China's Crypto Craving

As Binance navigates the new landscape of global crypto regulations, all eyes are on newly appointed CEO Richard Teng, a former Singaporean regulator. Will the company, which has never named an official headquarters location, finally put down roots and clear up any ambiguity about where it operates and by whose rules?
Teng has so far shown no sign that the company is on the verge of greater transparency. He previously told Bloomberg TV that the company’s “core team” remains intact. When questioned by the Financial Times at its Crypto and Digital Assets summit in London this month, he refused to share the location of the company’s headquarters and questioned why anyone would “feel entitled” to that information.
However the company’s future plans shake out, China could be too important a market to ignore. And Beijing has so far been tolerating a fair amount of measurable activity in the market.

“The ban hasn’t been completely ineffective, but it has been shown to be highly porous,” Chainalysis’ Ong said, “and we’re still seeing a very material amount of activity in China.”

China’s crypto craving: back-door Binance traders look more important to exchange’s future in wake of US conviction

• Binance workarounds allow mainland Chinese traders to sign up by listing their location as Taiwan and affiliates are rewarded for onboarding new users
• The world’s largest crypto exchange has sought to distance itself from China, but the sizeable crypto market is more enticing as regulations tighten elsewhere
• Dylan ButtsandMatt Haldane

South China Morning Post

3 hours ago

China's crypto craving: back-door Binance traders look more important to exchange's future in wake of US

Read the entire report 

. . .Binance is also not buying and selling the crypto itself. 

• While it holds the crypto in its own wallets, it facilitates the trades between users. 
• In China, that means users can pay each other in yuan using popular mobile payment platforms like Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay or Ant Group’s Alipay. 
• Ant is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post. . .

For traders in China, Binance’s scale is its clear advantage over rivals like OKX and HTX, formerly Huobi, all of which were started in China.

“Binance is not as easy to use as OKX and Huobi,” said one crypto trader in Shenzhen, who spoke with the Post over the Telegram messaging app. “I like Binance because its depth is the best, not its ease of use.” 

Top exchanges by normalized 24-hour trading volume, December 22, 2023

Exchange	24h trading volume
Binance	$9,018,890,598
OKX	$3,073,244,999
Coinbase	$2,896,401,594
Bybit	$2,881,531,587
DigiFinex	$2,191,155,699

Source: CoinGecko

A report from CNBC in March found that people identifying themselves as Binance employees and trained volunteers called Angels, had been coaching people on how to get around geographic restrictions from China. . .