Binance may not be a household name, but it has a gargantuan footprint in the crypto industry. It’s not just a trading platform like the National Stock Exchange. It’s a billion-dollar company that offers all kinds of services—from banking to research to digital art.
This never-before-seen model in finance has alarmed regulators who argue that the crypto industry is “rife with non-compliance”, and companies like Binance operate in a regulatory gray area. And that’s led to regulators around the world tightening the noose around the crypto industry.
In the US, where the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Binance and its founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao. Wall Street’s top cop alleges that they were running an illegal exchange and misleading investors.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The world’s biggest crypto exchange has been hit by a raft of regulatory hurdles across the world—including in the Netherlands, and France. In a sign of weakness, Binance announced on Wednesday that it was shutting shop in Russia.
However, the announcement triggered a tsunami of doubts about the identity of CommEX – the mysterious company that acquired Binance’s Russia business just a day after its inception. Amid all this hullabaloo, Zhao – better known by his initials CZ – recently came forward to clear the air over the issue.
Unsurprisingly, CZ has refuted allegations that he is the owner of CommEX. In a post on the platform X (formerly Twitter), Zhao said, “I am not their UBO [ultimate beneficial owner], nor do I own any shares there.” However, he acknowledged that some former Binance staff members have already joined the CommEX team or may do so in the coming days.
Zhao appeared to downplay concerns that Binance and CommEX might be one and the same. Users often migrate with their funds, so records of crypto transfers between the two companies indeed exist. Plus, there are some older transactions which are related to the “testing phase” of integration, but “this is expected,” according to CZ.
Notably, the financial details about the Binance-CommEX deal have not been disclosed. Thus far, we only know that Binance has agreed to offload its Russia unit to CommEX for an undisclosed sum. Furthermore, CommEX does not plan to onboard customers from the U.S. and EU.
