Binance.US, the U.S. affiliate of crypto exchange Binance, has recently slashed its employee headcount with its president and CEO Brian Shroder also resigning from the firm.
The news of Shroder’s departure comes as Binance boss Changpeng Zhao has continued to dismiss negative news or FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) regarding his crypto empire.
Binance.US Cuts Third Of Its Staff
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance.US has cut jobs amid the abrupt departure of its CEO, Brian Shroder.
The layoffs were first reported by Bloomberg, which said 100 people — one-third of its employees — had been let go in the second round of cuts this year.
“The actions we are taking today provide Binance.US with more than seven years of financial runway and enable us to continue to serve our customers while we operate as a crypto-only exchange,” a representative of the company observed.
Binance.US’s chief legal officer, Norman Reed will take the helm on an interim basis after Shroder’s exit.
It’s been an extremely tough year for digital currency exchanges in the United States, with Binance.US feeling considerable pressure. Binance.US, which allows American citizens access to the Binance brand, was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June for allegedly breaking federal securities laws. The agency also sought a temporary restraining order to freeze assets tied to the exchange, but Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the D.C. District Court rebuffed the request, allowing it to continue operating within the U.S.
“The SEC’s aggressive attempts to cripple our industry and the resulting impacts on our business have real-world consequences for American jobs and innovation, and this is an unfortunate example of that,” Binance.US added in the statement.
It’s worth mentioning that Binance.US transitioned to a “crypto-only” exchange in June amid legal troubles with the SEC after announcing it would pause dollar deposits and suspend fiat withdrawals.
CZ’s Insights On Executives Exodus
Besides Shroder, Binance has parted ways with several top executives this year, including global head of product Mayur Kamat, regional head Gleb Kostarev, Russia general manager Vladimir Smerkis, Executive Vice-President and Head of Global Fiat Helen Hai, general counsel Hon Ng, chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, and SVP for compliance Steven Christie.
Despite the wave of executive departures from Binance, CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has brushed off “negative news” surrounding employee turnover at the crypto exchange.
“There have been a lot of negative news/rumors, bank runs, lawsuits, closing of fiat channels, product wind downs, employee turnover, exit markets, etc.,” Zhao wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Guess what we don’t have? No liquidity issues. All withdrawals (and deposits) are properly handled. All customer funds are #SAFU, and 100% reserved.”
On cutting workforce, CZ previously said on the X platform that “the numbers reported by media are all way off.” He also claims that Binance has “the lowest founding team turnover of any tech startup of our size and age in the world.”
