CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao has warned staff not to give out information about the crypto exchange platform after it has been embroiled in a battle with regulators in the U.S.
A spokesperson for Binance said that the company is not domiciled in the UK and clarified that the platform is only available to UK consumers “on a ‘reverse solicitation’ basis.” In markets where it has lots of international employees working in close proximity, Binance sometimes arranges shared workspaces, they added.
But staff must be careful not to talk about them, two of the people familiar with the matter said.
“For personal and operational security reasons, we don’t actively encourage employees to advertise where these shared workspaces are located,” the Binance spokesperson said.
Details of the policy come just days after Binance’s Zhao warned staff, in an internal memo last week, to be careful about what they say via private messaging platforms, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s suit against the company contained a comment from an employee who allegedly said “we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”
The Binance spokesperson said the office policy boils down to security concerns.
“Ensuring that our colleagues’ personal safety is not compromised is of paramount importance to Binance,” they added.
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It was reported that security was the main driver and that Binance was especially conscious of this after dealing with “lunatics” and angry investors in the past.
Yet other crypto firms do not appear to have enforced Binance’s policy of gagging staff, and two of the people familiar with the matter said Binance might have ulterior motives.
“It was 100% to avoid regulators. But they pretended it was to stop angry customers showing up,” said one.
Of Binance’s thousands of staff, fully a quarter are based near the company’s regional hubs in Paris and Dubai, or in a satellite office within a jurisdiction in which Binance holds licenses or registrations, according to its spokesperson.
“In many other jurisdictions in which we have established a local presence, we have provided a local address and contact details for our office to local regulators,” they said, adding that many staff work on a remote basis.
Binance has offices dotted all over the world — and a policy that forbids staff from talking about them.