On November 21, as part of a pre-trial deal with the U.S. Department of Justice Changpeng Zhao (CZ) left the position of CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. His place was taken by Richard Teng.
ForkLog studied the track record of the new head of Binance and found out how former colleagues assess the platform’s prospects under his leadership.
30 years in financial services
According to official information, Richard Teng joined the Binance team in August 2021 as CEO of Binance Singapore.
Soon after, he became head of Binance in MENA, then in Europe and, ultimately, all regions outside the U.S. In this role Teng led local teams to ensure strategic partnerships, drive innovation, and expand the crypto ecosystem on the ground.
Teng has more than 30 years of experience in financial services and regulation. Before joining Binance Teng held the post of CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
In addition, he was regulatory director at the Singapore Exchange and 13 years spent as Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, covering banking, insurance and other segments of the capital markets.
Teng earned a Master of Applied Finance with honours from the University of Western Australia and a First-Class Bachelor of Accounting degree from Nanyang Technological University.
Commenting on his appointment, the new head of Binance said he would focus on cooperating with regulators “to globally uphold high standards that foster innovation and protect consumers.” He also plans to continue working with the company’s partners to drive growth and implement Web3.
It is an honour and with the deepest humility that I step into the role of Binance’s new CEO.
We operate the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume. The trust placed on us by our 150m users and thousands of employees is a responsibility that I take seriously and hold…
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) November 21, 2023
«I intend to use everything I have learned over the past 30 years in financial services and regulation to lead our wonderful, innovative, and mission-driven team», — wrote him.
What do Teng’s former colleagues say?
Changpeng Zhao was among the first to comment on Teng’s appointment.
Today, I stepped down as CEO of Binance. Admittedly, it was not easy to let go emotionally. But I know it is the right thing to do. I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, for Binance, and for myself.
Binance is no longer a baby. It is…
— CZ ? Binance (@cz_binance) November 21, 2023
«Richard is a highly qualified leader. He will drive Binance’s implementation of the next phase of security, transparency, compliance, and growth», — said the former CEO.
«This is especially important now, as regulators will closely monitor Binance to ensure it complies with all necessary requirements. Moreover, Richard has worked in regulation in the UAE, and the Middle East will remain one of the company’s key hubs», — Kostarev said.
Former Binance director in the CIS Vladimir Smerkis closely interacted with Teng in early 2023 when he began leading the exchange’s regional markets.
«He has proven to be a very caring, empathetic, and charismatic leader who is ready to give sound advice and really understands the details of operations in the markets under his supervision», — Smerkis said, pointing to Teng’s experience at ADGM and Singapore.
According to him, the new top executive has built fairly good relations within the remaining Binance team and is capable of leading the group forward:
«Of course, CZ’s charisma, his deep immersion in the issues facing the company and his vision for blockchain technology and Web3, which he shared with the team, will be sorely missed».
Binance faces a challenging task of maintaining its leadership position amid ongoing investigations and providing access to exchange data to U.S. regulators.
«Competition in the crypto-exchange space should intensify, thereby opening opportunities for new local platforms. In my view, they will be very interesting to develop and operate now», — Smerkis said.
He also stressed that following Binance, regulator pressure will shift to other leading platforms in terms of trading volumes, including OKX, Bybit, Bitget and others.
«Overall, what happened is the best scenario for Binance that could have unfolded. It could have been much worse», — Smerkis said.
Earlier, on November 21, in the course of a deal with the U.S. DOJ, Binance agreed to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion amid ongoing investigations by the agency and the SEC regarding the exchange and CZ. He was released from custody on a bail of $175 million.
Earlier, experts told ForkLog what impact the Binance case could have on the cryptocurrency industry.