Binance US Adds Staking Services for 7 Different Crypto Assets

June 8, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Crypto startup Blockchain dot com planning 2022 IPO

April 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance.us

Blockchain.com would be just the second crypto exchange to go public in the U.S. if it can perform an IPO before Binance.US which is attempting to do the same.

Crypto exchange and block explorer Blockchain.com has begun talking with American banks to explore how it may hold an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this year.

Bloomberg reported on April 19 that sources familiar with the situation said that the talks were merely preliminary conversations and that the tech startup’s plans could change at any time.

If it succeeds in going public with an IPO, it would be only the second crypto exchange in the U.S. to pull off the feat. Coinbase was the first to go public in 2021 at an opening price of $381 per share of COIN with a valuation of nearly $100 billion.

Blockchain.com is currently valued at about $14 billion following a funding round with global venture capital firms. Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company that began as the first Bitcoin block explorer in 2011 and later created a popular crypto wallet application.

The race to be the second public crypto exchange in the U.S. is now on. Binance.US, the American branch of the largest crypto exchange in the world, also plans on going public as soon as it can demonstrate independence from the primary exchange according to founder, Changpeng Zhao.

Aiding in the exchange’s efforts is a recent $200 million seed round of funding that awarded it a pre-money valuation of $4.5 billion.

Regulatory complications have been the main hindrance keeping crypto exchange juggernauts from going public in the U.S.

Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder argues that the firm has a strong business and is working with local regulators to ensure it can list without complications.

Binance.US Valued at $4.5B in First Funding Round

April 6, 2022 The Crypto Briefing

SEC Scrutinizing Crypto Exchange Binance US — Chair Gensler Stresses ‘Basic Investor Protection’

February 16, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Former Binance US CEO Catherine Coley is still missing, and no one seems to be talking

January 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance.us

The former CEO of Binance.US hasn't been active on social media for 276 days, and no one seems to have reported seeing her for months.

Around the time Binance.US announced former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks would be leading the crypto exchange, former CEO Catherine Coley effectively dropped off the face of the digital world.

Coley, who had regularly posted updates on Binance.US and her personal life to her Twitter account, has been inactive on the social media platform since April 19. Her job experience on LinkedIn ends with her two years as CEO of Binance.US in June 2021, and her online silence has led at least one news outlet to reach out to San Francisco authorities to determine if she had been reported missing — as of October, the answer was reportedly “no”.

Major figures in crypto also noticed the absence of Coley. Ripple CTO David Schwartz said in July that the former Binance.US CEO had not responded to his messages, but he had not tried to reach her by calling. Sam Fischer, a representative for Binance.US, told Cointelegraph said that the exchange had no information on Coley “beyond the fact that she left Binance.US."

Naturally, rumors have been floating around Crypto Twitter, speculating that Coley has met an untimely end, is alive and well and vacationing in Puerto Rico, or is forced to be quiet due to some kind of unsorted legal matter related to her departure from Binance.US — none of which Cointelegraph has been able to confirm. One of her last public statements on social media in April was reporting high levels of traffic on Binance.US, but she also addressed attendees of the LA Blockchain Summit in October 2020.

Curious... Has anyone heard from Catherine Coley? We had a conversation last December before she left but nothing since and I have tried. I along with others have expressed concern about what happened to her. She also has listed her 2 yr experience with Ripple. I pray she's okay.
— Jackie P (@JackieP323) September 20, 2021

Before her disappearance, Coley was one of the most prominent names in the crypto space. As a young female leader of a major exchange, she made Forbes Magazine’s list of 40 under 40 as an influential entrepreneur in 2020.

Cointelegraph reached out to Catherine Coley, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

US Senator Asks Coinbase, Gemini, Binance, Tether How They’re Protecting Consumers

November 25, 2021 Bitcoin.com

DEXs growing faster than CEXs but Binance still sees 171M visitors in a month

November 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Binance

According to Chainalysis data the number of DEX’s doubled between Q1 2019 and Q3 2021, while the amount of CEX’s stayed around the same.

A new Chainalysis report shows that the number of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) is growing faster than all other types of crypto exchanges. But Similar Web data shows centralized exchanges are far from unpopular, with Binance seeing 171 million visitors in October.

Chainalysis published a report on crypto exchanges on Nov. 11 and provided an analysis by breaking the exchanges down by their business models including DEXs, CEXs, over-the-counter (OTC) brokers, derivatives platforms and high-risk exchanges with minimal know your customer (KYC) requirements.

According to the data, the number of DEX’s between Q1 2019 and Q3 2021 increased more than 100% to sit at around 205 as of June this year. In comparison, the number of CEX’s temporarily increased from around 100 to 120, before dipping back to the 100 region within that time frame.

The amount of OTC brokers also increased significantly, gaining around 50% to sit at the 150 mark in Q3 2021. The number of derivatives exchanges got a slight bump to around 125 in 2019, and has essentially held at the region since, while high-risk exchanges broke out during the middle of 2020 to around the 150 mark, before sharply dropping below 100 in Q3 2021.

*Growth of active crypto exchanges: Chainalysis*

“Of course, the number of active exchanges in each category isn’t the only way to judge the health of those categories. After all, cryptocurrency businesses aren’t simply trying to survive — they need to grow their userbases and transaction volumes in order to thrive,” the report said.

Across all categories however, the number of small exchanges has dropped, suggesting the exchange market can no longer support niche players. The lesson? Exchanges need to reach a mass audience, or a small audience of large-scale traders, in order to stay in business.
— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) November 10, 2021

Chainalysis emphasized that the growing popularity of DEXs over the past two years has coincided with the “explosive growth of the DeFi category in general.” The firm highlighted that the total value received by DEX’s grew from around $10 billion in July 2020 to a peak of $368 million in May 2021, marking an increase of roughly 3579%.

Binance is still the top dog

Despite facing intense scrutiny and pushback from regulators across the globe in recent months, data shows that the centralized exchange Binance still towers over its competitors.

According to data from Similar Web compiled by Finbold, Binance had the most web traffic out of all crypto exchanges in October with a total of 171 million visitors. The figure represents a 12% increase compared to the month before. Coinbase ranks second with 91 million visitors last month, and had a 31% surge in traffic compared to the month before.

Notably the third most popular exchange is PancakeSwap, a DEX that operates on the Binance Smart Chain, with 25 million visitors and a 14% month-over-month increase. While Bybit sits at fourth with 24 million (down 8% from September).

Coingecko data shows that Binance is well ahead of its competitors in terms of volume, with the platform seeing more than $33.3 billion over the past 24 hours. That figure is more than five times larger than the total of second-ranked Coinbase, which generated $6.6 billion worth of 24-volume.

On Thursday the Wall Street Journal reported that former Binance executives estimated that the firm could be worth up to $300 billion as a publicly-traded company. It is unclear when or how Binance will go public, considering its lack of a formal headquarters. However, CEO Changpeng Zhao said in September the Binance’s U.S. branch was looking at an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024.

Former Comptroller Brian Brooks gets a new gig as Bitfury CEO

November 5, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Binance.us

Former Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks has become the new CEO of Bitfury and will oversee the firm’s rapid expansion plans.

Former Comptroller of the Currency and Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks has been announced as the new CEO of crypto (BTC) mining firm BitFury.

According to a Nov. 4 announcement from Bitfury, Brooks was appointed last Friday and he will lead the firm as it prepares for a new funding round. Bitfury founder and former CEO Valery Vavilov will serve as Chief Vision Officer and the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“Mr. Brooks will lead the 10-year-old crypto unicorn as it launches a new funding round, increases the growth of its mining business with a revolutionary new microchip design and new global data center locations, and scales a portfolio of innovative businesses,” the breathless announcement read.

Bitfury’s last funding round occurred in 2018, when it raised $80 million at a valuation of $1 billion. Vavilov confirmed to Cointelegraph on Oct. 18 that the firm was considering a new fundraise via a potential initial public offering (IPO), but nothing is concrete at this stage.

Prior to this role, Brooks worked at Binance’s U.S. branch for a mere three months before resigning in August this year. Many onlookers speculated that the decision was due to prior knowledge about regulatory issues plaguing the firm.

Brooks also worked as Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer between 2018 and 2020, and is well-liked amongst the crypto community due to his strongly pro-crypto stance while serving as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

During his time at the agency between May 2020 to January 2021, Brooks oversaw the enactment of the fintech banking charter that enabled fintech firms and crypto companies to offer lending and payment products without oversight from state banking regulators.

“Brian is a respected executive and thought leader with deep regulatory, digital asset and capital markets expertise who shares Bitfury’s vision for a decentralized peer-to-peer economy,” Vavilov said.

Bitfury was established in 2011 and is one of the largest companies in the blockchain sector. It operates mobile data centers and provides a wide range of services such as crypto mining hardware design, software and artificial intelligence products.

$100M funding round for Binance.us falls through on regulatory concerns

August 20, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Despite a failed $100 million funding round leading to the resignation of Binance.us CEO, Brian Brooks, the exchange still has its sights set on launching an IPO.

Regulatory concerns surrounding Binance.us and its owner, Changpeng Zhou (CZ), have reportedly culminated in investors backing out of a $100 million funding round.

The failed funding round also prompted Binance.us CEO Brian Brooks' surprise decision to step down after serving as its executive for just three months.

Brooks, the former Acting Comptroller of the Currency and former chief legal officer to rival exchange, Coinbase, cited “strategic differences” while stepping aside. The funding round had been intended as the first step in Binance.us's path toward an initial public offering (IPO).

According to New York Times, Brooks had initially courted potential investors including Ray Lane from venture capital firm GreatPoint, and an executive at Japanese holding company, SoftBank, under assurances that Binance.us would comply with all US regulatory guidelines.

However, the investors reportedly backed out due to concerns surrounding CZ’s 90% ownership stake in Binance’s U.S.-based exchange, alongside anxieties regarding an ongoing investigation from U.S. authorities that is reportedly scrutinizing CZ over money laundering and tax issues.

NYT also reports that a lack of clear separation between the operation of Binance and Binance.us sparked concern among the investors.

Brooks publicly announced his resignation via an August 7 tweet. A spokesperson for Binance.us stated that the company would continue to take steps toward their goal of completing an IPO in the United States.

An IPO from Binance.us would put the exchange on better footing to compete with Coinbase, which completed its own IPO on April 14th. CZ hoped the investment round would allow Binance.us to gain better footing with US regulators to enable the IPO to procee.

Despite the recent troubles, CZ still appears confident that Binance.us will be able to attract the investments they need and do an IPO. He told Bloomberg in an interview published Aug. 19 that there is still interest from “top-level” investors, adding:

“Binance.US also aims to IPO in the not too distant future […] It’s just a matter of time.”

Binance has been under regulatory pressure in a range of jurisdictions in recent months. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK demanded Binance to halt all regulated activities in the UK at the end of last June. As a result of the FCA’s demand, major banks including HSBC UK have cut credit purchases to Binance.

Binance halted operations in Ontario in June after the provincial government took a hard stance against cryptocurrency trading in general. Crypto exchanges Bybit and Kucoin also came under heavy fire from legislators in the Canadian province.

Further, Binance’s elected to remove support for the Korean won (KRW) and halt Korean language support services last week as South Korea prepares to tighten its crypto regulations.

On July 3, the Thailand SEC also issued a criminal complaint again Binance for illegally operating a digital asset business in the country. The SEC reportedly issued several warnings that were ignored by the exchange.

Binance Discontinues Crypto Products and Services in South Korea

August 13, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Binance.us

Binance is still the top dog

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