Binance Eyes Non-Crypto Acquisitions to Enlarge Total Market: Report

“The strategy is about making the crypto industry bigger,” CEO Changpeng Zhao said.

By Sheldon Reback

Mar 9, 2022 at 1:15 p.m. UTC

Updated Mar 9, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. UTC

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (Adam Levine/CoinDesk)

Sheldon Reback

Sheldon Reback is a CoinDesk news editor based in London. He owns a small amount of ether.

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Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, plans to buy more companies in non-crypto industries as a way of expanding the appeal of digital assets, CEO Changpeng Zhao said in an interview with the Financial Times.

“We want to identify and invest in one or two targets in every economic sector and try to bring them into crypto,” Zhao said. “The strategy is about making the crypto industry bigger.”
In February, Binance invested $200 million in Forbes, the U.S. publication looking to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
It's also been spending on crypto assets, with its Bifinity unit this week lending $36 million to Eqonex through a loan that can be converted into an equity stake. Eqonex is the parent of Digivault, which last year became the first crypto custody firm to win regulatory approval from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA expressed concern over the arrangement.
The FCA also expressed concern over Binance gaining access to the U.K.'s Faster Payment Service through an arrangement with payments group Paysafe in February.
After being slammed by regulators worldwide last year, the exchange has been hiring compliance staff. It now employs 70 in the U.K., many of them in regulatory roles, the FT said.

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