The US under President Donald Trump has moved on from a crypto regulatory regime marked by “a bit of oppression”, according to Richard Teng, chief executive of Binance Holdings.

Digital asset executives have loudly complained that regulators under previous President Joe Biden sought to engage in “regulation by enforcement”, their description for a spate of high-profile lawsuits against and hefty fines levied on companies including Binance, Coinbase and Ripple.

The Trump administration, by contrast, has made a series of crypto-friendly moves in the months since the inauguration.

“I think we have a fresh reset and a restart,” Teng said in an interview with Bloomberg News on the outskirts of the Consensus crypto conference in Hong Kong. Still, Binance is waiting for more clarity from the US before it decides on its plans there, Teng said.

Binance effectively halted its US operations in the aftermath of a June 2023 lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission that accused the exchange and its then-CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao of mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, and breaking securities rules. That November, CZ pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations and Binance agreed to pay US$4.3 billion (HK$33.43 billion) in a sweeping settlement with the US.

Since the US settlement, Binance has sought to reshape itself. After Teng stepped into the role of chief executive, company set up a board of directors and has made occasional noises about establishing a global headquarters.

Teng said the crypto exchange, the world’s largest, had a couple of different locations under “careful consideration” and that the board hopes to land on one “very soon.”

Speaking at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Teng expressed his reservations about some of the regulatory restrictions locally including on the number of tokens one can trade and limitations on futures trading.

Binance has not applied for a crypto license in Hong Kong, according to the list of applicants on the regulator’s website. “You have to make it very conducive for players like ourselves,” Teng said.

BLOOMBERG

Richard Teng in Hong Kong on Feb. 19. Bloomberg

Binance CEO Teng sees ‘fresh reset’ for crypto in new US regime