For several years, Binance kept its connection to China hidden, despite claims from management that the exchange left the country at the end of 2017. Writes about it FT with reference to internal correspondence of the company.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and other top executives allegedly instructed employees on multiple occasions to hide the exchange’s presence in China. The latter included running an office until at least the end of 2019 and using a local bank to pay salaries.
At the end of 2019, employees discussed a media report about Binance’s plans to establish a headquarters in Beijing.
In 2018, the company’s Chinese workers were told that wages would be paid through a bank in Shanghai. According to the FT, in the middle of the year, one of the employees welcomed the expansion of the team, expressing the hope that newcomers “will enjoy working here.”
In 2019, Chinese payroll employees were asked to attend an in-office tax session. The company also continued to expand local staff, including a data analyst and clearing specialist.
From a work email, it appears that the company instructed newcomers on how to properly use a VPN to hide their location.
Binance said members of the original team left Shanghai two months after the exchange was established. The company is said to have “never been a registered legal entity in China.”
On March 27, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil lawsuit against the exchange and Changpeng Zhao.
In January, media outlets reported that U.S. authorities were investigating hedge fund ties to Binance. Before that, it became known that the US Department of Justice was weighing the possibility of filing criminal charges against the company.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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