Binance

Binance is a global digital asset trading and blockchain services platform launched in 2017 and co-founded by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He. Its business has expanded from crypto-asset spot trading to derivatives, payments, custody, self-custody wallets, education and research, a public blockchain ecosystem, market data, access to traditional securities, and artificial intelligence agent interfaces. Its history also includes moves across jurisdictions, the 2019 hot wallet theft, the 2021 experiment with and termination of stock tokens, the 2023 U.S. criminal and regulatory settlements, and a subsequent compliance restructuring centered on local entities and regulated partners. Binance is not synonymous with BNB, BNB Chain, Binance.US, or YZi Labs: BNB is the ecosystem token, BNB Chain is a public blockchain network, Binance.US is an independently operated platform serving the U.S. market, and YZi Labs is an independent investment firm that evolved from Binance Labs.⁠[1]

In June 2017 the Binance team published the BNB white paper and held a token sale from June 26 to July 2, selling 100 million BNB and raising about $15 million at the prevailing prices. BNB was originally an Ethereum ERC-20 token intended to offset trading fees and support the platform’s ecosystem; the token issuance proceeded in parallel with the building of the exchange.⁠[2]

Binance.com opened for trading on July 14, 2017, and has since marked July 14 as the platform’s anniversary. Early products centered on crypto-to-crypto spot trading and a high-throughput matching system, and the founding team emphasized that the platform could expand to users worldwide without connecting to traditional fiat banking channels.⁠[1]

In September 2017 Chinese regulators banned initial coin offerings and shut down domestic cryptocurrency trading platforms. Binance ceased related business serving mainland China; its team and infrastructure moved successively to Japan and other locations, and it gradually adopted a cross-jurisdictional, distributed operating model. Disputes over Binance’s actual headquarters and the affiliation of its legal entities have accompanied its global expansion ever since.⁠[3]

About half a year after launch, Binance rose to first place in the world by crypto-asset trading volume. By February 2018 the platform had about 6 million users; its daily processing capacity and the speed with which it listed multiple coins underpinned its growth, and Changpeng Zhao appeared on the cover of Forbes’ list of the richest people in cryptocurrency on the strength of Binance’s rapid expansion.⁠[4]

In 2018 Binance established its investment and incubation arm, Binance Labs, led by Ella Zhang. On May 22 she publicly positioned the unit as a long-term, impact-driven ecosystem investment platform focusing on blockchain infrastructure, decentralized finance, wallets, payments, and stablecoins, and made clear that an investment does not guarantee a project a listing on Binance. The unit was renamed and spun off as YZi Labs in 2025.⁠[5]

On July 31, 2018, Binance completed its first corporate acquisition, acquiring the mobile non-custodial wallet Trust Wallet. The consideration consisted of cash, Binance equity, and BNB, but the specific amount was not disclosed; Binance said at the time that it would keep the product as independent as possible while providing administrative and marketing support. By May 2025, Trust Wallet was no longer owned or controlled by Binance Exchange Group.⁠[6]

In October 2018 Binance Labs launched its first 10-week incubation program, supporting early-stage Web3 teams through intensive mentoring and product development. A later official YZi Labs retrospective listed Injective, SafePal, Nym, and Web3Auth as representative projects of that cohort and described the program as the institutional starting point of its later EASY Residency.⁠[7]

On April 18, 2019, Binance Chain produced its genesis block; BNB subsequently migrated from Ethereum to the new mainnet, and Binance DEX also launched on the network. The network was later renamed and evolved into the BNB Chain system; it is an independent blockchain network and is not the same as Binance’s centralized exchange.⁠[8]

On May 7, 2019, attackers used obtained API keys, two-factor authentication codes, and other account information to withdraw 7,000 bitcoin from one of Binance’s bitcoin hot wallets; the coins were then worth about $40 million, roughly 2% of the platform’s bitcoin holdings at the time. Binance suspended deposits and withdrawals for about a week and said it would cover the loss through its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), adding that no other wallets were affected. The incident became a key milestone in the history of its security governance.⁠[9]

In September 2019 Binance partnered with BAM Trading Services to launch Binance.US for U.S. customers. The platform used the Binance brand and some of its technology but was operated independently by a U.S. entity, with its range of services limited by state regulations. In the same month Binance Futures launched with a bitcoin perpetual contract, extending Binance from a spot exchange into a derivatives platform.⁠[10]

On April 2, 2020, Binance acquired CoinMarketCapCoinMarketCapCoinMarketCap is a crypto asset price and market data website launched in 2013. It ranks crypto assets and exchanges by price, market capitalization and trading volume and offers products including an API, the on-chain data tool DexScan and the education platform CMC Academy, and its data is often cited by major media. It has been part of Binance since around April 2020, and David Salamon became chief executive officer in September 2026.Open the full entry, a website providing crypto-asset price, trading volume, and market capitalization data, for an undisclosed sum. CoinMarketCap continued to operate as an independent data product, but the change of ownership brought a widely used global market-data gateway into the Binance ecosystem and drew sustained outside attention to exchange rankings, data governance, and commercial independence.⁠[11]

On September 1, 2020, the Binance Smart Chain mainnet went live, adding an Ethereum Virtual Machine–compatible smart contract network alongside the existing Binance Chain. The network was later renamed BNB Smart Chain and was brought together with the original Binance Chain under the BNB Chain brand. BSC’s low fees and compatibility fueled the growth of DeFi applications such as PancakeSwap, but also made the boundary between the Binance brand and the public blockchain ecosystem more complex.⁠[12]

On April 12, 2021, Binance launched its first zero-commission stock token, TSLA. One whole token represented one share of Tesla stock, allowing users to buy fractional shares; the product was priced in BUSD and was said to be backed by underlying securities held in custody by a partner. The platform subsequently added CoinbaseCoinbaseCoinbase is a U.S. operator of crypto asset trading platforms, founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, whose listed parent is Coinbase Global, Inc.; it went public through a direct listing on Nasdaq (ticker COIN) in April 2021 and joined the S&P 500 in May 2025. It provides crypto trading, custody, staking, and stablecoin-related services, launched USDC with Circle, develops the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, and acquired the crypto options exchange Deribit in 2025; its venture investing operates as Coinbase Ventures.Open the full entry, MicroStrategyStrategyStrategy (formerly MicroStrategy) is a Nasdaq-listed company (ticker MSTR) headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, founded in 1989 by Michael Saylor and originally built on enterprise analytics software. Since 2020, the company has used bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset and describes itself as the world’s first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company; as of September 27, 2026, it held 847,666 bitcoins. Its current Chief Executive Officer is Phong Le.Open the full entry, Apple, and Microsoft stock tokens. This was the first time Binance brought economic exposure to traditional securities directly into a crypto trading interface.⁠[13]

After regulators in Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, and elsewhere questioned the securities status, prospectus, and licensing arrangements of the stock tokens, Binance immediately halted new purchases on July 16, 2021, and announced that it would no longer support the product after October 14. Existing users were allowed to sell during a transition period or hold until the product was closed. Nearly five years separated this short-lived experiment from Binance’s re-entry into the securities business in 2026, and the legal structures also differ.⁠[14]

Amid rising regulatory pressure in multiple countries, Binance announced on August 20, 2021, that new users must complete Intermediate Verification before using services such as deposits, trading, and withdrawals; existing users who had not completed verification were subsequently restricted to withdrawing funds, canceling orders, and closing positions. The measure made verification of government-issued identity documents and facial photos a condition of account access worldwide, and was an important milestone in the platform’s transition from rapid growth to an institutionalized KYC and anti-money-laundering system.⁠[15]

On May 4, 2022, Binance France SAS was registered by France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) as a digital asset service provider, with registered activities including custody, buying and selling digital assets for fiat currency, crypto-to-crypto exchange, and operating a digital asset trading platform. The registration lapsed automatically on July 2, 2026, after the end of France’s MiCA transition period; this illustrates that Binance’s regulatory authorizations are obtained separately by local legal entities rather than through a single global license.⁠[16]

Binance launched Binance Feed in October 2022, initially positioning it as an aggregation hub for cryptocurrency and Web3 content that brought news, opinion, beginner guides, and creator content together on Binance’s website and app, and offered personalized content based on users’ reading and interaction. At that time it was still mainly focused on content distribution and discovery and did not yet use the Binance Square name; accordingly, the origins of Binance Square should be traced to October 2022, and the 2023 renaming date should not be described as the product’s first launch date.⁠[17]

On November 6, 2022, Changpeng Zhao announced that Binance would sell its remaining FTT holdings, after which FTX was hit by a wave of withdrawals. On November 8 Binance signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX, but withdrew the following day after due diligence, saying the problems were beyond its ability to help; FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11. Binance subsequently proposed an industry recovery initiative, but the episode also subjected centralized exchanges’ proof of reserves, segregation of customer assets, and platform risk to stricter scrutiny.⁠[18]

On November 30, 2022, Binance acquired all shares of Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC), which is registered with Japan’s Financial Services Agency, returning to Japan through a locally regulated entity. Binance’s global site had previously received a warning from Japanese regulators for operating without registration; the acquisition route meant that the local business had to follow Japanese licensing, asset listing, and identity verification rules rather than simply resuming global-site services.⁠[19]

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading CommissionCommodity Futures Trading CommissionThe U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent federal agency created by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974 and operating since 1975 to regulate futures, options and swaps markets; it has treated bitcoin and other virtual currencies as commodities since 2015 and has been chaired since December 22, 2025 by Michael Selig.Open the full entry (CFTC) sued Binance, Changpeng Zhao, and former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim on March 27, 2023, alleging that the platform offered digital asset derivatives to U.S. customers without proper registration and willfully evaded U.S. commodity laws. The complaint cited internal communications and policies for handling high-value customers, and became the first major case in that year’s enforcement actions by multiple U.S. agencies.⁠[20]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought 13 charges against Binance Holdings, BAM Trading, BAM Management, and Changpeng Zhao on June 5, 2023, covering unregistered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency operations, as well as representations about trading controls and customer asset arrangements at Binance.US. Binance denied many of the allegations and contested the case in court; this civil case was separate from the criminal settlement reached in November of the same year.⁠[21]

In August 2023 Binance launched Binance Japan on the basis of SEBC; local users were required to complete identity verification again and migrate to the Japanese platform. The platform offers spot and related services subject to Japanese rules, marking Binance’s compliant return through the acquisition of a licensed local entity; Binance Japan and Binance.com differ in their available assets, features, and legal entities.⁠[22]

On October 12, 2023, Binance announced that Binance Feed had been officially renamed Binance Square, expanding the product’s positioning from a content aggregation platform to a Web3 social platform where registered users can publish content, follow creators, and take part in community discussions. Features introduced at the same time included monetization options such as creator tips, crypto red packets, and affiliate commissions. Binance disclosed that, as of September 30, 2023, the platform had more than 10 million monthly active users and more than 30,000 hashtags used in total, and had brought on board more than 170 media partners, 11,500 key opinion leaders, and 90 projects; these figures are Binance’s self-reported operating metrics, have not been independently audited for this entry, and do not mean that users in all regions have access to the same features.⁠[17]

At Binance Blockchain Week in Istanbul, Binance unveiled the self-custody Binance Web3 Wallet, built into its app. The wallet uses multi-party computation (MPC) to split key material into shards, de-emphasizing traditional seed-phrase onboarding, and lets users switch between their centralized account and DeFi, DApps, and cross-chain swaps. The product was renamed Binance Wallet in December 2024; it is a different product from Trust Wallet, which Binance acquired years earlier and which later came to operate independently.⁠[23]

On November 21, 2023, Binance Holdings pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The criminal fine and forfeiture announced by the U.S. Department of Justice totaled $4.3161 billion, comprising a criminal fine of $1.805 billion and forfeiture of about $2.511 billion, and the resolution was coordinated with FinCEN, OFAC, and the CFTC. The statement of facts said that Binance had allowed large numbers of users in sanctioned regions and U.S. users to trade, and had failed to establish anti-money-laundering controls commensurate with its size.⁠[24]

As part of the settlement, Changpeng Zhao admitted to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program and resigned as chief executive officer. Binance announced that Richard Teng, previously its Global Head of Regional Markets, would succeed him with immediate effect; the company also admitted criminal liability for past failures in registration, compliance, and sanctions controls, and committed to restructuring its governance, strengthening its anti-money-laundering systems, and accepting external monitoring.⁠[25]

The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines warned on November 28, 2023, that Binance’s operator was not registered in the country and lacked the license or authorization required to sell securities to the public, act as a broker or dealer, or operate a securities exchange. The regulator also cautioned that agents and influencers promoting the platform or soliciting users in the Philippines could be held liable, and said it would seek to restrict access to the platform.⁠[26]

Gulf Binance, a joint venture between Binance and Thailand’s Gulf Innova, opened Binance TH to the public on January 16, 2024. The local platform operates after obtaining digital asset exchange and brokerage licenses from Thailand’s Ministry of Finance and under the supervision of the Thai SEC, offering Thai baht trading pairs and crypto-asset brokerage services; its users, assets, and range of features are managed separately from the global site.⁠[27]

In early 2024 Nigeria restricted access to some crypto trading websites, and Binance subsequently halted naira-related trading. At the end of February, executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, who had traveled to Abuja for talks with the government, were detained; Anjarwalla later escaped custody, while Gambaryan was released after about eight months in detention, once the Nigerian government had dropped the money-laundering charges against him and handled the matter on health and diplomatic grounds. The tax and money-laundering disputes at the level of the Binance entity are not entirely the same as the individual cases.⁠[28]

Following the earlier warning, the National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines, at the request of the SEC, ordered internet service providers on March 25, 2024, to immediately block Binance’s websites. The regulator said Binance had still not obtained the required licenses and that continued access could endanger the funds of Philippine investors; major telecom operators then began enforcing the block. The episode forms the direct background to Binance’s 2026 return through a regulatory sandbox.⁠[29]

On April 15, 2024, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued a VASP license to Binance FZE, permitting it to provide broker-dealer, management and investment, lending and borrowing, and exchange services under specified conditions. The regulatory register shows that the license permits serving institutional, qualified, and retail investors, and it was still listed as active when checked in September 2026. The license belongs to the Dubai entity Binance FZE and is not a unified authorization covering all of Binance.com’s global activities.⁠[30]

Binance registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) as a virtual digital asset service provider reporting entity, and paid a fine of ₹188.2 million (₹18.82 crore) in a case over its earlier disregard of anti-money-laundering obligations. On August 15, 2024, its website and app reopened to Indian users after about seven months of access restrictions. The registration establishes anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing reporting obligations and does not amount to comprehensive Indian authorization of all crypto-asset products.⁠[31]

Abu Dhabi investment firm MGXMGXMGX is an Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence and advanced technology investment company, announced in March 2024 by Abu Dhabi’s Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council with Mubadala and G42 as foundational partners and chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It has invested in companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Databricks, and Binance, and co-founded the AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP) with BlackRock, Microsoft, and others.Open the full entry announced on March 12, 2025, a $2 billion investment in Binance. Binance said it was its first institutional investment and one of the largest single institutional investments in the crypto industry disclosed at the time; the deal was paid in stablecoins, though the announcement that day did not specify which one. The transaction further tied Binance to UAE capital and to its subsequent regulatory positioning in Abu Dhabi.⁠[32]

On May 29, 2025, the SEC and the Binance-related defendants jointly requested dismissal with prejudice of the 2023 civil case, and the court terminated the litigation accordingly, meaning the same claims cannot be brought again. The SEC said this was a policy-based exercise of discretion and did not necessarily reflect its position on other litigation or on legal questions concerning digital assets. The dismissal does not change Binance’s obligations under its 2023 criminal guilty plea, the CFTC final order, or its settlement with the Treasury Department.⁠[33]

Japanese cashless payment provider PayPay announced an equity investment in Binance Japan, acquiring a 40% stake; from September 2025, Binance Japan became an equity-method affiliate of PayPay. The two companies planned to connect PayPay’s payment account system with Binance Japan’s crypto-asset services. The party to the transaction was PayPay Corporation, not a direct acquisition of Binance Japan by SoftBank GroupSoftBank GroupSoftBank Group (SoftBank Group Corp.) is an investment holding company headquartered in Tokyo, founded by Masayoshi Son in 1981. Starting out as a distributor of personal computer software, it moved into the internet, broadband and mobile communications, and has since become an investment group centered on AI-related assets such as Arm, the SoftBank Vision Funds and OpenAI.Open the full entry; the announcement did not disclose the investment amount, valuation, or the remainder of the shareholding structure, so no inferences are made about these matters.⁠[34]

After a sharp crypto market decline on October 10–11 and brief price deviations of some assets on certain platforms, Binance announced the launch of the “Together Initiative,” with a total size of $400 million. The company said up to $300 million in USDC would go to futures or margin users meeting loss and asset-ratio conditions, with each eligible user set to receive the equivalent of $4 to $6,000 in USDC; a separate $100 million low-interest loan fund was set up for ecosystem partners, VIP and institutional users affected by the volatility. Binance also stated that the program did not constitute an admission of liability for user losses. Available public materials can confirm the program’s terms and amounts, but cannot independently verify that the full amounts were disbursed, the actual number of beneficiaries, or the final scale of use of the loan fund.⁠[35]

Binance Japan and PayPay officially launched an account-linking service. Users who complete identity verification with both companies and authorize the connection can use PayPay Money to buy crypto assets on Binance Japan, and can transfer yen proceeds from selling crypto assets into PayPay Money. The joint announcement said the minimum deposit and withdrawal amounts are both 1,000 yen, deposits are free of charge, withdrawals carry a 110-yen fee, and 24-hour and 30-day limits apply. This was the first public product integration following the two companies’ equity partnership; what enters PayPay is a fiat currency balance after the sale of crypto assets, not on-chain crypto assets.⁠[36]

After a severe fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Hong Kong, Binance’s official Chinese-language account announced plans to donate HK$10 million through relevant channels to support emergency relief and subsequent rebuilding for affected residents. Binance’s announcement at the time did not disclose the receiving organization or the date the funds would arrive.⁠[37]

On December 3, 2025, at Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai, Binance announced that co-founder Yi He would become co-chief executive officer, leading the company jointly with Richard Teng. The company said at the time that its global user base was approaching 300 million, and explained the dual-CEO structure as combining Yi He’s product, community and entrepreneurial experience with Teng’s regulatory and operational background.⁠[38]

In December 2025, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) formally authorized the Binance.com global platform under a comprehensive regulatory framework, with separate regulated entities responsible for trading venue, clearing and custody, and brokerage functions; the related activities were scheduled to begin on January 5, 2026. This authorization coexists with Binance FZE’s 2024 VASP license in Dubai, with different applicable entities, regulators and business scopes.⁠[39]

Binance and Franklin TempletonFranklin TempletonFranklin Templeton is a global asset management company headquartered in San Mateo, California, United States. Founded in New York in 1947, its parent company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: BEN), and it had approximately $1.83 trillion in assets under management at the end of August 2026. The company has pursued digital assets since 2018, launched FOBXX (BENJI), a U.S. government money fund that records shares on a blockchain, in 2021, and in 2026 established Franklin Crypto, a dedicated crypto asset management division.Open the full entry launched an institutional off-exchange collateral program under which eligible institutional clients can use tokenized money market fund shares issued through Franklin Templeton’s Benji Technology Platform as collateral for trading on Binance. The fund shares are held off-exchange by Dubai-regulated Ceffu Custody FZE, and their collateral value is mirrored into the Binance trading environment. This was the first program implemented after the two companies announced a strategic partnership in 2025. The arrangement does not involve Binance issuing funds, stablecoins or stock tokens, nor is it a wealth-management product for ordinary retail users; “reducing counterparty risk” and “improving capital efficiency” are the participants’ statements of design goals.⁠[40]

Binance integrated third-party Predict.fun’s on-chain prediction markets into its app and Binance Wallet. Event contracts execute on BNB Smart Chain, Binance Wallet sponsors gas for trading and settlement, and an MPC Keyless prediction account is created automatically; users can transfer USDT in from their spot or funding accounts. In this structure, Binance provides the access point and wallet infrastructure and does not act as a counterparty in the prediction markets.⁠[41]

Local Philippine company BlockShoals, after obtaining in-principle approval under the SEC’s StratBox and a testing notice dated April 14, 2026, announced a partnership with Binance on May 26. BlockShoals, as a regulated local Crypto Asset Intermediary, is responsible for compliance and user operations, while Binance provides back-end technology and strategic support; the first phase also requires roughly 90 days of integration with a VASP recognized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The arrangement is a controlled sandbox test and does not mean Binance itself has obtained a full nationwide license in the Philippines or will immediately open to all users.⁠[42]

Binance gave eligible non-U.S. users access in its app to more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, supporting nearly 24-hour trading on weekdays, fractional purchases, and minimum investments of about $5. Nest Trading routes orders as the introducing broker, while Alpaca handles execution, clearing, settlement and custody; trading is conducted mainly in USDC. The service provides genuine securities brokerage exposure and is not the same product as the subsequently issued, on-chain-capable bStocks.⁠[43]

Binance FZE established a local bank transfer channel with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), offering AED deposits and withdrawals to eligible UAE users. The minimum deposit is 10 dirhams; the company’s announcement said deposits are free of charge and up to 7.2 million dirhams per day are supported, with funds handled under the UAE client money account framework. The feature is limited to the local entity, eligible accounts and same-name bank transfers, and should not be understood to mean that all UAE banks or global Binance accounts are directly connected.⁠[44]

Publicly disclosed information shows that Binance holds a minority stake in Alpaca, its partner for U.S. stock and ETF services, and that beyond their clearing and execution relationship the two also have a revenue-sharing arrangement. This information explains the relationship between Binance’s traditional securities access business and external brokerage infrastructure; claims involving payment for order flow, securities-lending revenue sharing and specific percentages remain subject to the two parties’ contracts, regulatory filings or formal company disclosures, and should not be presumed in the absence of formal disclosure.⁠[45]

Binance Wallet launched a prediction market API, offering developers and professional users programmatic interfaces for market browsing, positions and orders, for use in strategy development and automated interaction. This milestone differs from the earlier integration of a prediction market entry point into the Binance app: the former is a development interface, the latter a product entry point for end users. The API launch does not mean the platform guarantees prediction outcomes, liquidity or strategy returns.⁠[46]

Binance launched bStocks, issuing U.S. stock exposure as BEP-20 tokenized securities on BNB Smart Chain. The products are issued by Binance affiliate BTech Holdings Limited, and each token is backed 1:1 by the underlying U.S. stock held by a regulated custodian; they can be traded 24/7 on Binance’s spot market, withdrawn to self-custody wallets, and connected to compatible DeFi. bStocks holders are not registered shareholders of the underlying companies, and the service is subject to jurisdictional restrictions; its structure also differs from the stock tokens discontinued in 2021.⁠[47]

On June 24, 2026, Binance announced that it was withdrawing its MiCA license application submitted to the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and said it would instead seek authorization in another EU member state. Because it had not yet obtained a MiCA license at the time, Binance subsequently suspended services to some EU customers; by July 10, co-CEO Richard Teng attributed the withdrawal to approval delays, and said that after the platform suspended services to some EU users, about 70% of the affected users’ assets moved to self-custody wallets, with only about 30% moving to MiCA-compliant licensed platforms.⁠[48]

The 70% and 30% figures here are Teng’s disclosed measure of where assets went; the public news flashes gave no sample scope, amounts, list of on-chain addresses or third-party audit, and “moved to self-custody” cannot be described as assets permanently leaving the Binance ecosystem. The episode shows that MiCA’s unified framework does not automatically guarantee that a platform will obtain a license smoothly: the application jurisdiction, transition period, service suspensions and user migration still depend on the specific legal entity and the progress of approval.⁠[48]

In a compliance report, Binance said the company then had nearly 1,500 compliance staff, about one quarter of its total workforce; extrapolating from that ratio alone would put total headcount at about 6,000, but this is a ratio-based estimate rather than a precise headcount officially published by the company. The report said Binance spends about $300 million a year on compliance, and described that level as 57% higher than in the traditional financial industry.⁠[49]

The report also said Binance handled about 72,000 law enforcement requests in 2025 and about 36,000 in the first half of 2026. These “requests” may span different jurisdictions, levels of urgency and outcomes; they cannot be equated directly with 72,000 separate criminal cases, nor can it be inferred that all requests led to freezes or enforcement actions. This milestone adds detail on the staffing and cost scale of Binance’s compliance function after the 2023 U.S. settlement; headcount, spending and request volumes all follow the company report’s figures and have not been independently audited by this entry.⁠[49]

Binance announced the completion of an integration with Anchorage Digital, expanding its Triparty Banking network and becoming the first crypto-asset exchange connected to Atlas, Anchorage Digital’s institutional settlement platform. Eligible institutional and professional clients can trade on Binance while keeping cash and crypto assets used as collateral in an independent custody system, separating trade execution from asset custody. The two companies positioned the integration as infrastructure for institutional off-exchange settlement and collateral management, not merely a stock custody network serving bStocks.⁠[50]

After return testing began in May 2026 through a local partner and the Philippine SEC’s StratBox regulatory sandbox, Binance co-founder Yi He publicly announced on July 2 that Binance had officially entered the Philippine market. This milestone records the company’s move from controlled testing toward a broader market launch, but her post did not fully specify the legal entity, available products, user eligibility or final license scope; therefore, the words “officially entered” alone cannot be taken to mean that all of Binance.com’s global services are unconditionally available locally, and the specific compliance boundaries remain subject to disclosures by Philippine regulators and the local partner.⁠[51]

An official statement released by Binance the following day showed that bStocks’ assets under management (AUM) surpassed $500 million on July 28; on its launch day, June 11, the product’s AUM was $5.6 million, reaching $100 million within the first 15 days. By the time of the July 29 release, the number of supported trading instruments had grown from 5 at launch to more than 46. Eligible users can convert between bStocks and the corresponding directly held stocks in both directions instantly and free of charge; free conversion does not mean buying and selling are fee-free.⁠[52]

Binance disclosed at the same time that 41.5% of bStocks users began investing in traditional finance on Binance through the product, and that Gen Z accounted for 44% of bStocks trading activity. After the U.S. stock market close, bStocks accounted for 58% of Binance’s stock-related trading volume; bStocks trading volume over the previous weekend, as cited in the announcement, was $2 billion. In addition, 58.5% of bStocks holders also traded perpetual contracts, direct stocks, or both. All of the above are platform statistics published by Binance at the time; the $500 million AUM and the $2 billion weekend trading volume are different metrics.⁠[52]

On August 20, 2026, Binance released Binance Agent OS, providing developers with tools to connect artificial intelligence agents to trading, real-time market data, accounts, wallets and payment capabilities. The initial MCP server supports spot, futures, Convert, order book and market data functions, while on-chain and payment capabilities are accessed through other APIs and tools; users can set fund and feature permissions and revoke them at any time. Binance emphasized that it is not an automated trading system that operates without authorization, and that agents can act only within the scope explicitly authorized by the user.⁠[53]

Binance launched physically settled options on more than 1,000 selected U.S. stocks and ETFs for eligible non-U.S. users. Brokerage access is provided by Abu Dhabi-regulated Nest Trading Limited, while Alpaca Securities is responsible for order execution, clearing, settlement and custody of the underlying securities; the product does not involve Binance directly holding U.S. stocks in custody, and U.S. users are excluded from the service.⁠[54]

“Physically settled” means that when an option expires and is exercised, the party holding the relevant right receives or delivers the underlying shares or ETF units, rather than settling only the price difference in cash at expiry. Coverage is limited to underlyings selected by the platform, not all U.S.-listed securities. Binance placed the options entry point within its existing multi-asset account, allowing users to view stablecoins, crypto assets, traditional-finance perpetual contracts and broker-custodied securities exposure in a single interface; however, securities ownership, clearing, custody and jurisdictional access are still determined by regulated traditional securities infrastructure.⁠[54]

Alongside the launch of its options business, Binance disclosed that trading volume in perpetual contracts tied to traditional financial assets was about $433.4 billion in August 2026, roughly 15 times the $29.5 billion recorded in January. Of this, August trading volume in stock-linked perpetual contracts was about $342.9 billion, accounting for about 79% of that month’s traditional-finance perpetual contract volume; the comparable figure for stock contracts in January was $410.9 million. These figures measure perpetual contract turnover and are counted separately from the cumulative trading volume and assets under management of bStocks tokenized securities.⁠[55]

Binance’s official Chinese-language account announced that about three months after launch, bStocks’ cumulative trading volume had surpassed $30 billion. The disclosure continued the product’s progress since its June 11 launch; the figure refers to cumulative turnover, not assets under management, net inflows or Binance revenue. The announcement also mentioned that the Binance platform offers round-the-clock trading and more than 7,000 popular assets, but did not define all of these assets as bStocks underlyings.⁠[56]

On September 7, 2026, Binance announced the launch of Binance AI, a suite of artificial intelligence features, and opened applications for beta testing. According to the official announcement, the suite aims to integrate market interpretation into the Binance interface, helping users understand complex market data, identify market dynamics and reduce information noise. Features described for the beta include a personalized interface that displays relevant information according to user needs, AI interpretation of market dynamics covering both crypto and traditional assets, and concise, timely information updates.⁠[57]

The beta program is open to Binance users who have completed identity verification, with limited places opened in batches; submitting an application does not guarantee selection, and selected users will receive access instructions by email. The announcement also stated that the relevant products and services may not be available in all regions.⁠[57]

On September 14, 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture action (Case No. 1:26-cv-08010) seeking forfeiture of about $61 million in USDT held in 10 TRON addresses, alleging that the funds came from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The complaint alleges that Hong Kong-registered Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited provided fiat-to-crypto exchange for the related transactions and used trading accounts they had opened on Binance to move funds; the complaint itself does not name the exchange, describing it only as headquartered in the UAE. A group of non-custodial addresses referred to as “Entity A” moved more than $1.5 billion in Iranian oil proceeds in total, some of which flowed to businesses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Binance is not a defendant in the case, and the civil forfeiture allegations are subject to determination by the court.⁠[58][59]

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng responded on September 15 that the case was not brought against Binance and did not allege any wrongdoing by Binance; he said Binance has “zero tolerance” for sanctions violations, does not allow transactions with sanctioned persons, had cooperated with law enforcement since the matter was first raised several months earlier, and freezes accounts when illicit finance risks are identified. He wrote in his post: “If you try to use our industry to evade the law, we will find you, freeze you out, and hand you over to the authorities.”⁠[60]

In early October, Tysen Duva, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, said in an interview that officials were reviewing Binance’s compliance with its 2023 plea agreement, but declined to discuss specific facts or progress and did not say Binance had breached the agreement; the related investigation is led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in coordination with the Criminal Division in Washington, and focuses on activity on the platform that may involve violations of Iran sanctions. Binance said the company continues to improve its controls and is cooperating fully with law enforcement. As of October 9, neither Binance nor any of its employees had been charged in connection with the matter.⁠[61][62]

On September 22, 2026, Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) announced that Binance would make a $100 million strategic equity investment in it through a private placement, subscribing for Class A common stock at a 5% discount to CRCL’s market price before closing; Binance agreed not to transfer the shares for up to two years from the closing date (subject to customary exceptions). The two companies also signed a new five-year commercial agreement focused on expanding USDC accessibility in emerging markets: Binance will accelerate the promotion and integration of USDC on its platform, while Circle will provide infrastructure services supporting the holding and use of USDC. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said: “A stable, trusted digital dollar should not be a privilege, but should be available to anyone with a phone.”⁠[63]

The partnership builds on the two companies’ December 2024 agreement. Market data from Kaiko show that since then, the number of Binance spot markets denominated in USDC has grown from 140 to 329, and Binance’s monthly USDC trading volume has risen from about $20 billion–$40 billion to consistently above $80 billion. Clear Street analyst Owen Lau said the investment further aligns Binance’s interests with Circle’s.⁠[64]

The Community Chest of Hong Kong held its 2025/2026 Annual Awards Presentation Ceremony at Government House on October 9, 2026, to recognize donors and charity partners. The Community Chest raised more than HK$393 million that year, of which HK$111 million was donated to the Tai Po Fire Relief Fund; that year’s ceremony specially established the “Community Chest Rainbow Fund Outstanding Award – Tai Po Fire Relief,” presented to organizations and donors who made outstanding contributions to this dedicated fund.⁠[65][66]

Binance received the award, which was accepted on behalf of the group by Eowyn ChenEowyn ChenEowyn Chen is chief marketing officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and previously served as chief executive officer of Trust Wallet; in October 2026 she accepted a Community Chest of Hong Kong award on behalf of Binance recognizing its Tai Po fire relief.Open the full entry, Binance’s chief marketing officer and representative of Binance Charity. After the Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po in November 2025, the Binance group donated HK$10 million to The Community Chest of Hong Kong for post-disaster relief and recovery work. Binance said that since its founding in 2018, Binance Charity has donated more than $47 million in total, covering 87 countries and regions and benefiting more than 4.2 million people; these cumulative figures are as self-reported by the company.⁠[67][68]

On October 13, 2026, Binance issued an announcement saying that, based on an ongoing review of its products and services, it would close the Binance Pool mining pool and related services, including Pool Savings, Cloud Mining, the transaction accelerator, Telegram hashrate alerts, email notifications and the mining pool API. The services will terminate at 07:00 (UTC) on November 10, 2026, at which point mining connections will be cut off, Stratum addresses and mining endpoints will be deactivated, and hashrate shares submitted thereafter will no longer be counted; users must complete identity verification and other necessary steps by 23:59 (UTC) that day to receive remaining payments. The mining pool pages and historical data will become permanently inaccessible from 07:00 (UTC) on November 24.⁠[69]

The announcement said that eligible shares submitted before the cutoff will still count toward final reward calculations, and that unsettled eligible rewards, balances, refunds or settlement payments will be processed as applicable after the cutoff, subject to product rules, account status, risk controls, compliance reviews and applicable law; Binance advised users to download relevant records before the closure.⁠[69]

Binance: Official website: https://www.binance.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

X: Official account: https://x.com/binance (opens in a new window)⁠[70]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official channel: https://www.youtube.com/binanceyoutube (opens in a new window)⁠[1][70]

Telegram: English announcements channel: https://t.me/binance_announcements (opens in a new window); Chinese announcements channel: https://t.me/binance_cn (opens in a new window)⁠[70]

Facebook: Official page: https://www.facebook.com/binance (opens in a new window); Instagram: Official account: https://www.instagram.com/binance/ (opens in a new window); LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Company page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/binance (opens in a new window)⁠[70]

Binance Academy: Official website: https://www.binance.com/en/academy (opens in a new window); Binance Square: https://www.binance.com/en/square (opens in a new window); Binance Research: https://www.binance.com/en/research (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

Binance Charity: Official website: https://www.binance.charity (opens in a new window)⁠[1]