Highlights
Binance will always work closely with regulatory bodies and policymakers to ensure a promising future for the crypto sector is met.
Working together, Noah Perlman (Chief Compliance Officer), Steven Christie (Senior Vice President, Compliance) and Kristen Hecht (Global Head of Corporate Compliance) lead an industry-leading team of more than 750 senior and support in matters of regulatory compliance.
Regulatory compliance helps keep users safe and builds trust throughout the industry.
Meet our industry-leading compliance team and learn about their work with regulators, internal teams, and the Binance community.
Binance's dedication to regulatory compliance is a fundamental pillar of our culture and operations. Each staff member works diligently to support regulatory compliance efforts as part of their duty to users. In a time of uncertainty in the traditional financial sector, the blockchain world has an even greater need to develop and maintain compliant practices and services.
Meet the leaders of Binance's compliance team:
Noah Perlman, Director of Regulatory Compliance
Steven Christie, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Compliance
Kristen Hecht, Global Head of Corporate Compliance
Together, Noah, Steven, and Kristen work with over 750 core and support employees at Binance. Our compliance team continues to increase money freedom around the world through cooperation with regulators and international institutions. There is no better way to understand their work than by knowing their Binance stories, opinions and background.
What does the Binance Compliance team do?
First, let's take a quick look at what compliance means and what our team does to achieve this goal. Financial regulatory compliance ensures that our services, products and activities comply with local financial rules and regulations. It also helps ensure that Binance is a safe space for our users and as such, adhering to these standards is our team's goal.
To give you an idea of the scope of our work, here are some examples of what our team does.
We make sure we know who our users are through mandatory KYC (Know Your Customer) checks.
We ensure that users use Binance for permitted activities by tracking their transactions and monitoring penalties.
When we detect suspicious activity, we investigate it and, when appropriate or necessary, cooperate with authorities to assist victims.
We are thought leaders and cooperate not only with the industry but also with regulatory bodies and policy makers to ensure that rules and regulations are well-crafted and contribute to the safe growth of cryptocurrencies.
Meet our compliance leaders
Managing essential regulatory compliance requirements requires individuals with diversified experience in the financial, cryptocurrency, and regulatory sectors. That's why Binance has gone to great lengths to hire what we consider an industry-leading compliance team. We are incredibly proud of our leaders and hope the following presentations help you understand how seriously we treat this matter.
Noah Perlman, Director of Regulatory Compliance
Noah has a strong background with extensive professional experience in law enforcement, law and cryptocurrencies, making him well-suited for a career in regulatory compliance. Before joining Binance, Noah was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, and before that he spent 13 years at Morgan Stanley. Early in his career, he worked at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United States Attorney General's Office.
Noah's experience in the crypto world began when he served on a Morgan Stanley committee to evaluate cryptocurrency opportunities. “It was through that experience that I began to learn about cryptocurrencies, become interested in them, and ultimately became convinced that they would be an important part of the future of finance,” says Noah.
"I wanted to be a part of it."
Leading Binance's compliance efforts is no easy task, given its global scale and the age of the industry. Noah knows the task at hand and works daily to meet the needs of users who expect a platform that is compliant, secure, and fraud-free.
"Investing in and building a world-class compliance program is consistent with our user-centricity. Our mission, simply put, is to help Binance achieve its strategic objectives while protecting the company from regulatory, legal and regulatory risks. and reputation."
In his first months at Binance, Noah has also taken the time to get to know his team a little better. "There are people with great experience in the matter, even several senior members of the department have previously held CCO positions in other companies in the sector," he says proudly.
Noah has previously been involved in collaborative efforts with international enforcement agencies, including a recent multi-million-dollar seizure of cryptocurrency stolen from victims by a sophisticated criminal gang operating through romance scams around the world.
When it comes to regulatory compliance, Noah has a couple of tips for Binancians looking to stay safe in the crypto world.
"The rules and judgment that apply to decisions made in the traditional financial world are equally applicable to cryptocurrencies. Specifically, you should choose platforms that take risk and controls seriously. A good way to choose is know if the platform is licensed. The second is to be alert to opportunities that look too good to be true.
Kristen Hecht: Global Director of Corporate Compliance
Kristen brings over 17 years of experience to the Binance Compliance team. His experience includes working on the U.S. government's efforts to combat illicit financial activity. Additionally, Kristen also spent many years in financial crime compliance in the global banking and crypto wallet sectors.
Following a nearly nine-year stint at the US Treasury Department, Kristen moved to HSBC, where she became Head of Financial Crime Compliance at HSBC China. Kristen subsequently entered the world of cryptocurrencies at Novi Financial, a digital asset wallet solution, under its parent company Meta. Kristen's opinion on cryptocurrencies and regulatory compliance is clear:
"Cryptocurrencies, particularly blockchain technology, are the future. Creating and evolving the best regulatory compliance programs is the right thing to do as industry technology advances."
Since joining the Binance team in January 2023, Kristen has worked to support and build Binance's existing compliance program into an example of industry-leading excellence. A key part of this journey is including all staff. This ensures that everyone is informed and up-to-date on the company's compliance program, policy requirements, and Compliance team principles.
"It is crucial that the company adopts and maintains practices that comply with the law," says Kristen.
"Keeping our users' assets safe and establishing strong, trustworthy relationships with regulatory bodies around the world is a key driver of the company. It is a competitive advantage in a market where transparency is the basis of everything we do." we make."
The key to the team's success is maintaining productive and regular relationships with Binance business partners, especially in the banking and payments sector.
"I frequently work with our commercial teams to support partner relationships and requests. I explain how our compliance program is designed and how it works effectively to mitigate risks associated with products, services and users. Our goal is always to ensure that our partners meet and exceed the expectations and requirements of their regulators."
Kristen continues to develop the corporate compliance function through the design and implementation of effective and sustainable programs. These programs cover several areas, such as regulatory examination management, product compliance, risk assessments, and quality control.
Kristen acknowledges that when hiring for her team, she "always looks for the right talent, especially people committed to protecting users and effectively managing risks in a very dynamic ecosystem."
For anyone involved in the blockchain world, Kristen shares this sage advice on regulatory compliance: "Complying with regulations and maintaining the security of digital assets requires personal responsibility. Make sure you do your due diligence."
"You should know whether your digital asset service providers are committed to meeting regulatory requirements and whether they provide explanations about their regulatory compliance programs. This includes KYC requirements, fraud protection, and sanctions monitoring."
Steven Christie: Senior Vice President of Regulatory Compliance
Steven's nearly 20 years working in financial crime fighting and regulatory compliance provides him with extensive experience. His career has spanned traditional banking, real estate, foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies.
Steven entered the cryptocurrency space in 2015 after spending seven years at Bank of the West, where he held various positions, including head of the Anti-Money Laundering Investigations Department. Prior to joining Binance, Steven also spent five years as Global Head of Regulatory Compliance at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange.
“I became interested in cryptocurrencies during my time at Bank of the West, when the bank began investigating clients who invested in cryptocurrencies,” Steven recalls. The more he learned about Bitcoin through research and educational events, the more it seemed to him that the banking industry was taking the wrong approach to cryptocurrencies and their investors.
"The premise of Bitcoin also fueled the libertarian spirit that I have, which at many times conflicts with my role as a Regulatory Compliance officer."
Since Steven did not agree with the banking sector's stance on exposure to cryptocurrencies, he made the leap into the crypto industry. The rest, as they say, is history.
At Binance, Steven's goal for compliance is to unlock the widest possible range of products and services for its users. He believes Binance must be able to demonstrate a robust regulatory compliance program capable of:
Comply with the ever-changing international regulatory landscape.
Mitigate platform risks and perceived risks to Binance's strategic banking partners.
Since Steven joined, he has seen Binance build on its significant investments in people and technology. It has also seen the expansion of Binance's globally recognized compliance training and outreach programs.
"Through these programs, we have been able to train judicial agencies and bodies around the world on how to take advantage of the transparency of blockchain."
Steven is also proud of the work done to optimize the team's organizational structure. This facilitated the recruitment of highly talented experts who lead the sector in anti-money laundering investigations, enhanced due diligence and sanctions controls.
For Steven, technology has progressed in leaps and bounds during his time at Binance. "We are integrating industry-leading technology to create a rich data set that we leverage to identify risks, conduct investigations, and effectively uncover anomalies and suspicious behavior. All of this can also be customized to meet the local nuances of all the jurisdictions in which we operate. we operate."
Steven also points out the importance of each individual doing their own research (DYOR) and builds on Noah's advice for crypto enthusiasts:
“Always do your own research before deciding to invest in any product, cryptocurrency or traditional finance. If you are presented with a deal that seems too good to be true, be careful. There are no legitimate get-rich-quick schemes.”
"When you decide to invest, take the time to evaluate the platforms and companies you will trust with your assets, diversify your portfolio, and consider holding on an exchange or other third-party service only the amount of assets you need to trade. "Self-custody can greatly benefit those who take the time to learn how to use it."
Our compliance efforts are of utmost importance
Binance's efforts are fundamental to one of our core values: user-centricity. We want to ensure that users access cryptocurrencies safely and compliantly. The work of the three leaders we have highlighted today is part of a broader effort by all Binance employees to achieve our compliance goals.
With transparency and accountability on our side, we are confident that the importance that Noah, Steven, Kristen and all of us at Binance place on user security and regulatory compliance in the cryptocurrency sector is evident.
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