Benzinga - Binance.US, along with its founder and primary stakeholder, Changpeng Zhao, has been looking into strategies to decrease Zhao's ownership in the company.
Zhao, who also serves as CEO of Binance (CRYPTO: BNB), the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has reportedly been seeking to offload a portion of his stake since the summer of last year, according to a report by The Information,
In March, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and Zhao, accusing them of running an "unlawful" exchange and a "fictitious" compliance program.
The CFTC charged Binance, its former chief compliance officer, and Zhao for intentionally evading U.S. law "while strategically exploiting regulatory discrepancies for their commercial advantage."
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Following the lawsuit, discussions have taken place among Binance.US executives about how reducing Zhao's stake could potentially enhance the firm's reputation with U.S. regulatory bodies.
There are concerns among the leadership of Binance.US that the company may face difficulties obtaining specific regulatory permits in the U.S. as long as Zhao retains majority ownership, especially since he was named in the CFTC lawsuit.
Responding to a query from Benzinga, a Binance spokesperson stated, ""Binance.US and Binance.com are separate and independent of each other. We can't comment on behalf of BinanceUS or CZ as an individual and majority shareholder of BinanceUS."
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