Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says its US crypto exchange is planning for an IPO in 3 years


The founder and CEO of Binance, the
world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Chanpeng Zhao
(popularly known as CZ), has announced on 2nd September that its US division
is planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) within the next three
years, according to ‘The Information’.
“Binance.US is just going to do what
Coinbase did,” CZ told The Information via a Zoom interview on Wednesday. He
added further that its US platform is set to close on a large private
fundraising round in the next 2 months which should reduce his control of the
board. In the last year, Binance faced a huge profit from $800 million to $1
billion.
Konstantin Anissimov, executive director
of crypto exchange CEX.IO, also noted that CZ’s “hints about potentially going
public are not surprising.” However, he explained that while an IPO would
“definitely be a win” for Binance.US or any other exchange, this is not
something that just “happens” to a company.
A successful IPO would help to
legitimize Binance.US in the eyes of American regulators and may even have a
positive effect on the broader crypto industry. Because of several local
regulatory restrictions, the global entity Binance impelled to launch a
strictly American platform in September 2019. Besides, Americans were
eventually striped from using Binance’s global platform in November 2020.
According to Konstantin Anissimov, for
its U.S. arm to successfully go public, it may be forced to "structurally
and substantially disassociate" from the larger Binance entity if it
decides against completely opening its books.
After Coinbase’ public debut,
Binance also thought of initial public offering the opportunities to access
substantial capital, provide liquidity to the core team, develop banking
relationships, establish new partnerships.
According to Mati Greenspan, founder of
crypto analytics firm Quantum Economics remarked that “A listing on a public
stock exchange represents a coming to the light for many companies. Especially
in the U.S. and particularly in crypto where the regulatory landscape has been
a particular barrier…Every crypto company that is traded on the big exchanges
is a huge win for the entire sector.”

Joyashree Dey
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA