Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance is looking at a potential place to maintain a physical headquarters as it transitions away from a decentralized structure.
After months of scrutiny from global regulators regarding Binance’s operations, corporate registry documents now reveal that the company has registered three different firms in Ireland.
In July, CEO Changpeng Zhao decided to move Binance away from its decentralized setup in an effort to appease regulators and win licensing approval amid crackdowns in several jurisdictions, including the US, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.
Just months after beginning the search for official headquarters locations, Binance has taken interest in Ireland.
In an interview with Reuters, Zhao explains why he chose to shift Binance from a decentralized structure.
“When we first started we wanted to embrace the decentralized principles, no headquarters, work all around the world, no borders.
It’s very clear now [that] to run a centralized exchange, you need a centralized, legal entity structure behind it.”
Zhao confirmed that Ireland is part of the plan for Binance’s future, but declined to provide Reuters with any specific details.
Finding a new base of operations is only one leg of Zhao’s roadmap to grow Binance worldwide. According to the tech news website The Information, Binance’s US branch is planning to hold an initial public offering (IPO) sometime in the next three years.
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