Binance France has new shareholders who own 100% of the company equally among themselves.
Binance France has new shareholders who own 100% of the company equally among themselves. The move was necessary after the country's Financial Markets Authority (AMF) sent a warning to the company in December.
According to a blog post, the AMF informed Binance France that it had to take action in response to issues that arose between the original beneficial owner and the US Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. . In other words, Binance's former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, can no longer own the company.
The post noted that Zhao had already withdrawn from the company. He pleaded guilty to the charges in the United States in November and was sentenced to four months in prison in the United States, although he has not yet begun his prison term.
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Binance France did not provide the names of the new beneficiaries but said they were members of Binance's founding team. Babers Media Service indicated that they are Lihua Hu and Yulong Yan. Little information is available on either individual.
Binance's white paper supposedly identifies Yan as Alan Yan, senior product manager. Yan was also a co-founder of Bijie Tech, the company Zhao founded before Binance to provide software for cryptocurrency exchanges. That Shanghai-based company was shut down in 2017. Lihua was not mentioned in that document.
Under the Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) regulations, a company licensed in an EU country can grant a license to all 27 member states. Binance reportedly received approval from the Arab Monetary Fund in May 2022, after operating illegally in the country since 2020. It was also reportedly under investigation for anti-money laundering violations before Zhao faced charges in the US.
Binance France also faced challenges finding a banking partner in France after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed suit against the company in March 2023. Binance France CEO Stephanie Kaposiouras joined a wave of executives leaving the company in October 2023.
In June, Binance was denied a virtual asset service provider license in the Netherlands and regulators shut down its Belgian operations later the same month.
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