Binance still to choose location for global headquarters, CEO Teng says

By Federico Maccioni

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has yet to decide where to base its global headquarters, its CEO told Reuters on Monday, years after it flagged a decision was imminent, but the executive pointed to moves it has made to improve corporate governance.

"We are still working very hard on this (the HQ). It's a very complicated issue with many different complexities," CEO Richard Teng said in an interview on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Finance Week annual conference.

Binance, the world largest cryptocurrency exchange, has long said a decision on a global HQ would come soon. Revealing the location of a head office is seen as part of its push to improve transparency in the wake of criminal charges against its former CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Zhao, known as "CZ", pleaded guilty to violating U.S. laws against money laundering at Binance, and spent months in jail earlier this year.

Teng said tax laws and the ability to lure staff would drive the decision on the HQ location.

Binance is "still in deep conversation" with several jurisdictions he said, without providing specific names.

The company has been granted 20 licenses and registrations across the world so far, according to its website, including in Abu Dhabi and earlier this year by Dubai's virtual assets regulator VARA.

Binance introduced a board of directors earlier this year for the first time. It comprises seven members, including three independent directors. "Binance has gone from a founder, CEO-led company to a board-led company," Teng told Reuters, adding he speaks to Zhao occasionally and that the former CEO "has all the rights associated with any shareholder of any company."

The world largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, hit a record high above $100,000 last week amid expectations U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's administration will usher in a lighter-touch regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.

Teng was attending the yearly gathering of global and regional financiers, while on the other side of town, Binance is one of the sponsors of a bitcoin conference that will feature Eric Trump, the U.S. president-elect's son, as a speaker.

"Globally, you're going to see much more enlightened regulations being adopted," Teng said, asked about the impact of the incoming U.S. administration on the red-hot sector.

Should the U.S. adopt a strategic bitcoin reserve, as signalled by Trump, Teng foresees "many other countries jumping on the bandwagon".

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni. Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Christina Fincher)