Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen a 40% increase in the number of institutional and corporate investors joining the platform this year, CEO Richard Teng told CNBC’s Lin Lin in an interview on Wednesday.
“Institutions’ allocation to crypto is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just beginning as a lot of them are still doing their due diligence,” Teng said on the sidelines of the Token2049 conference in Singapore. He became CEO in November 2023.
“So we ourselves are seeing a huge increase in terms of institutional and corporate investors. We have seen a 40% increase in onboarding in that category this year alone,” he said. Teng did not name specific companies or say how big they were.
The growth mentioned reflects how so-called big money is heating up bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and now willing to work with an exchange that was hit by a US investigation and a $4.3 billion settlement.
Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Binance, resigned last year as part of the settlement. Zhao remains a major shareholder, Teng said.
Teng noted how Binance has evolved from a founder-led company to one led by a board of seven directors – a structure he said regulators are more accustomed to.
Teng joined Binance in 2021 as CEO of the company’s Singapore operations. Previously, he served as CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market and Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange.
Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and paved the way for many other cryptocurrencies based on similar blockchain technology. The technology eliminates the need for a third-party intermediary by quickly creating a permanent and secure record of transactions between two parties.
More and more institutions are being added
After years of regulatory uncertainty, the US approved the first exchange-traded funds for spot prices of bitcoin in January. In July, the US allowed trading of similar funds for ether, another cryptocurrency.
Such regulatory clarity “will provide certainty to regular users,” Teng said. He attributed bitcoin’s record high earlier this year — above $70,000 in March — to “the effect of institutions coming through.”
He noted how BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has gone from Bitcoin skeptic to calling it “digital gold.”
The company and other traditional Wall Street investment firms such as Franklin Templeton have also issued ETFs for bitcoin and ether.
Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, told CNBC in May that Bitcoin’s gains at the time were due to “the first wave of early adopters.” She said she expects a new wave of “much larger institutions” buying crypto funds.
Bitcoin was trading around $60,440 on Wednesday afternoon, Singapore time.
Teng declined to share a specific price forecast, but noted how cryptocurrency prices tend to “heat up” 160 days after Bitcoin experiences a technical event known as a “halving.” The last such event was in April.
On Wednesday, Teng pointed out that the market was “nine days away from that 160 day mark.”
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne, MacKenzie Sigalos and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.