Former Ripple Exec to Lead Binance's US Expansion as New Exchange CEO

The operator of Binance's upcoming U.S. crypto exchange, BAM Trading Services, has hired a former Ripple executive as its CEO.

BAM announced on Tuesday it had appointed Catherine Coley as CEO, who will be responsible for rolling out Binance U.S., as well as expanding the exchange's marketplace in North America.

Prior to joining the firm, Coley was the head of  XRP Institutional Liquidity at San Francisco-based distributed ledger tech startup Ripple, BAM said in the announcement.

Before entering the blockchain and crypto space, Coley worked for banking giant Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and London in the institutional foreign exchange market, and handled international payments and global treasury management for startups while at Silicon Valley Bank.

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, said in the announcement:

"I am confident that with Coley’s leadership and Binance’s leading technology platform, Binance.US will be able to provide valuable services to the U.S. community.”

“This is just the beginning of a long journey ahead, and I look forward to working with Binance as a partner to unlock more potential for the blockchain ecosystem here in the U.S.," Coley added in statement.

The news comes weeks after Binance announced it will open a site for U.S.-based traders via Binance U.S. operated by its partner BAM. Following that deal, Binance.com, the exchange's global trading platform, moved to block access for users based in all territories of the U.S.

Little is known about BAM so far. CoinDesk reported before that the firm registered as a money services business with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), with the legal name "BAM Trading Services Inc." at a San Francisco address.

However, BAM was incorporated in the state of Delaware on Feb. 4, according to the Delaware Department of State's Division of Corporations.

Catherine Coley image courtesy of BAM Trading Services

Update (July 2, 14:10 UTC): This article was updated to include information about BAM Trading Services' place of incorporation.