Binance US Is Expected to Close a Massive Funding Round

The United States affiliate of global crypto exchange, Binance is expected to close a funding round, raising a ‘couple hundred million’, the Binance Founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao said on Friday.

Though Zhao said that he is unaware of the exact number when speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, the official confirmation of the funding round might come in ‘about a month or two’. Binance US earlier disclosed that it is seeking at least US$100 million in a funding round.

Earlier this year, Zhao revealed that Binance US is considering the possibility of going public through an initial public offering (IPO) route, especially after rival Coinbase listed itself on Nasdaq. He is not even ruling out the possibility of the parent company in the future.

“[From] an IPO perspective, it’s probably best to have a few rounds of financing before that,” Zhao added. However, he confirmed that he only sits as the Chair of the Binance US board and is not involved in the US exchange’s day-to-day operations.

A Profitable Crypto Exchange

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the trading volume. The spot trading volume on the exchange touched $789 billion in September, according to CryptoCompare. Morever, Zhao confirmed that the exchange is making ‘pretty much’ billions of dollars in profits, but did not provide any number.

He even said that being a profitable exchange, Binance is now considering to undercut its rivals in terms of trading fees.

Binance faced critical regulatory scrutiny earlier this year as it was operating in several jurisdictions without obtaining relevant authorizations. Many regulators red-flagged the exchange, while a few even took enforcement actions.

Zhao said that the exchange is now in talks with regulators and will soon announce the location of its headquarters.

“We want regulation, I am not a complete libertarian, I’m not an anarchist,” he said.