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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange that pleaded guilty to US criminal charges in 2023, advises several countries on creating its own digital asset regulations and establishing national strategic Bitcoin reserves.
The company’s CEO Richard Teng told the Financial Times that US more crypto-friendly approach under President Donald Trump, including plans to set up a regulatory framework for digital assets and national stockpile, will force other countries to take similar action.
“Compared to many other jurisdictions, (US) is far ahead of that front,” Ten said.
He added that the company has been “severely approached” to a country that “from quite a few countries (help them) by developing regulatory frameworks to control crypto.” He refused to name the countries in which the company cooperated.
The news comes less than 18 months after Binance pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to money laundering and violations of international financial sanctions, and agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion in penalties. Co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao has resigned and replaced by Teng. Zhao later served in prison for four months.
Earlier this year, France deepened its investigation into the vinance of allegedly breaking European money laundering and terrorist financing laws between 2019 and 2024. Binance denied the allegations, saying it “will fight the accusations made against them.”
The United States also imposed a five-year surveillance program that came into effect last year to ensure compliance overseen by the Financial Crime Enforcement Network.
Teng said nearly a quarter of Binance’s 6,000 employees are committed to compliance and will continue to invest heavily in the sector.
He added that the company is now “in the form and form that regulators value it much more than they have in the past.”
This month, both Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan announced that Zhao has begun to advise them on the development of cryptographic regulations and the use of blockchain technology.
Rory Doyle, head of financial crime policy at Compliance Software Group Fenergo, said global money laundering rules have been updated in recent years to acquire cryptocurrency companies.
“Money laundering is a business that costs between $20 and $30 a year, crypto is becoming more mainstream, and businesses are making money from legal businesses.
Teng said the exchange is helping many countries set up preparations for national strategic digital assets.
“We actually get a considerable amount of approach from a small number of governments and sovereign funds on the establishment of our own crypto reserves.”
Last month, Trump ordered the creation of a US strategic Bitcoin reserve and a stockpile of digital assets, but traders who want the plan hoped it would spark a massive wave of government purchases of digital assets.
Bitcoin surged to a record of $108,000 per token after Trump’s victory last November. However, prices fell 10% this year as momentum faded and investors sold assets that were dangerous to fears about the impact of Trump’s aggressive tariff policy.
The United States said it would only retain assets that have been confiscated by the country’s law enforcement agencies. According to data company Arkham Intelligence, the US currently manages approximately $17.1 billion worth of Bitcoin and other coins held at Coinbase Exchange.
Bitcoin Reserve supporters argue that the US should build stockpiles that could serve as a dollar replacement. Bitcoin has been likened to digital gold by supporters as an asset that cannot be debased under central bank and government policies.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House changed the US stance on vinance. The Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator of the US market, suspended investigations into Vinance and its US division after Trump took office as president. Teng said they were working on a potential solution.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto project managed by the Trump family, is also planning to launch Stablecoin, which uses Binance’s blockchain as one of its main platforms.
Teng, who runs Binance’s international business, said the company “has benefited greatly from policies coming out of the US over the past few months. I think the sentiment has changed a lot.”
He also said that Binance is “working very hard” in the Global HQ plan for the exchange when he insisted that Zhao is not in the formal home for a long time.
“There is a need for serious deliberation, and the board and senior management spend a lot of time doing the assessment, and we hope we can announce our intentions in that respect.”
