Binance.US CEO Exits, 33% of Staff Laid Off

investopedia.com:

Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder has left the crypto exchange as roughly a third of its workforce has also been laid off, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

The moves come amidst growing regulatory pressure on the exchange and its larger, global affiliate.

Chief Legal Officer Norman Reed will take over Binance.US as its interim CEO. This is the first change in the company's top executive in two years. Previous CEO Brian Brooks, who was a former Acting Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. Department of Treasury, left the crypto exchange after only three months on the job.

Binance.US is laying off 100 staff members in the second round of cuts this year. Earlier this year, an undisclosed number of employees were removed shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange, its global affiliate, and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

A Binance.US spokesperson said that this week's layoffs will allow the exchange to operate with seven years of runway.

Binance.US was originally created as a separate entity from Binance's global crypto exchange due to the different financial regulations found in the U.S. as compared to most of the rest of the world. After the SEC crackdown earlier in the year, Binance.US lost its banking partners and transitioned to a crypto-only exchange. Currently, the exchange uses a workaround involving the stablecoin Tether to enable users to get funds on the platform.

In addition to the lawsuit from the SEC, Binance.US also faces a suit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and an ongoing probe from the U.S. Department Of Justice. That said, the U.S. DOJ has not filed any charges against the exchange or its affiliates at this time.

The