This comes after Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder’s recent departure, along with the company’s decision to cut one-third of its workforce.
Binance.US Executives’ Departures Heighten Speculation
On September 14, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing familiar sources, that Kirshna Juvvadi, who held the position of head of legal, and Sidney Majalya, the chief risk officer, are both departing from Binance.US.
However, not too long ago, both these departments underwent layoffs. On June 16, reports disclosed that several employees in Binance.US’s legal, risk, and compliance departments were laid off. Bloomberg reported that this action was taken as part of “preparing for a multi-year and highly expensive litigation process.”
The ongoing departures of senior staff coincide with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) ongoing legal battles against Binance.US.
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart voiced his concerns in a post on X (formerly Twitter) shortly following the announcement:
“Well… this cannot be a good sign for whatever is going on with Binance.”
Meanwhile, another user stated that Binance.US is not “nearly as big as people think it is.”
In a recent post, he pointed out that the 24-hour trading volume of Binance.US is significantly lower than that of its parent company, Binance.
“Binance US had roughly $22M worth of 24-hour trading volume….Meanwhile Binance had roughly $6B worth of 24-hour trading volume.”
Ongoing Challenges at Binance
On September 13, the US exchange reportedly made the decision to cut approximately 100 jobs. This was the equivalent to roughly one-third of its workforce.
In June, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance.US and Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao. The US regulator alleged that a company controlled by Zhao inflated trading volumes on the exchange.
The SEC claims Binance.US boosted trading volumes by using multiple user accounts held by Sigma Chain. This is a Swiss trading company allegedly owned by Zhao.
In a recent statement, CZ discussed the challenges confronting Binance on a global scale. He acknowledged the persisting negative news, staff turnover, and allegations. However, he maintained that the global exchange is not experiencing any liquidity problems.
“Guess what we don’t have? No problems with liquidity. All withdrawals (and deposits) are handled correctly. All customer funds are safe and secured 100%”