Boris Johnson’s brother quits Binance amid crypto-market turmoil

Last week former Universities and Science Minister Joseph Johnson resigned from his role as an adviser to Binance-backed payments company Bifinity. The Telegraph reports.

According to the report, the move was prompted by mounting scrutiny of Binance’s finances and the deepening crisis in the crypto sector.

Bifinity, headquartered in Lithuania, was launched by Binance in March this year to provide fiat-to-crypto conversion services. In its filing to U.S. regulators, the company described itself as ‘a part of Binance Group’ with Changpeng Zhao as the sole shareholder.

The brother of former British prime minister Boris Johnson has been advising Bifinity since September 2022, according to official reports, as he planned to launch his own exchange in the country.

In a comment to The Telegraph he confirmed his resignation:

I stepped down from the advisory council last week and I do not play any role in it or any organisation connected with it.

Binance said Joseph Johnson has moved to the role of executive chairman of the British educational platform FutureLearn, thereby reducing his other activities.

Earlier in December, Mazars published a report confirming Binance’s reserves. However, experts saw in it “alarm signals”.

Later Mazars removed the report and «temporarily» suspended its work with crypto companies, refusing Binance as a client.

Last week the exchange faced $6 billion outflow.

After that, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that the platform has sufficient liquidity, so that, if necessary, all clients could withdraw 100% of their assets.

Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — crypto-news, rates and analytics.