Binance is holding preliminary talks with a number of sovereign wealth funds about investing in its global entity, founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao told the Financial Times in an interview today. He did not name any specific funds.
A bid to improve strained relationship with regulators
According to Zhao, a stake in his company belonging to sovereign wealth funds would improve the perception of the world’s biggest exchange by regulators worldwide. He added with some caution:
It may also tie us to specific countries…which we want to be slightly careful with.
Binance has been scrutinized by regulators in countries including Japan, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa.
Binance US to close hundreds of millions’ worth of pre-IPO funding
In the next few weeks, Binance’s U.S. entity will close pre-IPO funding of “a couple hundred million”, Zhao added. Binance is also making an effort to set up a global head office in a 180-degree turn from its decentralized operations model.
Investor concerns thwarted an earlier effort to close funding. The New York Times reported that investors were worried about Binance US’ independence from the parent company.
Their fourth office in tax haven Ireland
The exchange registered a fourth legal entity in Ireland, the Irish Independent reported. Binance is considering Ireland for its global head office, Zhao confirmed to Reuters in October. The CEO said his company was ready to ‘settle down’ after years of decentralized operations in an effort to ease compliance woes.
Binance already has three companies in Ireland. The latest entity is called Binance Exchange (Ie). However, there’s never anything certain. In November, CEO Zhao shared plans for an office in France during an interview with Les Echos. He said, testing the waters:
France would be a natural choice for a regional, and perhaps even global, head office.
Global corporations like Google and Apple favor Ireland as a location for their European offices because of its relatively low taxes. The country will increase them to 15% from 12.5% in the near future. At present, its corporate tax rates are among the lowest in the world.
Binance is opening up to crypto-friendly jurisdictions
Binance is actively communicating with regulators all over the world, the charismatic CEO assured. He gave the United Arab Emirates, France, and Singapore as examples of crypto-friendly jurisdictions. The location of the future headquarters remains to be decided.
