Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in July 2017. It raised about US$15 million in an initial coin offering and issued the BNB token. [1] It was founded by Changpeng Zhao, who served as CEO until November 2023. [2]
History
- 2017-07 — Binance is founded; ICO raises about US$15 million; BNB is issued. [1]
- 2018 — According to Bloomberg as relayed by Wikipedia, it becomes the world's largest exchange in under eight months; operations move from China to Japan and Malta. [1]
- 2019-05-07 — Binance discloses a "large-scale security breach" in which about 7,000 BTC (then roughly US$40 million) were stolen. [1]
- 2019 — Binance announces it will block U.S. users and launches the separate Binance.US exchange; the Department of Justice later said Binance nevertheless worked to retain many U.S. VIP users. [2][1]
- 2022-10 — An attack on the BNB chain involves about US$568 million of tokens. [1]
- 2022-11 — Binance proposes to acquire FTX's international business and withdraws the next day. [1]
- 2023-11-21 — Binance pleads guilty and pays about US$4.3 billion; Richard Teng becomes CEO; a three-year independent compliance monitorship is imposed. [2][1]
- 2025-03-12 — Abu Dhabi's MGX invests US$2 billion in Binance (reported by Reuters via Wikipedia; another report says it was paid in USD1). [1][4]
- 2025-12-03 — He Yi is named co-CEO (CNBC, via Wikipedia). [1] [verification needed]
- 2026-06 — Binance launches U.S. stock and ETF trading (Reuters, via Wikipedia). [1] [verification needed]
- 2026-09 — Binance is reported to face obstacles in the European Union (Wall Street Journal, via Wikipedia). [1] [verification needed]
- 2026-10 — BNB Standard (formerly CEA Industries, ticker BNC) rebrands and rings the Nasdaq bell; it holds BNB and is backed by YZi Labs. [4][5]
Guilty plea and settlement (2023)
Main article: Binance’s 2023 U.S. resolution
On 21 November 2023 the Department of Justice announced that Binance had pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit US$2,510,650,588 and pay a criminal fine of US$1,805,475,575, a total of US$4,316,126,163, and to accept an independent compliance monitor for three years. [2] Separate resolutions were reached with other U.S. agencies, which the Department described as coordinated. [2] Details of the criminal case against its founder are in United States v. Zhao; the SEC civil case is covered in SEC v. Binance.
Reports of further scrutiny
According to Wikipedia, citing a March 2026 Wall Street Journal report, the Department of Justice had investigated Binance over Iran sanctions. The original report is paywalled and has not been verified by this site. [1] [verification needed]
Note
Statements on this page concern the company; they are not statements about its founder personally.