’s compliance and regulatory compliance expenses this year exceeded $200 million.
Binance CEO Richard Teng is currently in the U.S. to communicate with regulators and officials, and in his interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday he discussed his intention to improve compliance within the company. Ting, who has extensive experience in the regulatory field, spoke about the importance of government agencies in his approach to managing the platform.
Ting did not confirm whether he had any meetings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is currently taking a range of legal action against Binance, nor did the platform respond to Cryptonews’ request for comment at the time of writing.
Tenge’s organizational background is key to his rapid rise in positions at Binance
Prior to his current role at Binance, Ting worked as Director of Corporate Finance at the Singapore Monetary Authority, playing a pivotal role in financial regulation and policy; he also served as Executive Director of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in the Global Market in Abu Dhabi.
Ting joined Binance as head of platform operations in Singapore on August August, 2021, and did not last long, as the platform decided to close its operations in Singapore by the beginning of 2022.
After a short stint in Singapore, his responsibilities extended to managing the platform’s activities in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe; he was later appointed to head all regions except the United States as Head of Regional Markets.
His extensive experience in the regulatory field played a key role in his rapid rise to positions within Binance, and he leveraged this expertise to help the platform address growing regulatory obstacles.
10% increase in Binance law enforcement requests and growing compliance expenses
The platform’s recruitment plans follow its negotiated agreement with the US authorities in November November, 2023, as the platform and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao admitted to several charges as part of the agreement.
The agreement also included hefty fines of more than $4.3 billion for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, failure to register it as a money carrier, and violations of international economic power laws.
According to Bloomberg, Binance aims to increase its compliance team to 700 by the end of the year, up from about 500 currently.
Ting noted that the company is seeing an increase in enquiries from global legal authorities, with the number of law enforcement requests up nearly 10 percent from last year.
He added that the platform’s compliance expenses rose to more than $158 million two years ago, and he expected it to continue its upward trend. Ting has previously acknowledged the mistakes Binance made in its early days, highlighting in particular that its legal compliance efforts were not enough then.
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