Binance CEO Denies Rumors It’s Planning an IPO After Hiring a Wall St. Veteran

• Binance's CEO has recently denied rumors it's planning an initial public offering (IPO).
• The rumors started after it hired an IPO heavyweight as its new CFO.

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has earlier this week announced it hired Wei Zhou as its new chief financial officer. Zhou is well-known as a Wall Street veteran with experience in helping firms launch their initial public offering (IPO).

Binance’s move saw some media outlets claim the company is looking to launch its own IPO. The exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao has now publicly revealed it has “no plans” for an IPO, although he seemingly believes some companies going public may be good for the crypto industry.

#Binance have no plans for IPO, but that doesn't make those experiences less valuable in our new industry. On the contrary, those are very much needed. We are always looking for top talent, from traditional finance, internet ... any industry and anywhere in the world! https://t.co/inZZ9eww92— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 7, 2018

Zhou, per Binance’s tweets, brings in 15 years of executive experience at leading technology firms. He is an expert at managing the firms’ financials and helping them grow their operations.

The exchange’s new CFO is a Harvard University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and East Asian studies, who helped online recruitment services platform Zhaopin.com and advertising firm Charm Communications with their IPOs as their CFO.

Per Zhao, Binance is merely looking for top talent from “any industry anywhere in the world!” As CryptoGlobe covered the company has been expanding its business to not only rely on its core platform. Its Binance Labs is set to give crypto startups $500,000 for 10% of their business, to catch blockchain use cases that’ll help it “thrive.”

The company has also announced a $1 billion blockchain startup fund, which will see it invest in promising blockchain and crypto projects with its BNB token. The token has been bucking the bearish trend, and according to crypto hedge fund partner and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, 90% of Binance’s employees choose to get paid in it.

Crypto-Related IPOs

While Binance may not be eyeing an IPO, other cryptocurrency firms have been looking to go public. Cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain, which reportedly recorded $1.1 billion in profits in the first quarter of this year, is eyeing an $18 billion IPO, potentially the largest in history.

With the Bitmain IPO , parties get a look at the prospectus and operating capital details. This graph is starting to make the rounds , indicating that Bitmain took 69% of its operating cash flow to invest in bitcoin cash w/a net loss of 299.2M as of 8/2018. pic.twitter.com/djLwUTEZe0— I am Nomad (@IamNomad) August 13, 2018

Bitmain’s IPO is set to come shortly after it invested $50 million in that of Opera. The move has been dissected by the research arm of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, which noted it’s the dominant player in the area of ASIC-based crypto mining hardware, which heavily invested in Bitcoin Cash. The research was done through supposed leaked documents, whose authenticity can’t be verified at this time.

Canaan, another mining hardware manufacturer, has earlier this year confirmed it filed for a $1 billion IPO. Crypto and stock trading app Robinhood is, as recently reported, also getting ready for an IPO.