Binance says ‘no comment’ on report it mulled closing US arm to protect its global firm

Binance has declined to comment on a media report that CEO Changpeng Zhao almost shuttered the crypto trading platform’s arm in the United States in an effort to protect its global company.

Citing anonymous sources, the tech media outlet reported that the board of directors of Binance’s US entity, Binance.US initiated a vote to liquidate the company. However, they were unable to reach a unanimous decision, with Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder standing against the decision.

According to the report, Shroder was worried that an abrupt shutdown of the US-based exchange would be detrimental to its users as they would be forced to quickly move or liquidate their assets.

Cointelegraph reached out to Binance but a spokesperson for the exchange said they were “not commenting” on this issue.

Binance and Zhao have become a target of US regulators in the past few months. On March 27, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and Zhao for alleged trading violations. On June 5, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a lawsuit against the exchange, its US arm, and Zhao, alleging that Binance “enriched themselves” with billions of US dollars while putting investors at risk.

Related: Nigeria’s SEC warns against trading on Binance

Despite the regulatory challenges and risks, Binance still continues to expand its business in various parts of the globe. On Aug. 1, Binance officially announced the launch of Binance Japan, offering spot trading for 34 tokens. The exchange plans to migrate its global users based in Japan to its local version starting on Aug 14, in an effort to comply with the country’s regulatory framework.

In a Twitter ask-me-anything (AMA) session on July 31, Zhao noted that amid the regulatory and transparency risks concerning stablecoins, it’s important to diversify. The CEO highlighted that he is cautious of stablecoins like Tether (USDT), which is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, and admitted that even Binance USD (BUSD) comes with unforeseeable risks.

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