Binance France has undergone a significant ownership change, with new shareholders now holding an equal 100% stake in the company. This decision was prompted by a warning from the country’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF) in December.
According to a blog post, the AMF informed Binance France that it must take action due to the issues arising between the original beneficial owner and the United States Justice Department, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. This means that former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao can no longer have ownership of the company.
The post revealed that Zhao had already withdrawn from the company. He had pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him in the United States in November and has been sentenced to four months in prison, although he has yet to begin serving his sentence.
Binance France has not disclosed the names of the new beneficiaries but has confirmed that they are both members of Binance’s founding team. According to the Pappers information service, the new shareholders are Lihua He and Yulong Yan. However, there is limited information available about these individuals.
The Binance white paper potentially identifies Yan as Allan Yan, the first product director. Yan was also a co-founder of Bijie Tech, a company established by Zhao before Binance, which provided software to cryptocurrency exchanges. However, Bijie Tech was shut down in 2017. Lihua He is not mentioned in the white paper.
Under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations, a company licensed in one European Union country can extend its license to all 27 member states. Binance reportedly obtained approval from the AMF in May 2022, after operating unlawfully in France since 2020. It was also allegedly under investigation for Anti-Money Laundering violations before Zhao faced charges in the United States.
Binance France also encountered difficulties in finding a banking partner in the country after the CFTC filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2023. In October 2023, Binance France’s executive director, Stéphanie Cabossioras, was among the executives who left the company.
Furthermore, Binance was denied a virtual asset service provider license in the Netherlands in June, and its operations in Belgium were subsequently closed by regulators in the same month.
Considering the collapse of FTX, there is now a lack of trust in crypto exchanges.