With the appointment of Richard Teng to handle Binance’s foreign markets outside the United States, the former Abu Dhabi regulator has emerged as the most likely successor to Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest crypto exchange in 2017.
The expanded position comes on the heels of a revelation last month that Zhao, also known as CZ, is aiming to lower his stake of Binance.US, the firm’s American affiliate, as a form of appeasement to U.S. regulators.
Teng’s knowledge and experience as a regulator will come in handy in his new post supervising Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa as the exchange, which has been frequently targeted by regulators, strives to draw a line under escalating enforcement actions linked to conduct in the early days of cryptocurrency.