Richard Teng, chief executive of Binance, said the company intends to expand its workforce by 1,000 employees by the end of 2024, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. A large portion of the company’s new hires is slated for expanding its compliance team to 700 members from the current 500.
The world’s largest crypto exchange is expected to spend over $200 million this year on regulatory compliance alone, including efforts in the U.S. following the plea deal with the Justice Department and other agencies, according to the report.
Binance entered into a plea deal with the DOJ in 2023, as the exchange and former CEO Zhao agreed to settle criminal charges for failing to prevent illicit actors from conducting crime-linked activities on the platform, among other violations. In February this year, a U.S. judge approved the plea agreement, requiring Binance to pay $4.3 billion in penalties.
The exchange is still dealing with a separate lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged that Binance offered financial securities without proper registration.
Two monitors appointed by the U.S. agencies, Forensic Risk Alliance and Sullivan & Cromwell, have already begun their assessment of the exchange’s financial statements and transaction tracking, according to Teng.
Global compliance
Teng, who replaced co-founder Changpeng Zhao as CEO last year, said Binance is receiving an increasing number of requests from law enforcement agencies globally — 63,000 so far in 2024, compared to 58,000 last year.
Earlier this month, Binance became fully available in India after it settled $2.25 million penalty with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The exchange also agreed to pay $1.75 million in a settlement with Brazil’s SEC, which banned the exchange from offering derivatives products in the country in 2020.
The Binance CEO possesses an extensive background in regulatory compliance, having served as a senior regulator at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and as the CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market.
