Binance U.S. will be closing a pre-IPO funding round in the next one to two months, the founder and CEO of the exchange’s parent company, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on Nov. 19.
- CZ previously said Binance U.S. is raising money before an attempt to go public in three years. When asked about these plans, CZ said “that will come out” and the funding round itself will “close in about a month or two.” The exchange is raising “a couple hundred million” in the round, CZ said, although he said he was not clear on the exact number.
- An earlier effort to raise funding was thwarted by investor concerns over its independence from Binance U.S.’s parent company, the New York Times reported.
- Binance, the global crypto exchange CZ started in 2017, has also set up an entity for its global headquarters and is currently communicating with regulators around the world, the CEO said. He named France, the U.A.E., and Singapore as crypto-friendly jurisdictions, but did not say where the actual headquarters was.
- CZ did not rule out an IPO for the Binance global entity, but said it is a much larger company and it would have to look into where it could become a publicly traded firm.
- “To be honest, in five, 10 years, we might see crypto exchanges merge with stock exchanges,” which means that Binance.com could list on a crypto exchange.
- At the forum in Singapore, CZ said that the only connection between Binance and Binance U.S. is that he sits on Binance U.S.’s board. He claimed he is not involved in the U.S. exchange’s day-to-day operations and doesn’t have the American unit’s Slack, which the company uses for internal communications, installed on his phone. CZ has a call with the company’s CEO about once a week, he said. Binance.com provides the product and technology for Binance U.S., he said.
- The exchange is considering lowering fees for users, CZ said at the event, adding that he believes in maximizing shareholder value in the longterm.
