Richard Teng considers crypto-friendly jurisdictions.

Binance CEO Richard Teng has been busy looking for a headquarters location for the world’s largest crypto exchange, instead of reliance on regional operations offices around the globe – a decision which some crypto news portals described as a sign of Binance’s “centralization.”

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Teng, who replaced Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in the fall of 2023, is analyzing a number of jurisdictions to land upon, preferably friendly to the cryptocurrency industry, according to his interviews at the 9-11 April 2024 Paris Blockchain Week.

One reason to having a central headquarters is the need to reduce the pressure from regulators. In the past, Binance got slapped with warnings and fines in many jurisdictions, including the U.S., U.K., and Hong Kong, but sprawling operations with no substantial record of main operational headquarters left regulators with little control over the company.

This sort of “decentralized model” – to quote Zhao as saying in 2021 – had helped Binance avoid trouble with the authorities, which ultimately forced him to step down and pay a substantial fine after a trial for money-laundering charges.

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The Paris event is attended by crypto industry leaders, banks, and tech champions including Stellar, Google, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, Solana Foundation, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Ripple, CoinShares, eToro, but also companies from non-related fields and media.

One of the speakers is Marina Ferrari, France’s state secretary for digital affairs.

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