Binance US Arm May Go Public by 2024, CEO Says
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told tech publication The Information that depending on business growth, the American outpost of the world’s biggest crypto exchange is eyeing a potential IPO route to go public within three years.
CZ told the outlet in a Zoom interview that Coinbase, which became the first crypto exchange to go public, helped set up a playbook for crypto firms to do IPOs.
“Binance.US is just going to do what Coinbase did,” he said. However, CZ said Binance has an edge over Coinbase in terms of how much fees the crypto traders have to pay.
“The users using Binance.US pay about one-fifth of the fees that they pay on Coinbase – so it’s about five times cheaper,” he added.
Although the company generated $800 million–$1 billion in profit last year, Binance.US is looking at a proper way to get VC money. Namely, CZ expects the US affiliate to close a large private funding round within the next two months in a bid to reduce its dependence on the global parent entity.
“So if the business can grow consistently over the next three years, then three years should be sufficient for an IPO. If there’s a prolonged bear market for, I don’t know, maybe three or five years, then it may be a little bit longer,” he further explains.
This isn’t the first time Changpeng Zhao has said that Coinbase’s IPO essentially laid out the blueprint for other crypto players to copy. Speaking at the blockchain virtual summit REDeFiNE Tomorrow 2021, the CEO said in July that Brian Armstrong’s rival exchange had given a clear path, and that Binance would aim to follow in its footsteps.
Binance has launched its operations in the US market in late 2019 via a partnership with a FinCEN-registered company, BAM Trading Services. The exchange has licensed its matching engine and wallet technologies to its US partner, which handles operations in compliance according to local regulations.
CZ also revealed that he expects Binance to face heavy scrutiny in the future as the influential exchange is shifting from “a tech startup to a financial service.”
Binance is already facing a growing regulatory crackdown on multiple fronts. Most recently, Singapore’s financial regulator banned the influential crypto exchange from offering its services in the country.
