Financial regulators globally are planning a crackdown on all crypto exchanges, pushing them to beef up their in-house legal and compliance teams.
Binance is one of the many cryptocurrency exchanges growing their legal benches as watchdogs turn up the heat. The world’s largest crypto exchange is looking to recruit at least 43 legal and compliance experts globally, according to its website.
Last week, Bequant, a cryptocurrency prime brokerage, and exchange hired a general counsel (Huong Hauduc) to craft a legal framework “and move forward as a company”.
Hauduc previously worked with Allen & Overy and CMS law firms, derivatives exchange CME, and multi-asset broker RJ O’Brien.
Crypto exchanges to face a burden of regulation
Luke Harrison, the co-founder of Kaiden Harrison litigation law firm in London, said it was obvious that the rapid growth of the crypto industry would push regulators to impose strict regulation burdens on crypto exchanges.
According to Harrison, cryptocurrency exchanges will soon come within the full Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations, adding the regulator’s scrutiny is inevitable.
“They [crypto firms] will very rapidly find themselves subject to a similar regulatory regime that applies to any Financial Conduct Authority regulated company”.
This year, Binance stirred a regulatory storm globally, forcing several countries to issue consumer warnings about them.
In response to regulators turning up the heat, Binance exchange now seeks to open global offices. (For the record, Binance has no official headquarter worldwide).
Binance setting up global offices amid crackdown
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, says plans are underway for the exchange to set up several “headquarters, offices, regional headquarters, and local branches”.
Zhao further disclosed the reasons for creating global offices, saying as the crypto industry soars “and gets bigger, the regulators are looking at this industry… and the regulators don’t know how to work with decentralized structures [such as Bitcoin], so we are setting up all those centralized structures [right] now”.
A spokesman of the crypto exchange said Binance is beefing up its legal benches as a way to transition from a business involved in tech to a financial services company.
“And doing that requires an expert in the in-house legal team, which will continue to grow with the business”.
Binance is currently recruiting for regulatory, corporate, and litigation roles, according to its website. And anyone across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East can apply for the roles.
Last week, Michael Isaacs, a veteran London litigator, was appointed as a senior counsel and UK’s head of litigation for the company.
