Crypto
exchange
Binance’s
user
base
grew
30%
in
2023,
CEO
Richard
Teng
said
Thursday,
signaling
strength
as
the
world’s
largest
cryptocurrency
trading
venue
tries
to
look
past
November’s
settlement
with
U.S.
regulators
and
the
departure
of
founder
Changpeng
“CZ”
Zhao.
In
Binance’s
end-of-year
report,
Teng
said
“net
inflows
have
been
very
robust,
while
new
users
continued
coming
in
steadily”
following
Zhao’s
guilty
plea,
which
also
saw
Binance
agree
to
pay
$4.3
billion
for
violating
U.S.
banking
laws.
Growth
was
not
limited
to
Binance’s
exchange
products.
Binance
Pay,
Binance
Earn
and
its
peer-to-peer
platform
all
saw
increases.
There’s
also
strong
interest
from
“institutional
investors,”
according
to
Teng.
Overall,
Binance
added
40
million
accounts
to
170
million.
The
company
reported
spending
$213
million
on
compliance
in
2023.
It
boosted
its
surveillance
of
wash
trading
on
the
exchange
and
NFT
marketplaces,
created
an
in-house
case
management
system
for
transaction
monitoring
and
subjected
itself
to
a
security
audit,
completed
this
month.
The
expenditure
was
already
a
35%
increase
from
2022,
and
the
bill
for
next
year
will
almost
certainly
be
far
larger:
The
exchange
has
agreed
to
pay
for
a
U.S.
government-approved
compliance
monitor
for
the
next
five
years.
In
2023,
Binance’s
regulatory
liaison
team
processed
nearly
60,000
requests
from
law-enforcement
agencies
globally
and
gave
120
training
sessions.
“This
organization
is
built
to
last
–
not
years,
but
decades,”
Teng
wrote.
UPDATE
(Dec.
28,
17:25
UTC):
Adds
compliance
expenditure
starting
in
fourth
paragraph.