Binance's grand crypto ambitions include launching its US IPO by 2024 even as it battles mounting regulatory scrutiny

• Binance US wants to go public in the next three years.
• This is the second time this year that the company has mentioned plans for an IPO.
• Binance faces many investigations in countries worldwide, and an IPO would lend some much needed legitimacy to the company’s brand.

Long regarded as the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance has big plans for the near future. The company’s chief executive office, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, told The Information that the company is planning to go public with its US counterpart within the next three years.


Binance.US is a cryptocurrency exchange that’s run by Binance but meant only for investors in the US. It offers all the top cryptocurrencies and the company’s own Binance Coin — better known as BNB — which is based on the Binance blockchain platform.

Unlike other countries, users in the US can only access the Binance.US platform, though it is invariably linked to the global Binance platform as well.

Why going public matters

While Binance was originally based in China, the company moved out of the world’s top crypto mining market after facing regulatory hurdles. It’s currently based out of the Cayman Islands, but its Chinese origins are hard to shed and that could be troublesome in many markets, including US and India — where it backs the local crypto exchange WazirX.

Going public with its US counterpart offers a level of legitimacy that few crypto companies have at the moment. Competitor Coinbase’s successful listing on NASDAQ earlier this year has often been seen as a watershed moment for crypto for this very reason. “Binance.US is just going to do what Coinbase did," Zhao told The Information.

Binance is treading hot water

Further, Binance and its subsidiaries have faced investigations in many countries, including the US. Most recently, India’s top crypto exchange, WazirX, which is owned by Binance, was issued a show-cause notice by the country’s Enforcement Directorate, an agency specialized in financial investigations.

“In the period under investigation, users of WazirX via its pool account have received incoming cryptocurrency worth ₹880 crore from Binance accounts and transferred out cryptocurrency worth ₹1,400 crore to Binance accounts. None of these transactions are available on the blockchain for audit or investigation," the notice, issued on June 21, alleged.

Binance will of course have to seek regulatory clearances before it can go for an initial public offering (IPO), but this isn’t the first time Zhao has mentioned these plans either. He had mentioned such plans in July as well, at the Redefine Tomorrow event.

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