No Plans for IPO, Binance Exchange CEO Says

News and Analysis
08.09.2018

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has no immediate plans to go public despite hiring an IPO veteran Wei Zhou as its chief financial officer.

A Bachelor of Economics and East Asian studies from the Harvard University, Wei Zhou started his career at Goldman Sachs Hong Kong, where he worked for four years as a specialist in the investment banking division till 2015. However, most of Zhou’s professional experience is related to successful Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of two of his previous employers.

As a CFO of Chinese online recruitment platform Zhaopin Limited and one of the country’s leading advertising companies, Charm communication, Wei Zhou led both firms’ IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ, respectively.

“Mr. Zhou brings over 15 years of executive experience of leading technology, internet and media companies where he has built up particular expertise in financial management and accounting, capital markets and investments, as well as growing and scaling business operations in both China and the United States,” Binance said in a statement on Friday .

Zhou’ appointment has led to media speculations that Binance is too preparing for an IPO. However, the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, took to Twitter to deny such plans even though he admitted that crypto industry could benefit from this particular fundraising model.

While Binance may not be eyeing an IPO, other prominent companies in the cryptocurrency field have already gone or have expressed intentions to go public. Mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain is eyeing an $18 billion IPO, potentially the largest in history, despite a number of companies denying they took part in its pre-IPO funding.

Canaan, another mining hardware manufacturer, has earlier confirmed it filed for an IPO hoping to raise at least $400 million, while Ebang International is eyeing as much as $1 billion. Stock trading app Robinhood is also getting ready for an IPO, as it was reported earlier this week.

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