Fortune interview with Richard Teng, leading Binance's transformation into a traditional financial company leveraging regulatory advantages.

Binance's newly appointed CEO, Richard Teng, recently sat down for an interview with Fortune, emphasizing his intention to leverage the regulatory advantages he has had in the past to lead Binance's transformation from a tech startup to a traditional financial firm.

Binance to Transition from Tech Startup to Traditional Financial Company

Teng mentioned that Binance is transitioning from a disruptive tech startup to a traditional financial company. He acknowledged that Binance made some "mistakes" during its rapid growth phase, but has learned from them. The charges in the settlement agreement do not include misappropriation of customer funds, reflecting Binance's strong record in ensuring asset security on its platform.

The evolving role of the cryptocurrency industry is attracting unprecedented interest from mainstream financial companies like BlackRock and Fidelity, playing to its advantage.

According to earlier reports, Richard Teng worked at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for 13 years before 2007, then served as the Chief Regulatory Officer at the Singapore Exchange. He later held the position of CEO at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for six years. His impressive background, particularly in pivotal roles in government-related institutions, raises hopes for his significant role in ensuring Binance's compliance in the future.

Teng stated that one of his key goals is to help the cryptocurrency industry move towards adopting uniform global rules, similar to the regulations long enjoyed by the banking sector. This will involve addressing debates on whether various types of digital assets should be classified as commodities, securities, or other categories reflecting the unique blockchain technology supporting them.

Regulators cannot effectively oversee an industry they do not understand. Just as bankers or banking regulators without bank accounts.

Implicitly, Teng aims to leverage his regulatory experience and combine it with his insights into the cryptocurrency industry from his time at Binance in actively promoting compliance within the cryptocurrency industry.

Binance to Focus on Transparency

Despite building a massive business and surviving the fallout from the FTX collapse, Binance's operations have long been a black box. The company has never provided a full account of its assets, and under CZ's leadership, the company has so thoroughly decentralized its operations that it claims not to have a headquarters at all.

When asked if Binance would adopt a traditional corporate structure under his leadership, Teng stated that structures including a board of directors, address, and financial transparency would be in place, with financial data soon to be shared as audits and regulatory requirements necessitate these disclosures.

However, Teng only mentioned having a "robust timeline," refusing to disclose further specific details.

Unfazed by Recent Outflows, Regulated Efforts Will Pay Off

In the face of recent outflows, Teng remains unfazed. He stated that with Binance becoming the first exchange outside the U.S. to enforce "Know Your Customer" (KYC) requirements on its user base, fund outflows were foreseeable. He added that even as the company faces new regulatory constraints and prepares to pay potentially the largest corporate fine in U.S. history, Binance still possesses resources to maintain competitiveness.

Teng emphasized that in the long run, Binance's efforts to reshape itself as a regulated company will pay off, with institutional funds entering the market and the proportion of individuals holding cryptocurrencies increasing from 5% to 20%, Binance will carve out a share in the growing market.