For years, Binance has dodged questions on the place it plans to ascertain a company headquarters. On Monday, the world’s largest crypto trade made an announcement that signifies it has chosen a location: Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
In its announcement, Binance reported that it has secured three world monetary licenses inside Abu Dhabi International Market, a particular financial zone contained in the Emirati metropolis. The licenses regulate three completely different prongs of the trade’s enterprise: its trade, clearinghouse, and dealer seller providers. The three regulated entities are named Nest Alternate Restricted, Nest Clearing and Custody Restricted, and Nest Buying and selling Restricted, respectively.
Richard Teng, the co-CEO of Binance, declined to say whether or not Abu Dhabi is now Binance’s world headquarters. “However for all intents and functions, when you take a look at the regulatory sphere, I believe the worldwide regulators are extra involved of the place we’re regulated on a world foundation,” he mentioned, including that Abu Dhabi International Market is the place his crypto trade’s “world platform” will likely be ruled.
An organization spokesperson declined so as to add extra to Teng’s feedback, however didn’t deny Fortune’s assertion that Binance seems to have chosen Abu Dhabai as its headquarters.
Company governance
The Abu Dhabi announcement means that Binance, which has for years taken satisfaction in branding itself as an organization with no fastened location, is bowing to the sensible concerns that go together with being a significant monetary agency—and the company governance obligations that entails.
When Changpeng Zhao, the cofounder and former CEO of Binance, launched the corporate in 2017, he initially established the trade in Hong Kong. However, weeks after he registered Binance within the metropolis, China banned cryptocurrency buying and selling, and Zhao moved his nascent buying and selling platform. Binance has since been itinerant. “Wherever I sit goes to be the Binance workplace,” Zhao mentioned in 2020.
The situation of an organization’s headquarters impacts its tax obligations and what laws it must comply with. In 2023, after Binance reached a landmark $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Division of Justice, Zhao stepped down as CEO and pleaded responsible to failing to implement an efficient anti-money laundering program.
Teng took over and promised to implement the company buildings—like a board of administrators—which can be the norm for corporations of Binance’s dimension. Teng, who now shares the CEO function with the newly appointed Yi He, oversaw the appointment of Binance’s first board in April 2024. And he’s repeatedly telegraphed that his crypto trade is targeted on regulatory compliance.
Binance already has a robust footprint within the Emirates. It has a crypto license in Dubai, acquired a $2 billion funding from an Emirati enterprise fund in March, and, that very same month, mentioned it employed 1,000 staff within the nation.
