Binance.US slashes workforce by a third as CEO Brian Shroder exits

The United States arm of the crypto exchange, Binance.US, has reduced a third of its staff — or 100 positions — with its president and CEO Brian Shroder also departing the firm. The staff cut and departure comes amid legal action from United States regulators.

A representative of Binance.US confirmed the layoffs and Shroder’s departure to Forkast News, to give the exchange “more than seven years of financial runway” amid its move to becoming a crypto-only exchange.

“The [Securities and Exchange Commission’s] aggressive attempts to cripple our industry and the resulting impacts on our business have real-world consequences for American jobs and innovation, and this is an unfortunate example of that.”

The spokesperson asserted that Shroder is to be replaced on an interim basis by Chief Legal Officer Norman Reed. In September 2021, Shroder joined Binance.US and his departure comes amid a slew of regulatory action taken against the firm in recent months.

Earlier this year, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance, Binance.US, and the exchange’s co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, alleging it operated an illegal exchange, sold unregistered securities, violated commodities laws and mishandled customer funds.

On June 9, the exchange stopped accepting dollar deposits and informed its users that it would also stop processing fiat withdrawals due to the legal dispute with the SEC. Binance.US then changed to a cryptocurrency-only exchange for two months, only to secure a collaboration with MoonPay in August to reopen a channel for USD ramps. 

In July, a report from Reuters, citing Kaiko data, suggested that Binance.US’ market share in the U.S. dropped from more than 22% in April to roughly 0.9% as of June 26.

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