“US division will receive large investment and will enter IPO”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, stated that the exchange’s US division will receive a large investment. In the words of the CEO, the company should receive a few “hundreds of millions of dollars” within two months.

The speech took place during the New Economy Forum, held this Friday (19) in Singapore. At the same event, Zhao said that the brokerage has plans to go public. However, the IPO phase is expected to take place in the medium term, over the next three years.

“Coinbase’s IPO will serve as the foundation for what we can do with Binance US. However, it’s probably better to have a few rounds of funding before then, Zhao said.”

With over $1.2 billion traded in the last 24 hours, Binance US is currently the third largest exchange in the US, behind Coinbase and Kraken.

New headquarters and regulatory challenges

During the event, Zhao also commented on establishing a physical office for Binance. The exchange has jurisdiction in Malta, but has no head office or fixed office in any country, only local representatives.

This aspect has always been a key point for Zhao, who has always argued that Binance can very well survive without a physical office. However, the CEO backtracked and said the exchange should adopt a fixed headquarters.

In September, Zhao said Binance would need “a centralized entity to work well with regulators.” That statement was echoed at the Singapore event and went further, saying that an announcement will be made shortly.

“There are some countries that are very pro-cryptocurrency and we have a headquarter setup already planned, but I can’t announce it today. We will be able to publicize this in a very short period,” Zhao said.

The CEO also highlighted that Binance is changing in terms of performance. The company started out as a technology and cryptocurrency company, but is gradually becoming a full-fledged finance company.

Binance has even faced problems in this regard, as it offered services that are restricted by regulatory bodies. For example, the company was accused of operating illegally in Brazil, offering regulated financial products without authorization from the Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM).

“In the long term, we want Binance to be a platform for other platforms, an infrastructure platform for other teams to build their platforms,” said Zhao.