Binance CEO Richard Teng praises Trump’s crypto movement again, says he’s ‘fantastic’

Binance CEO Richard Teng called President Trump’s second term a “fantastic reset” for crypto on Tuesday during a live CNBC interview. He said the current U.S. political climate has changed completely compared to the last four years, and that Binance is now operating in a much friendlier environment for the industry.

“It’s an extremely different environment that we’re operating in,” Richard said. He also added, “We’ve benefited from this shift.” Richard was appointed CEO in November 2023 after Changpeng Zhao was forced to step down, and he’s now leading Binance through one of the company’s most dramatic pivots in years—right in the middle of Trump’s return to the White House.

Richard confirms Binance sees political gains under Trump

Richard said Binance’s political situation has improved fast under Trump. After the company paid a $4.3 billion fine in 2023 to settle federal charges with the DOJ and CFTC and pushed out its billionaire founder, the exchange now finds itself being taken seriously in Washington. That’s a complete turnaround from how things were during the Biden administration.

On the same day Richard gave his interview, two major reports came out. The first said Binance was in discussions to give the Trump family a financial stake in the company. The second said World Liberty Financial, a crypto bank tied to Trump, was talking with Binance about creating a new dollar-pegged stablecoin. Neither deal has been confirmed, but both were reported.

When asked about those reports, Richard didn’t give a straight yes or no. “I believe both World Liberty Financial as well as CZ himself have tweeted and denied the reports,” Richard said. When asked about Trump possibly getting involved in Binance.US, Richard said the U.S. and global exchanges are totally separate. “.US and .com are quite different animals, right?” he said. “They have different sets of shareholders, different boards of directors, and different CEOs running the show.”

Binance created that split on purpose, trying to limit legal exposure in the U.S. by keeping its American business separate from its international operations. But Richard made it clear again—Trump’s approach to crypto is a win for Binance. He said Biden’s years brought four years of what the industry calls “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” where banks blocked crypto firms and regulators clamped down hard. That’s not the case now, according to Richard.

“We went from four years of Operation Choke Point 2.0 to now – you have a very pro-crypto, pro-AI president,” Richard said. Even though Binance.com doesn’t offer services to U.S. users, Richard said the company still benefits from “all these pro-crypto policies.”

Binance grows by 95 million users in one year

Richard also pointed to Binance’s global growth numbers under his leadership. The platform jumped from 170 million users to 265 million in just 12 months. He said multiple governments have approached Binance directly, asking to work together on regulation. He listed Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, and the UAE as examples where Binance has seen major progress with lawmakers and regulators.

Richard said Binance now holds licenses in 21 jurisdictions, and that includes partnerships with sovereign wealth funds starting to invest quietly in crypto. The platform is expanding while cleaning up past messes.

One of those unresolved issues is the SEC’s civil case against Binance and Zhao. In February, both sides agreed to pause the case for 60 days to explore a possible resolution. That decision came as the SEC started backing away from other crypto lawsuits under Trump’s new leadership.

Richard said Binance made big mistakes in the past but is now fixing them. “We under-invested in compliance in those very early days,” he said. “But what’s important as a responsible institution is to acknowledge those early mistakes, make amends for it, and invest greatly into compliance, which we are doing now.”

According to Richard, Binance has more than 1,300 compliance workers, which makes up one-fourth of its total workforce. He said, “The direction of travel is very clear. It’s one of compliance.”

Nigeria detains Binance executives, MGX sends $2B in stablecoins

While Richard talks about compliance, not every country is on board. In Nigeria, Binance was charged with tax evasion, failure to file returns, and helping users avoid taxes. Two top Binance execs were arrested—Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and former IRS investigator, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan dual national. Both were thrown into prison.

Tigran spent months in harsh prison conditions before getting out. Nadeem escaped from custody in March 2024. Nigerian authorities accused Binance of refusing to pay value-added tax and company income tax, and not turning in financial reports.

Richard said the treatment of Nadeem “is not warranted.” He said Binance tried to cooperate with Nigerian officials. “We have always tried to liaise and work cooperatively with governments around the world,” he said.

Richard also spoke about changes inside Binance’s structure since he became CEO. He said the company is no longer a founder-led startup. “Now I report to the board of directors,” he said. “We have a board of seven members, including three independent directors and an independent chairman.”

Even with all the heat from regulators, Richard said Binance is still leading globally. “At any point in time, we have more than 40% of global market share,” he said.

He shrugged off talk that Coinbase is getting stronger in D.C. or that ETFs are going to change the game. He said ETFs are useful but limited. “A lot of users that start trading through ETFs subsequently advance to cryptocurrency platforms,” he said. “Crypto trades nonstop, ETFs don’t.”

Binance just pulled in a huge new backer too. This month, the exchange got its first institutional investment ever. The deal was worth $2 billion, all paid in stablecoins. The money came from MGX, an AI and advanced tech fund based in the UAE. MGX works with BlackRock and Microsoft, and Richard said the partnership is a bridge between crypto and AI.

“We are utilizing AI on an extensive basis,” he said. Richard explained that Binance is using AI for security, customer support, and compliance monitoring. He said, “This is the blockchain sector. We have to continue to utilize technology to achieve efficiency.”

When asked what keeps him up at night, Richard gave a list. He said Binance is focused on security, compliance, product innovation, and mergers and acquisitions.

“We want to make sure we run a very robust, operational, best-in-class platform,” he said.

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