As Bloomberg reports, Binance chief executive Richard Teng, seen as the possible heir to billionaire Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, has come to the fore for his role as CEO, from government official to crypto executive.
Richard Teng, a Singaporean, spent 13 years with the Singapore monetary authority. It is known that Teng has worked in senior management positions in many companies and institutions in the Abu Dhabi Free Trade Zone.
Richard Teng May Replace Changpeng "CZ" Zhao on Binance Exchange
According to people with direct knowledge of the matter, Teng emerged as the foremost person to take over as CEO if Zhao leaves the position.
The people in question said that the takeover issue has become even more urgent as the US regulatory scrutiny of Binance has increased in recent months.
Binance's payment partner in Australia abruptly stopped payments, meaning local customers were unable to deposit Australian dollars on the platform via wire transfer.
The blow to business came at a time, and Binance stopped all Australian trading pairs and local currency bank withdrawals about two weeks later.
At the end of March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance and Zhao for alleged violations of derivatives regulations, accusing Binance of having "fake" compliance.
Binance still processes more transactions than all other centralized crypto exchanges combined, but its position has never looked more volatile.
At least four US federal agencies are investigating or sanctioning Binance.
Regulators in Canada and Australia are also reviewing Binance's activities. Even Dubai, seen as a Zhao-adopted and free-floating crypto hub, has tightened its scrutiny on license applicants, including Binance.
Binance described the allegations in Bloomberg's report as media speculation, but did not directly deny the allegations.
*Not investment advice.
