Original author: Wandering Squirrel
The dust has settled. On November 22, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao announced his resignation as CEO. I made a mistake and I must take responsibility. At the same time, Richard Teng will take over as Binance CEO.
This is not surprising.
In June of this year, Bloomberg published an article titled “Binance’s regulatory woes pave the way for CZ’s successor,” predicting that if CZ resigns due to regulatory woes, Richard Teng will likely become the next Binance CEO.
The market is often one step ahead. As early as 1 a.m. on November 22, before the US Department of Justice officially announced the news, a MEME token named Richard Teng appeared on Uniswap.
For most people, the name Richard Teng is quite unfamiliar. In fact, he is not a Binance old man. According toLinkedinAccording to his profile, Richard Teng joined Binance in 2021. It has only been 2 years and 4 months since then and he has experienced 5 consecutive jumps.
Richard Teng initially served as CEO of Binance’s Singapore subsidiary before being promoted to Binance’s head of the Middle East and North Africa in December 2021 and appointed in November 2022 to also oversee European affairs (Europe, Middle East and Head of North Africa), and then in April 2023, he was appointed to also be responsible for Asia (Head of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa), and in May 2023, he was responsible for all markets outside the United States.
One of the important time points is November 2022. Since then, Teng’s position has been rapidly promoted.
November 2022 was the time of the FTX thunder. The bankruptcy of FTX had a huge impact on the cryptocurrency industry. It not only caused losses to investors, but also reminded key institutions in various countries and caused them to pay attention to the cryptocurrency industry. Re-examination, leaning toward stricter regulation of the crypto industry.
After the collapse of FTX, Binance, as the world’s largest centralized exchange, had to face the greatest regulatory pressure.
So, since then, we have continued to see news about various regulatory agencies and Binance being superimposed.
In February 2023, the BUSD issuer stated that it would stop BUSD minting issuance at the request of the regulator of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
In March, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of a civil lawsuit in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, accusing Changpeng Zhao and three entities of multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.
In April, officials from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) asked Binance to provide more information about its ownership structure, governance and audit procedures.
In May, Binance announced that due to changes in regulatory policies, it would proactively launch the Canadian market and no longer provide services to Canadian users.
In June, the U.S. SEC sued Binance and Changpeng Zhao on 13 charges, including operating an unregistered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency.
……
In this harsh regulatory environment, Richard Teng was promoted quickly because of his ability to deal with regulatory agencies in various countries.
Looking through Richard Tengs previous resume, he has a Singaporean Chinese background, Wharton Business School, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Abu Dhabi International Financial Center... Teng has a bright label.
Richard Teng studied as an undergraduate at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore from 1991 to 1994. After graduating from university in 1994, he joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and stayed there for 13 years until he left in 2007. During his tenure, he took the lead in formulating and managing securities regulations. Together with the Futures Act, it also governs Singapores takeover and merger norms and regulates takeover and merger transactions in Singapore.
While working at MAS in Singapore, Richard Teng also studied at two universities overseas, namely the University of Western Australia and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a world-renowned business school.
In 2007, after Richard Teng left MAS, he came to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and stayed there for 7 years and 6 months. He rose through the ranks and became the Chief Compliance Officer. He worked closely with MAS Singapore to maintain a fair, orderly and transparent market.
In March 2015, Richard Teng joined Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and served as CEO for 6 years. During this period, ADGM was rated as the Best Financial Market in the Middle East and North Africa four times in a row. Good IFC”.
Later, he will join Binance in 2021. Overall, Richard Teng’s resume is excellent, especially since he has more than 20 years of experience in government-related agencies and is the formulator and enforcer of regulatory regulations. This experience may help Binance overcome the regulatory challenges it faces. challenges.
In a Twitter Space, CZ mentioned that Richard Teng was introduced by an employee of the Central Bank of Singapore and that he decided to officially take up the position two weeks after talking with Richard Teng.
Binance co-founder He Yi also previously expressed his recognition of Richard Teng in an interview, “I think he is an experienced professional manager. Since he joined Binance, his scope has been continuously expanding, and we all like it. and recognition of Richard.”
Richard Teng also reminds the author of another large company executive, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi, who is also a Singaporean, graduated from a prestigious school, and has a financial background. TikTok also faces regulatory pressure from the United States and other countries. Compared with a Chinese, Singaporean People are better suited to respond, and it also helps to better manage a national team.
After taking over as CEO of Binance, Richard Teng posted on social platforms, revealing that his future work priorities are:
1) Allow users to maintain confidence in the company’s financial strength and security;
2) work with regulators to maintain high standards of compliance globally and promote innovation while providing important consumer protections;
3) Work with partners to promote the development and adoption of Web3.
Everyone will wait and see what the new Binance will look like under the leadership of Richard Teng.
