July 7, 2021
As the world’s biggest crypto exchange faces regulatory scrutiny, Binance boss Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, said in a blog post that “compliance is a journey – especially in new sectors like crypto.”
He added that “the industry still has a lot of uncertainty. We also recognize that with the growth comes more complexity and more responsibility.”
In recent weeks Binance have been facing regulatory crackdown in various jurisdictions such as the US, the UK, Thailand amongst others.
“As a four-year-old startup, Binance still has a lot of room to grow. Binance has grown very quickly and we haven’t always got everything exactly right, but we are learning and improving every day,” the blog said.
“We hope to clarify and reiterate our commitment to partner with regulators, and that we are proactively hiring more talent, putting in place more systems and processes to protect our users,”.
The company has taken many steps towards regulatory compliance, including growing its international compliance team.
It has made key appointments including former FATF Executive Secretary Rick McDonell and former Head of the Canadian delegation to the FATF Josée Nadeau as compliance and regulatory advisors, as well as Max Baucus, the former US Senator for Montana and US Ambassador to China, to provide high-level guidance.
“These are the first of many high-profile additions to our team. We plan to double our team size by the end of the year, with qualified and experienced advisors to support,” Binance boss wrote.
The company is also partnering with RegTech firm CipherTrace to implement controls, especially with regards to anti-money laundering. It has also been working with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Interpol for future collaborations.
Binance is also localizing its operations to comply with local regulations wherever it operates, it said.
“In four years we grew from a start-up to where we are today. That’s a lot of growth in a short period of time,” he said adding that the number of compliance headcounts at Binance had grown 500 percent in one year.
