Binance.US, the American affiliate of the global crypto exchange Binance, has announced the appointment of Tammy Weinrib today as the company’s Chief Compliance Officer. In her new role, Weinrib will be responsible for providing high-level guidance on Binance.US’ compliance and regulatory strategies and engaging with regulators and law enforcement agencies across the US.
Before joining Binance.US, Weinrib served as Vice President of the financial crime compliance group at Société Générale. Before that, she was Gemini’s Deputy Chief Compliance Officer.
Brian Shroder, Binance.US CEO, talked about the appointment: “At Binance.US, we recognize the enormous responsibility that comes with handling our customers’ assets, and with that responsibility comes a need to ensure our company and industry are held to the highest standards of regulatory compliance.”
Ramping Up Compliance Team
The hire comes as Binance has encountered scrutiny from regulators globally in recent months, worldwide, including Japan and the U.S. The US SEC is currently investigating the ties of Binance.US, with two of its affiliate market makers (Sigma Chain AG and Merit Peak Ltd).
The SEC is investigating the relations of Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, who is the largest shareholder in Binance.US, and the two market makers. Corporate documents from 2019 indicate that Zhao controls both the market-making entities and that can create a conflict of interest.
Furthermore, there are concerns that Binance.US did not properly disclose its ties with the two market makers to its customers. Binance has defended itself, saying that it is a privately held company and is not obliged to disclose details of its investors or corporate structure to the public. However, the exchange stated that it is open to sharing information with regulators.
In September last year, Binance hired veteran IRS Investigators as part of its efforts to strengthen compliance. The exchange added Tigran Gambaryan and Matthew Price, former special agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Cyber Crimes Unit, to its compliance and security team.
Amid intense scrutiny in Europe and the US, Binance has ramped up its compliance team and partnerships, and localized operations to adhere to local regulations. The exchange has hired more people and put in place more processes and systems to strengthen its compliance with laws in different nations.
