Top European managers are leaving Binance

EXCLUSIVE: They were supposed to bring Binance’s business to Europe — but the plans stalled. Over the past few months, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which is currently being investigated by the US financial regulator, has lost more than half a dozen executives in the European Union and Great Britain.

Exactly one year ago, the mood was euphoric: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, CZ for a short time, traveled across Europe for an advertising tour. He met former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and appeared at crypto events including the Finance Forward conference. Talk about big expansion plans – also in Germany.

CZ, the head of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, canceled his travel plans after twelve months. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently suing his company and himself; He was called personally. Accusation by US authorities: Binance is said to have mixed customer funds with its own funds. Binance is different.

But the company is also under pressure outside the United States. Part of the strategy was to apply for licenses in individual markets. It appears that this was slower than expected. Several expansion managers are about to leave Binance or have already left, including three from the German-speaking team.

The President of Germany descends at the end of June

The most notable departure from the German cryptocurrency scene is Michael Wilde, who is set to build his business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with his team. He is no longer the general manager of Binance Companies. Wilde worked for audit firm KPMG and came directly from broker Etoro. After a year and a half, he will leave the company again at the end of June. His co-managing director in Austria, Raphael Zaccaria, has also passed away.

On the European level, high-level managers are also fleeing: Martin Bronco, who worked at Binance under the title “Executive Vice President, Europe,” has not worked with the company since May, according to the job network on LinkedIn. Bronco was once a senior advisor to the Slovak Minister of Finance and sat on important EU bodies. When he started working at Binance, the manager was quoted as saying, “I am very excited to be part of Binance’s new growth phase, as the company is beginning to place a huge emphasis on compliance (…)”. After half a year he was gone.

Other executives have left the ship in recent weeks:
– Mike Ringer, Head of Legal (Europe & CIS), London
– Lynn McConnell, Director of Compliance Europe, London (since the end of the year)
– Daniel Trinder, Vice President, Government Affairs and Policy, UK
– Doron Rosenberg, Head of Marketing DACH, Frankfurt

Binance will not obtain a license in Germany.

Binance has been trying to acquire its own licenses in several European countries over the past few months. This worked in France, Italy and Cyprus – but not in Germany. “Binance will not be licensed in Germany – unless BaFin is a chip shop,” it is quoted working week former manager. The process in the US is likely to slow licensing applications elsewhere in the world. In Germany, Jonas Jiinger is now facing the task. He comes from a crypto company in Austria and takes over the business.