Binance in talks with countries to establish strategic Bitcoin reserves: report

Once at the center of major enforcement actions, Binance now appears to be advising countries on creating strategic crypto reserves.

Despite facing criminal charges in 2023, Binance now seems to be advising governments and sovereign wealth funds on how to create national strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserves and set digital asset regulations, Binance CEO Richard Teng told the Financial Times.

In a Thursday interview, Teng said that the exchange has received “quite a number of approaches by a few governments and sovereign wealth funds” on the establishment of “their own crypto reserves.” He said the exchange is also helping countries “with formulating their regulatory framework to govern crypto.”

While Teng didn’t name the countries involved, he noted that Binance has been approached “by quite a lot” of them.

The shift comes as the U.S. under President Donald Trump signals more support for crypto, including plans for a national crypto stockpile. Teng said this has prompted other countries to take similar steps, adding that compared to many other jurisdictions, the U.S. are still “way ahead on that front.”

Binance’s involvement follows a period of heavy regulatory pressure. In 2023, the company pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges related to money laundering and sanctions violations, paying more than $4.3 billion in penalties. Binance’s co-founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down and served four months in prison. Binance agreed to retain independent compliance monitors as part of its settlements with U.S. prosecutors and FinCEN.

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, revealed that Binance executives asked U.S. Treasury officials to remove a monitor overseeing the exchange’s compliance with anti-money-laundering rules, though it’s not clear if the talks went anywhere.