Binance Denies IPO Rumors after Hiring New Chief Financial Officer
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Binance Denies IPO Rumors after Hiring New Chief Financial Officer

Sep 9, 2018, 8:00AM
Industry 1 min, 42 sec READ
by Mike Dalton

Binance's new CFO has a track record of creating Initial Public Offerings. Will Binance create its own IPO, or is it just a rumour?

Binance, a major crypto exchange, has hired a new Chief Financial Officer who has an extensive history in the finance sector. The new CFO, Wei Zhou, has assisted various companies in creating Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Despite the recruit, and despite previous reports of Binance seeking an IPO, Binance CEO denies such plans.

Zhou is a former Goldman Sachs executive and is presently the vice chairman of Grindr. He has also worked with various Chinese firms, including Charm Communications and Zhaopin.com, and has helped both to create Initial Public Offerings. The fact that Zhou has joined Binance is generating rumors that the exchange will, in fact, create its own IPO.

This would be quite novel; currently, many crypto companies raise funds with an ICO, in which the company creates a token that investors can purchase. An IPO, however, involves introducing stocks that can be bought by the public. Just as an ICO can lead to listings on various crypto exchanges, an IPO can lead to listings on major stock exchanges like NASDAQ.

Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance, has acknowledged that IPOs could be beneficial to the crypto world in general. In August, Bitrates reported that Binance is very likely to file an IPO application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September for an official launch late 2018 or early 2019. Since then, reports on the involvement of several major companies in the pre-IPO funding round have proven to be false. 

Now, Changpeng denies that Binance has any plans for an IPO,

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Although IPOs are not yet a common practice in the crypto world, some crypto companies have decided to implement them. The Robinhood exchange and various mining giants may be among the first major crypto companies to create an IPO by the end of this year. In the meantime, Binance is focusing on creating new products such as a decentralized exchange.

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Disclaimer: information contained herein is provided without considering your personal circumstances, therefore should not be construed as financial advice, investment recommendation or an offer of, or solicitation for, any transactions in cryptocurrencies.