40% increase in institutional, corporate investors

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen a 40 percent increase this year in institutional and corporate investors joining the platform, CEO Richard Teng told CNBC’s Lin Lin in an interview Wednesday.

“Crypto allocation by institutions is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just getting started because many of them are still doing their due diligence,” Teng said on the sidelines of the Token2049 conference in Singapore. He became CEO in November 2023.

“So, on our own, we’re seeing huge growth in terms of institutional and corporate investors. We’ve seen a 40% increase in integration in this category this year alone,” he said. Teng did not name specific firms or say how big they were.

The stated increase reflects how the so-called big money is heating up bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and are now willing to work with an exchange that was hit by a US probe and $4.3 billion settlement.

Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Binance, stepped down last year as part of the settlement. Zhao remains a majority shareholder, Teng said.

Teng noted how Binance has moved from a founder-led company to one run by a board of seven directors – a structure he said regulators are more used to.

Teng joined Binance in 2021 as CEO of the company’s Singapore operations. He was previously CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market and chief regulatory officer of the Singapore Stock Exchange, among other roles.

Bitcoin was launched in 2009, paving the way for many other cryptocurrencies based on similar blockchain technology. The technology eliminates the need for a third-party intermediary by quickly creating a permanent and secure record of transactions between two parties.

After years of regulatory uncertainty, the US approved the first exchange-traded funds for bitcoin spot prices in January. In July, the US allowed similar funds to be traded for ether, another cryptocurrency.

Such regulatory clarity “will provide certainty to mainstream users,” Teng said. He attributed bitcoin’s record high earlier this year — over $70,000 in March — to “the effect of institutions passing through.”

He noted how BlackRock CEO Larry Fink went from being skeptical of bitcoin to calling it “digital gold.”

The company and other traditional Wall Street investment firms such as Franklin Templeton have also issued ETFs for bitcoin and ether.

Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson told CNBC in May that bitcoin’s gains at the time were due to the “first wave of adopters.” She said she expects another wave of “much larger institutions” to buy crypto funds.

Bitcoin was trading near $60,440 on Wednesday afternoon Singapore time.

Teng declined to share a specific price forecast, but noted how cryptocurrency prices tend to “heat up” 160 days after bitcoin goes through a technical event known as a “halving.” The last such event was in April.

As of Wednesday, Teng pointed out that the market was “nine days away from that 160 days.”

— CNBC’s Ryan Browne, MacKenzie Sigalos and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.