Binance CEO Chang Peng Zhao sought to dismiss concerns around executive departures, claiming these executives are moving into bigger roles outside Binance, and said reports are market FUD.
The world’s leading crypto exchange by trading volume Binance has seen the departure of 10 key executives from various departments in the first nine months of 2023. While executive departures from a company are a norm based on their preset contractual obligations, the number of executives leaving Binance amid growing regulatory troubles has been a key talking point in the crypto community.
The latest to join the list is Helen Hai, the executive vice president of the crypto exchange, who announced her resignation from her post on Sept. 6. On the same day, Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s vice president of Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Australia, and New Zealand, also announced his resignation, as did Russia and CISgeneral manager Vladimir Smerkis.
The list of key executives to leave Binance in 2023:
- September 6, 2023: Helen Hai, Binance Executive Vice President and Head of Global Fiat, announces resignation.
- September 6, 2023: Vladimir Smerkis, general manager for Russia and CIS at Binance announced his departure.
- September 6, 2023: Gleb Kostarev, Binance Vice President of Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Australia, and New Zealand, announces his resignation.
- September 4, 2023: Mayur Kamat, Binance Product lead, announces resignation.
- August 31, 2023: Leon Foong, Binance Head of Asia-Pacific, announces resignation.
- July 7, 2023: Steven Christie, Binance senior vice president for compliance, announces resignation.
- July 6, 2023: Patrick Hillmann, Binance’s chief strategy officer, announces resignation.
- July 6, 2023: Han Ng, Binance general counsel, announces resignation.
- July 6, 2023: Steve Milton, Binance Global vice president of marketing and communications, announces resignation.
- July 6, 2023: Matthew Price, Binance Senior Director of Global Investigations and Intelligence, announces resignation
Four top executives from Binance reportedly all left on the same day after Binance’s response to the Department of Justice investigation. A Fortune report claimed that these top executives were not happy with the crypto exchange’s response. However, Binance CEO Chang Peng Zhao dismissed all such reports labelling them as FUD.
4. More FUD about some departures. Yes, there is turnover (at every company). But the reasons dreamed up by the “news” are completely wrong.
As an organization that has grown from 30 to 8000 people in 6 years, from 0 to the world’s largest crypto exchange in less than 5 months…
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) July 6, 2023
Zhao took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the growing chatter around the departure of key executives again on Sept. 6. While reposting a Cointelegraph report on the Kostarev exit, Zhao said that many members from Binance are moving into bigger roles, some outside of Binance as well.
Some of our team members are growing into bigger roles, some outside of #Binance. Some are doing new exciting ventures. I even made intros/references for many of them. We are supportive of everyone. We are one community.
This also creates more growth opportunities within…
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 6, 2023
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance to enquire about the community concerns around executive departures but Binance said they don’t have any comments to offer.
Related: Binance.US halts trading for dozens of USDT, BTC, BUSD pairs amid SEC lawsuit
Most of the executives leaving the crypto exchange have said that their departure was routine and they share a good relationship with the crypto exchange and its CEO. However, the crypto community has become a bit more sceptical about exchanges post-FTX collapse.
Binance over the years has faced regulatory troubles in more than a dozen countries. The crypto exchange on-boarded many former government officials and compliance officers to help it mitigate the regulatory complexities, however, in 2023, many of these executives have left the crypto exchange.
Magazine: Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?
