Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, says it expects to have 645 full-time compliance employees on staff by the end of the year — a 34% increase from last November — as it continues to rapidly build out its compliance department.
, agreed to pay a massive $4.3 billion fine to various U.S. regulators for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and knowingly allowing users to skirt international sanctions. As part of Binance’s settlement, founder and then-CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao agreed to step down as CEO and was sentenced to four months in prison for violating the BSA.
Though Teng’s short tenure as CEO has certainly accelerated Binance’s compliance efforts, the exchange began making an effort to be more compliant with regulators well before Zhao stepped down in November 2023. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, left the Internal Revenue Service in 2021 to join the exchange. Noah Perlman, Binance’s chief compliance officer, started in January 2023. In 2023, Binance increased its compliance spend by 36%.
Some of Binance’s recent compliance hires include people with long careers in traditional finance and government.