One week after CZ left: Funds flowing into Binance rebounded, and his successor is confident about the future

Author: Weilin
Editor: Wen Dao
On November 27, Binance’s new CEO Richard Teng published his first blog post after taking office on Binance’s official blog, just six days after Binance reached a settlement with multiple US regulatory authorities.
On November 21, Binance ended its investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other departments at the cost of a $4.3 billion fine and the resignation of its former CEO Zhao Changpeng (nicknamed CZ). Richard Teng, former head of global regional markets, took over as CEO.
After the "CZ era", will the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange fall from grace? "In fact, we are stronger today than ever before." Richard said confidently in his first blog post.
At least the data gave him confidence. Almost a week after the incident, some third-party data about Binance exceeded market expectations.
The total assets in the on-chain Binance wallets collected by blockchain data platform Nansen are US$63.504 billion, which is a slight increase compared to the US$64.519 billion shown by the statistics website on the first day of the incident; DeFiLlama data shows that the on-chain TVL of BNBChain in the Binance ecosystem remains around US$2.94 billion, with almost no shrinkage in the past week; the daily decline of on-chain Gas BNB has also narrowed from 10% on the day of the incident to 2%.
No matter how the “RT era” will begin, Binance’s resilience will lay the foundation for its new leaders, and Teng buried three key words in his 850-word blog post - stability, growth, and compliance.
Inflows to Binance Rebound
If we were to summarize Richard Teng’s blog post in a simplified version, it would be: Binance users’ assets are always safe, its financial strength is not affected, it will continue to grow its user base, and it will work with regulators to achieve compliance.
The data is probably the reason why Richard is confident enough to state the first two points.
The DeFiLlama website shows that on November 22, due to the incident, the outflow of funds from Binance Exchange was US$1.268 billion, but this did not affect the total assets in the on-chain Binance wallet. The third-party crypto asset data website Nansen disclosed that the total assets in the on-chain Binance wallet on the first day of the incident were US$63.504 billion. At present, 6 days have passed since then, and the total assets in the on-chain Binance wallet have risen slightly to US$64.519 billion.
In addition, data from Tokeninsight shows that Binance’s 24-hour spot and derivatives trading volume has remained stable over the past week, reaching $36.05 billion on November 27.
Binance’s 24-hour spot and derivatives trading volume (Tokeninsight)
According to research firm Bernstein, Binance’s customer outflows were lower than expected, “indicating continued trust among its international customers and a solid market position.”
In addition to centralized businesses, on-chain businesses within the Binance ecosystem were also not affected by the incident. DeFiLlama shows that the on-chain TVL of BNBChain within the Binance ecosystem remains around US$2.94 billion, with almost no shrinkage in the past week.
The only thing affected should be the price of BNB, the Gas token on the BNBChain chain. Stimulated by the incident, BNB fell by 10% on November 21, and narrowed to 2% on November 27, closing at $227.42 on the day.
Such data performance has exceeded the expectations of many industry practitioners. Analysts at Matrixport predict that Binance is not only likely to recover, but will likely experience significant growth. “This settlement with multi-sector U.S. regulators marks the end of a long period of legal uncertainty over Binance.”
In addition to third-party data, Binance’s internal data also provides support for Richard Teng’s goal of “maintaining growth”.
On November 14, Binance’s public Merkle Tree Proof of Reserve (POR) data showed that the current BTC on-chain reserves were 609,310.54 BTC, the user net balance was 584,659.077 BTC, and the reserve ratio was 104.22%. Currently, the reserve information of the other 31 digital assets provided by Binance’s POR system shows that the ratios are all over 100%.
Binance’s Proof of Reserves (POR) system shows that the reserve ratios of its 32 assets are all over 100%
In his blog post, Richard also mentioned Binance’s “Investor Protection Fund” (SAFU) to protect user assets in extreme situations. Currently, the fund’s BTC account address shows that it is currently worth US$602 million, and the BNB and USDT accounts are worth US$309 million.
"Please rest assured that your assets are safe." This sentence by Richard in his job blog has been verified at least from the level of Binance's asset reserves. He emphasized that there is no debt in Binance's capital structure, expenditures are within a reasonable range, and there are still considerable income and profits.
Is Binance’s regulation good for the industry?
After this incident, many industry insiders pointed out that the regulatory constraints on Binance, the world's largest exchange, have cleared regulatory obstacles for the market to a certain extent.
On November 23, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) stated in a research report that Binance’s settlement with the US government is positive for the crypto industry and exchanges. Trading on exchanges "will significantly reduce potential systemic risks" to the broader market, the report noted.
Sam Callahan, chief analyst at cryptocurrency financial services firm Swan Bitcoin, echoed that stance, calling the settlement a sign that the crypto industry is maturing and moving forward on a more stable footing.
Mike Novogratz, CEO of digital asset investment firm Galaxy Digital, was more direct, stating that the Binance settlement agreement was a "major positive" for the cryptocurrency industry.
The rapid accumulation in the early days of its business laid a strong market foundation for Binance. Of course, it has now paid the price for its early radicalism, but fortunately, the new leader Richard Teng has rich regulatory experience. Industry insiders welcome the arrival of Binance’s "RT era". Some even believe that this may be crucial to the next major step in the crypto industry: the approval of a Bitcoin ETF.
Currently, several companies such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton are working to launch Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States. Once officially approved, the issuer needs to obtain Bitcoin from the market. Although most companies applying for funds usually reach an agreement with Coinbase, the process of determining the universal price of assets (discovering prices) mainly occurs on Binance.
"Coinbase is not the world's largest crypto liquidity venue, but Binance is." Michael Rinko, an analyst at research firm Delphi Digital, said that if regulators are actively investigating Binance, "how can any ETF be approved?" Rinko predicted that a settlement between U.S. regulators and Binance may be the last step required to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF. "
New CEO emphasizes cooperation with policymakers
"We have turned the page on the historical challenges that Binance has faced. In fact, we are stronger today than ever before." In his new blog post, Richard repeatedly emphasized the importance of cooperating with regulators and moving towards compliance to Binance's development.
He disclosed that over the past two years, Binance has recruited, hired and retained the right personnel to strengthen Binance's compliance program and culture, and systematically addressed past compliance issues.
According to information publicly disclosed by Binance on November 21, Binance's new leadership will oversee a compliance team of hundreds of people, including more than 60 people who have worked in law enforcement agencies or regulatory agencies, and more than 200 people who have obtained professional compliance certificates (including AML expert certificates). In addition to the core compliance team, Binance also employs hundreds of operations, product and technical personnel to support the development and execution of the company's compliance program.
Richard's emphasis on increased compliance is not only related to the current Binance incident, but also to his own career experience.
Richard Teng disclosed that Binance has recruited, hired and retained the right people to address past compliance issues‍
Richard, 52, is a Singaporean who has worked at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for 13 years.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is the government agency that performs the functions of the central bank of Singapore and is also the competent authority responsible for supervising financial institutions. During this period, Richard has regulatory experience in the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors. He participated in the extensive reform of Singapore's financial services industry in the late 1990s, taking the lead in promoting the development of the private banking and capital markets sectors. In addition, he led the formulation and implementation of the Securities and Futures Act and developed a regulatory framework for real estate investment trusts (REITS), business trusts and trust companies.
Richard held various senior positions at Singapore Exchange (SGX), most recently as Chief Regulatory Officer, from September 2007 to February 2015, before joining Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) as Chief Executive Officer, a position he held for six years.
Richard joined Binance in August 2021 and served as CEO of the Singapore region. Soon after, he began to be responsible for the Middle East and North Africa region and the European region, and finally as the head of Binance regional markets, he was responsible for all regions outside the United States.
This manager, who has extensive experience in regulatory policy, has always emphasized the benefits of working with policymakers in his public speeches after joining Binance.
In September this year, Richard said in an interview with Token 2049 in Singapore, “We must remember that our interests are very consistent with the interests of policymakers and regulators. What are these interests? The health of the market, the protection of users, the security of the platform, if you focus on these things, this is what policymakers and regulators are concerned about.”
He also understands the interests of regulators. “They want to see economic growth and they want to see new talent developed in this field. So, again, it is very important to understand their starting point, understand your needs, and communicate effectively.”
Richard's past views on the crypto industry are consistent with his comments in his new blog post at Binance. It is foreseeable that compliance will become an important task for him after he takes charge of Binance.
The CZ era has passed, and the RT era has officially begun. No matter how the new official will lead Binance, Binance 2.0 has basically set the tone for the crypto asset industry: even the world's largest crypto asset exchange must be cautious in facing the supervision of various countries and be responsible for the consumers of crypto assets. Who can escape this theme?