Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said he is willing to step down as CEO as his company strives to become a regulated financial institution and hopes a candidate with a “regulatory background” will succeed him.
He said he isn’t rushing his resignation, but the company does have a plan in place to “find a successor” at a virtual press conference held on Tuesday. During this time, he will take the “successor issue” seriously and have an open attitude towards it. Binance aims at becoming a “fully regulated financial institution.” Zhao Changpeng said:
“There will always be many candidates who can replace me. We are looking for someone with a strong regulatory background to join us and serve as the CEO.”
In response to the question of when Changpeng Zhao would leave office, he said he had no timetable. Furthermore, he added, “I will always have a stake in the Binance Coin (BNB) ecosystem. I do not have to be the CEO to do this.”
Binance has taken steps to reduce regulatory criticism recenty, such as stopping the provision of stock tokens, limiting leverage, and cutting user withdrawal limits from 2 Bitcoins to 0.06 Bitcoins.
In the past, Zhao admitted that Binance did not effectively communicate with regulators. Therefore, the company plans to hire former regulators and obtain licenses in all regions in order to establish locations around the world. Zhao Changpeng previously stated that Binance does not have an official headquarters. Now, he points out:
“For regulators, our company structure is relatively difficult to understand. Simple things like “we don’t have a headquarters” also make them at a loss. Therefore, we are now seeking to establish multiple headquarters in different parts of the world.”