What is the SEC lawsuit against Binance?

The Key Legal Issue: Are Cryptocurrencies Securities? On June 5, 2023, the SEC sued Binance in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the company had unlawfully operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency, among other charges.

How many employees does Binance have?

7,000 Binance / Number of employees (2023)

Why did the US ban Binance?

Without an effective AML program, Binance caused transactions between U.S. users and users in jurisdictions subject to U.S. sanctions. These illegal transactions were a clear and foreseeable result of Zhao's decision to prioritize Binance's profit and growth over compliance with the BSA .

Why is Binance not allowed in the US?

The reason why US citizens are not allowed on Binance in the USA is due to regulatory compliance . Binance, as a cryptocurrency exchange, must adhere to the regulations and laws set by different countries, including the United States.

Who is the richest person in Binance?

Changpeng Zhao , known as "CZ," founded Binance, which rapidly grew to be the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by daily trading volume. With a net worth estimated at $39.6 billion as of March 2024, Zhao's story reflects the fast-paced and unpredictable world of cryptocurrency.

Who is the richest man in Binance?

For the third year running, Changpeng Zhao , founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, is crypto's wealthiest person. Despite pleading guilty to U.S. money laundering charges in November, CZ, as he's known, is now worth an estimated $33 billion, up from $10.5 billion last year.

What is the highest salary at Binance?

The highest-paying job at Binance is a Head - Business Development with a salary of ₹15,09,668 per year (estimate). The lowest-paying job at Binance is a Customer Service Representative with a salary of ₹7,43,449 per year (estimate).

Why did Binance get sued by SEC?

The regulator also accused Binance of unlawfully facilitating trading of several crypto tokens the SEC deemed unregistered securities . Much of the SEC's case hinges on whether crypto assets traded on Binance's trading platform are securities that fall under the SEC's oversight.

What is the controversy with Binance?

According to the indictment, Binance violated sanctions by facilitating more than 1.1 million transactions between Americans and Iranians . Nearly $900 million was exchanged in total throughout these transactions.

Is Binance under SEC investigation?

The SEC sued Binance Holdings Ltd., BAM Trading Services, BAM Management U.S. and Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao last year , alleging that Binance Holdings (the entity behind the bigger, global cryptocurrency exchange) and BAM Trading (which does business as Binance.US) are violating U.S. securities laws.

What is the issue with Binance?

Binance has recently come under the scrutiny of the Federal Government, facing allegations of money laundering, illegal operations, financial terrorism, and tax evasion , among other concerns.

Binance lays off non-performers amid shrinking market share (2024)

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Quick Take

Crypto exchange Binance has laid off non-performers and non-culturally fit people.
The move comes two months after Binance said it had no plans to cut jobs.

Binance has laid off a portion of its workforce as the crypto exchange behemoth’s market share continues to shrink.

Responding to Wu Blockchain’s tweet about Binance’s layoffs, a spokesperson of the exchange told The Block, “We periodically review how we can best allocate our talent to the right teams with the right resources. And sometimes, this inevitably leads to letting go of some employees who might not be performing well or who might not be the right cultural fit.”

"This is not a case of rightsizing, but rather, reevaluating whether we have the right talent and expertise in critical roles, and therefore we will still be seeking to fill hundreds of open roles. This will include looking at certain products and business units to ensure our resources are allocated properly to reflect the evolving demands of users and regulators," they added.

Binance's total headcount before the move was around 8,000. The exchange declined to comment on the size of the cuts.

The layoffs come two months after Binance reportedly said in March that it is "not planning any layoffs" and is instead trying to fill another 500 roles by the end of June. Binance still has over 300 open positions on its website.

In January, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the company was planning to increase the number of staff by between 15% and 30% in 2023. "We will continue to build and hopefully we will ramp up again before the next bull market," he said at the time.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has witnessed a declining market share over the past few months, as The Block reported recently. Binance's sliding market share has coincided with a decline in overall trading volumes. Recent U.S. regulatory action against Binance and Zhao in March might also be a contributing factor to the lower market share.

"Binance has a 'bottom out' (we should probably rename it to something else) program," Zhao said Wednesday on Twitter. "We constantly say goodbye to people who are not strong fits with the company. Many of them are great people or high performers, but may not fit our unique culture/situation."

"This 'program' is constant," he added. "I push for it on a weekly basis. There are no % of people we have to 'push out.'"

Binance, meanwhile, remains bullish on the future. "Delivering for our users remains our number one priority, as always, and long-term, we’re excited about the growth we’re seeing in our organization — new user registration remains strong and we’re very bullish about the pipeline of innovation across the Binance ecosystem," the company spokesperson said.

Binance spokesman Patrick Hillmann said the company regularly goes through a "talent density audit and resource allocation exercise every six months or so." He said the layoffs were not cost-cutting measures.

"This is a cyclical process," he wrote in a thread on Twitter. "Like previous exercises, this will be done after several teams (including HR, Risk, and Operations) finalize that talent density audit. There is no specific number, just direction on where we need to streamline."

(Updates with comments from Binance spokesman and Binance CEO)

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [emailprotected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.

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Binance lays off non-performers amid shrinking market share (2024)

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