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1/ Summary of Binance, CZ & SEC events
??Late on November 21, 2023, CZ officially announced his departure from the CEO position after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money laundering regulations.
??More specifically, BINANCE will pay a fine of 4.3 billion USD to have the Department of Justice stop investigating Binance's violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
??This is a separate investigation by the Department of Justice and CFTC and is not related to the SEC's previous lawsuits targeting Binance in June 2023.
??For CZ to be released on bail, he must also pay a bail amount of 175 million USD and live in the Arab Emirates awaiting sentencing.
??According to the plea agreement, CZ is banned from working with Binance for three years and the person chosen to become the company's new CEO is Mr. Richard Teng.
But the turbulence doesn't just start here, in fact
??February: Binance had to stop minting BUSD at the request of the SEC.
??March: Binance was sued by the CFTC for violating asset trading regulations.
??April: SEC pressured Binance to buy Voyager unsuccessfully.
Thus, after more than 6 years leading Binance, CZ also officially stepped down to let a new generation of leaders step up. Respect, CZ!
2/ Who is Richard Teng?
According to the information I have compiled from
@interlock_news
then Richard Teng is:
?People with more than 30 years of experience in the financial services & management industry.
?He was previously CEO of Financial Services Regulation Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), Chief Regulatory Officer of Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority Singapore (MAS).
?When he joined Binance in August 2021, he was the director in the Singapore region. However, in just a short time, he was appointed to manage many other regions such as the Middle East and North Africa and Europe.
?After that, he was appointed by Binance to head markets outside the US and finally as Global Regional Market Director before being appointed CEO.
3/ Why should we care about Richard Teng?
Paying attention to Richard Teng is important because:
?? Even if CZ goes down, Binance is still the dominant exchange in the crypto market and it is partly controlled by Richard.
?? We have lived in the period when CZ shaped and drove the market for more than 6 years and gradually got used to it. When there is a new person in charge, this will cause temporary disturbances.
?? CZ's decision affects the entire crypto industry. For example, the strategy of building a DeFi chain, Launchpad ICO, and issuing exchange coins are all Binance's ideas that many other exchanges follow.
?? CZ's decision reaches investors because most investors understand how CZ creates trends, builds value for BNB,...
?? We even assume that Binance is a reputable exchange, but if you play Futures on Binance, you must be careful, otherwise the exchange will kill Long Short!
?? Suppose Richard Teng does not follow CZ's strategy and releases coins for each product. For example, Binance (BNB), BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Trust Wallet (TWT), Binance NFT Marketplace (BNM), BNB holders are definitely affected!
4/ What kind of person is Richard Teng?
?? From a personal perspective, Richard Teng is a person with experience in running a company, as evidenced by the fact that he has run many large financial institutions and when he joined Binance, he quickly received trust. by CZ.
?? Richard Teng is a person who understands financial law because the organizations he previously worked for were mostly related to the activities of the national government.
?? For example, he worked as Chief Regulation Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Director of Corporate Finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This is one of the countries with the most complete legal framework for this market.
?? Also, looking at all of Richard's Twitter content. I feel he is more cautious and straightforward than CZ's posts containing many hidden meanings.
=> Overall, I feel that a change in Binance's leadership at the present time is necessary to dispel the attacks from legal authorities on Binance and CZ.
In fact, Richard Teng has been the chosen one for a long time.
CZ once left open the possibility of leaving the CEO position if he found an individual with more legal experience, and that person was none other than Richard Teng.
So when this information was announced, it did not seem to affect Binance & BNB too negatively.
5/ Why did US legal authorities sue Binance?
Currently, according to allegations from legal authorities, the SEC is suing Binance because
?? Inflating trading volume
?? Navigate customer cash flow
?? No restrictions on Americans from the Binance platform
?? Deceive investors & control the market
?? CZ arbitrarily accessed Binance US assets
?? Binance's Staking product is an unregistered securities activity
=> In general, there are many bugs to exploit.
However, let's look at reality ??
If the crypto market is a lucrative bait, does the US Government want this playground to be controlled by an outside organization that is not under US control?
=> Definitely not.
??That's why many exchanges such as Kucoin, Bitmex, Huobi, MEXC choose to locate in Seychelles.
??Any exchange that wants to operate in the US to access large capital must have its own license in this country. For example, Binance has its own entity, Binance US. This makes it easier for the US Government to control.
Previously, the US Government had players such as Coinbase, Kraken, FTX,... These were considered potential seeds to help them dominate this market.
??However, since the drama between Binance and FTX took place causing FTX to collapse, there are some views that it originated from CZ's announcement of selling FTT.
=> Therefore, CZ and Binance are still a "thorn" when they destroyed an American exchange valued at 32 billion USD. Among the group of investors in FTX is also BlackRock - the largest investment organization in the world. gender.
6/ Who will be the KOL leading the market after CZ?
From a personal perspective, we have long been accustomed to the image of CZ regularly posting articles, driving and leading the market.
However, with the image of Richard Teng being quite economical, I think the upcoming market will be relatively "boring" because no one has the power to shake up the market.
?? CZ's downfall is an opportunity for other influential KOLs to take over. But who will be next?
?? Justin Sun only actives short-term bets, Andre Cronje (Godfather of DeFi) no longer contributes much, Elon Musk only focuses on Memecoins like DOGE,...
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Therefore, the market will be somewhat uncertain without direction from an influential person.
For someone to build an image like CZ's:
?? Their financial potential must be large enough
?? Their relationship in the crypto market must be broad enough
?? They must be knowledgeable and comply with the laws of the country
????They must have a legit background, not having had financial scandals in the past
??And it's important to gather people who are good at making & implementing your ideas
?? Currently, there are many potential leaders, especially Star Xu - Founder & CEO of a top trading platform that is developing strongly recently.
However, Star Xu is also somewhat frugal like Richard, which is both beneficial because it can help OKX grow strongly in silence, but also disadvantageous because they can only follow the path that Binance has created. has not yet drawn a new path for everyone to follow.
????????
=> Personally, I'm looking forward to leaders of trading platforms like Star Xu (OKX), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase) or leaders of Yat Siu investment fund (Animoca), Founder a16z,...
7/ What should investors/Users do?
Since Binance left the CEO position, the amount of money withdrawn from Binance recorded more than 1.5 billion USD. On the contrary, the exchanges with the most net deposits are OKX, Bybit, http://Crypto.com, Kucoin,...
Actually, with Binance's potential at the present time, I don't believe Binance will have problems like FTX because:
?When Binance accepted to pay a fine of 4.3 billion USD to stop the investigation, it means they also accepted concessions to pave the way for development, not having to fight to the death with the government => Smart move.
?Yesterday until now, withdrawal activities on Binance are still happening normally => Creating peace of mind for investors.
?BNB price dropped sharply but did not breach the $220 mark => This shows that investors' expectations for Binance are still positive.
??However, up to now we have encountered many UNEXPECTED times such as the collapse of FTX, LUNA, UST,...
Therefore, preparing in advance for the worst scenarios is a good thing to do.
=> Not your key, not your coin!
Trading money can be left on the floor, if you buy and hold coins, remember to withdraw them to your Non-custodial wallet!
?? But if Binance is affected, BNB Chain will also be affected because BNB Chain is secured by BNB coin.
If Binance has a problem that causes BNB to crash, validators can unstake, reducing network security. So if you have to withdraw, please withdraw funds to another chain!
8/ Which exchange will be #1 instead of Binance?
For this question, I do not have an exact answer. But I once shared with Mr. Le Thanh:
?In the near future there will be no top #1 exchange globally.
?Instead, each country will have its own legal regulations, whichever exchange meets the legal requirements and receives a license will be ranked #1 in that country (of course, it still depends on the situation). depends on the potential and image of that floor globally).
?Therefore, legal compliance is a mandatory activity. Even though this somewhat inhibits the freedom of the market, it is a necessary factor for the market to reach mass adoption.
?This is similar to some regions in the world such as America, Europe,... exchanges that want to operate here must have their own license, complying with the financial and tax regulations of each country.
=> Therefore, to determine which is the #1 top exchange in the future, what you should pay attention to is the legal compliance activities of the trading floors.
Sometimes it is no longer Binance, OKX,... but it can be exchanges licensed by each country's government!
But in conclusion, Binance's boss is still CZ, not Richard Teng
The person holding the CEO position is not equal to the person holding shares ??
