Binance hires former Kraken compliance chief

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance hired Kraken’s former chief of compliance Steven Christie in May as senior vice president of compliance to lead its global compliance team, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 23.

Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said he is looking to hire more compliance experts in the near future.

Christie left his position at Binance’s rival platform Kraken to join Binance as the new senior vice president of compliance. Currently, Christie leads a team of 750 people, including the cyber investigations team.

CZ retweeted the WSJ article on his personal Twitter account on Sept. 23 and said that the exchange was looking to hire more people to work on its compliance team.

Steve joined us a few months ago. Still planning to hire a few hundred more compliance people. Please apply on our homepage. https://t.co/r0mihBosck

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 23, 2022

On the other hand, Kraken said it was looking to hire a new chief of compliance on Sept. 21. The exchange said the relevant job ad would be posted in the upcoming weeks.

Binance going strong on compliance

The exchange giant announced the launch of its new Global Advisory Board (GAB) on Sept. 22.

Binance said that the GAB was established to promote responsible crypto regulations by engaging with lawmakers worldwide. The board members vary in expertise. It includes distinguished economics and business leaders and a former U.S. senator.

The GAB team will focus on advising Binance on complex regulatory and political crypto-related issues. Changpeng Zhao described the GAB mission by saying:

“With the [board], we’re supercharging our ability to manage regulatory complexity by tapping into the highest level of expertise available in the world.”

Binance on regulations

Zhao has been closely following the news on the regulatory side while strengthening Binance’s compliance branch.

MiCA Framework

On Sept. 14, Zhao commented on the regulatory framework proposed by Europe’s Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) and described it as a “fantastic” draft.

According to Zhao, MiCA’s proposal had the potential to become a global standard for other regulators to copy. The only concern he raised about the framework was that it rejected the adoption of USD-based stablecoins, which have around 75% liquidity in the market.

Philippines

The exchange is also playing an active role in the Philippines regarding the crypto regulations in the region. It was revealed that Binance was helping the Philippines government to prepare crypto regulations.

On Aug. 24, Binance met with the country’s financial watchdogs and lawmakers to discuss the details of the upcoming crypto regulations.

This meeting took place one month after the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission warned the residents about “dealing” with Binance.