Binance: FUD rises as top executives head for exit, what now?

Posted: September 7, 2023

• As key executives from Binance Russia exited the company, CZ took to Twitter to reduce FUD.
• BNB’s price remained stagnant.

Binance [BNB] has been the recipient of the most FUD in the recent bear market. With lawsuits filed against the company and BNB’s increasing losses, it appeared that both Binance and its token couldn’t catch a break.

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Executives pack their bags

Recently, it was announced that two top Binance Russia executives had departed the company amid significant regulatory challenges, particularly related to sanctions.

Gleb Kostarev, who served as the head of Eastern Europe and Russia at Binance, announced his departure on Facebook on 6 September. He also mentioned that he had left his position in the Asia-Pacific region a few months ago.

Following Kostarev’s announcement, Vladimir Smerkis, the general manager for Russia and CIS at Binance, also revealed his leaving via Facebook.

Neither executive provided explicit reasons for their departures. However, Smerkis indicated that he would share more details about his exit, future plans, and experiences at an upcoming meeting in Moscow in a few weeks.

Is Binance exiting the Russian market?

Due to these events, the speculation that Binance may leave the Russian market started to rise. To reduce the FUD, founder CZ took to Twitter, where he stated that team members were taking on bigger roles, some outside of Binance.

He also expressed that these exits opened up additional growth prospects within the company.

Some of our team members are growing into bigger roles, some outside of #Binance. Some are doing new exciting ventures. I even made intros/references for many of them. We are supportive of everyone. We are one community.

This also creates more growth opportunities within…

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 6, 2023

However, despite CZ’s attempts to reduce the FUD around Binance, these factors won’t be considered in isolation by the public and the crypto community. Recently, its operations in Russia caught the eye of regulatory bodies in the U.S. as well.

This could be one reason why Binance could soon reduce its involvement in the Russian markets, going forward.

On the legal front

In the latest legal development involving Binance, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a sealed motion in their case. This motion allows them to submit confidential information privately. It contained over 35 exhibits, a declaration from Jennifer Farer, an SEC trial attorney, and a proposed order.

John Reed Stark, a former SEC official, called this a rare move on X (formerly Twitter). He pointed out that public interest usually calls for transparency in the SEC’s use of taxpayer funds and its message to deter future securities violations.

Realistic or not, here’s BNB’s market cap in BTC’s terms

Stark proposed two theories for the SEC’s action: either they might be avoiding interference with a criminal DOJ investigation, or they may be concerned about endangering a witness or company.

What’s Up With The Secret U.S. SEC Motion Relating to Binance?

In the U.S. SEC/Binance litigation, the U.S. SEC has filed a sealed motion for leave to file documents under seal, according to an SEC court filing late yesterday. Filing a court document “under seal” allows… pic.twitter.com/cmx6gdh2so

— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) August 29, 2023

Despite these events, BNB’s weighted sentiment indicator suggested that comments being made about BNB were largely positive at the time of writing. Regardless, the token’s price was mostly stagnant. At press time, BNB was trading at $215.14.

Source: Santiment