Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
Binance
The world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao ("CZ") with a token sale that raised ~$15m, which grew faster than any exchange before it by listing tokens quickly, charging low fees and treating licensing and customer identification as obstacles rather than conditions. For years it served large numbers of American customers from offshore while presenting a separate, smaller US affiliate, Binance.US, as the face it showed US regulators. That gap closed in 2023. The CFTC sued in March, the SEC in June, and on 21 November 2023 Binance pleaded guilty to US anti-money-laundering, unlicensed money-transmitting and sanctions violations and agreed to resolutions with the Justice Department, FinCEN, OFAC and the CFTC totalling about $4.3bn, the largest corporate penalties in Treasury's history. CZ pleaded guilty, paid a $50m fine, stepped down and served four months in a US prison in 2024. The policy turn of 2025 then reversed much of the pressure: the SEC dropped its case in May 2025, Abu Dhabi's MGX invested $2bn paid in the Trump-family-linked USD1 stablecoin, and President Trump pardoned Zhao on 23 October 2025. Binance remains under US monitorships and, in 2026, faced reported Justice Department scrutiny over Iran-linked flows.
At a glance
- Founded
- July 2017 (exchange launched 14 July 2017, reported) by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, initially in Shanghai
- Founders
- Changpeng Zhao (CZ), former OKCoin CTO and Blockchain.info developer; Yi He, co-founder and later co-CEO (reported, verify title)
- Headquarters
- None formally declared for most of its life; operated through entities in Malta, Cayman Islands, Seychelles and elsewhere; Abu Dhabi (ADGM) global licence effective 5 January 2026 (company, reported)
- Ownership / structure
- Private. Binance Holdings Ltd (Cayman) at the top; CZ reported to own a large majority (~90%, reported, verify); MGX minority stake (2025). US affiliate BAM Trading Services (Binance.US) is a separate company majority-owned by CZ (reported)
- Leadership
- Richard Teng, CEO since 21 November 2023; Yi He co-founder (co-CEO reported from December 2025, verify); CZ no longer in management under the plea terms
- Segment and clients
- Crypto exchange: spot, derivatives (perpetual futures), earn/staking, launchpad, wallet, BNB Chain ecosystem; retail and institutional traders worldwide
- Scale
- >300m registered users; 2025 trading volume ~$34tn across products, spot >$7.1tn (company, January 2026, reported)
- Profit
- Not disclosed; reported in the tens of billions of revenue in peak years (verify)
- Penalties
- ~$4.3bn US resolutions (Nov 2023); CZ $50m criminal fine, $150m CFTC penalty (credited)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- ICO and BNB (2017); offshore growth and jurisdiction-hopping (2018–19); Binance.US (2019); FTX exit, FTT sale and failed rescue (2021–22); CFTC and SEC suits (2023); DOJ/Treasury/CFTC guilty plea (2023); CZ's sentence and compliance rebuild (2024); MGX stake, SEC dismissal and CZ pardon (2025)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2017
Founding ICO and BNB
Founding / funding round (initial coin offering)
2018
Offshore Growth and Jurisdiction Hopping
Expansion / regulatory strategy
2019
Binance US Launch
Launch / market entry (US affiliate)
2022
FTX Exit FTT Sale and Failed Rescue
Divestiture (2021 exit from FTX) / public token sale / acquisition abandoned (November 2022)
2023
CFTC and SEC Lawsuits
Regulatory enforcement (civil suits) and the response to them
2023
DOJ Treasury CFTC Guilty Plea
Regulatory settlement (corporate guilty plea and civil resolutions)
2024
CZ Sentence and Compliance Rebuild
Restructuring / leadership change (post-plea governance and compliance build-out)
2025
MGX Stake SEC Dismissal and CZ Pardon
Funding round (minority investment) / regulatory reversal / presidential pardon