Governments
and financial watchdogs are paying closer attention to the cryptocurrency
industry, often putting in place rules that pose a challenge for exchanges like
Binance that have thrived in a mostly unregulated environment.
Zhao made
the remarks after Binance came under concerted scrutiny from regulators worried
that its cryptocurrency exchanges could be used for money laundering or that
investors fall victim to scams and runaway bets.
Financial
authorities in Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Lithuania and
Thailand have all recently raised concerns about Binance.
Speaking to
journalists, Zhao gave a frank assessment of the challenges, saying that he
wanted to improve relations with regulators. He said Binance would seek their
approval and establish regional headquarters, breaking with its decentralised
structure.
While
emphasising that he did not intend to leave immediately, Zhao also said he was
open to handing over the reigns to a successor.
"This
is not a situation where I am forced to step down," Zhao told journalists,
adding that he was willing to pass control to someone who could do a
"better job".
"I'm a
technology entrepreneur. We are doing this pivot to be a regulated financial
institution and I would be very open to look for a leader with strong
regulatory background."
Separately,
he said Binance would seek approval by regulators. "We want to be licensed
everywhere ... From now on, we're going to be a financial institution,"
Zhao said, adding this would mark a maturation from its startup origins.
Binance
offers a wide range of services to users across the globe, including crypto
spot and derivatives trading.
It also
runs an exchange that allows users to trade directly with each other. Its own
cryptocurrency, Binance Coin, is the fourth-biggest in the world.
Responding
to regulatory pressure, Binance curbed some services on cryptocurrency bets,
highly leveraged positions and trading with tokens linked to shares.
Binance has
grown its trading volumes almost tenfold in the last year to $668 billion last
month, data from UK researcher CryptoCompare shows.
It is
growing in popularity in Britain, for example, where its app has been
downloaded 1.8 million times in 2021, and 2.2 million times in total, according
to mobile data firm Sensor Tower.
Recently,
however, Britain's financial watchdog barred Binance from carrying out
regulated activities.
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