Everyone knew that FTX operated from the tax haven of the Bahamas. But where is Binance’s headquarters? We still don’t know…
When the FT is looking for Binance HQ
The Financial Times suggests that Binance would still be in China. On the contrary, its leaders claim that Binance left following the ban on exchanges at the end of 2017.
The FT reports that Changpeng Zhao gave instructions for employees to conceal their presence in China. Binance reportedly kept employees there until at least the end of 2019.
“We no longer publish the addresses of our offices […] people in China can directly say that our office is not in China”Zhao said in a company messaging group in November 2017, seen by the FT.
The CFTC also alleges in its complaint that Binance has ” intentionally “ failed to disclose the location of its head office.
The FT also reveals that employees were discussing in 2019 a media outlet that claimed Binance was opening a Beijing office. The internal message says: “Reminder: publicly, we have offices in Malta, Singapore and Uganda.” “Please do not confirm any office elsewhere, including in China.”
In public, CZ, who was born in China before immigrating to Canada at a young age, has repeatedly denied that Binance is a Chinese company.
Binance defended itself by claiming that “Anyway the original founding team members who were based in Shanghai left China just two months after the company was organized, even before it was registered, shortly after the start of the crackdown on exchanges in China “. The exchange does not have “never registered in China”.
“To be clear, the Chinese government, like any other government, does not have access to Binance data except when we are responding to lawful and legitimate requests”Binance said.
Either way, the FT points out that Binance was using an office in Shanghai for the training courses. The exchange is said to have hired a data analyst and a financial compensation specialist in 2019, two years after declaring that Binance was leaving China.
The London newspaper further points out that Binance goes to great lengths to conceal its presence in China. In particular by using VPNs (software that hides the country of origin of an internet connection).
Also in internal messages obtained by the FT, an employee said in 2018: “Dear all, please do not wear Binance logo clothing in or outside of our offices. It is strictly prohibited”.
The FT could not determine whether Binance was still using the offices cited in the communications through 2020. A former employee, however, said that many of the company’s key developers are still in China.
Binance claims for its part that it does not operate, including servers or data, in China. But then, where is his HQ really located? Hong Kong?…
Why so much mystery? Does CZ have wrongdoings to hide, like SBF? This is what the CFTC thinks, which filed a complaint against him in the Federal Court of Chicago.
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