Binance.US cuts third of staff as CEO Brian Shroder leaves
The staff cut and departure comes amid legal action from United States regulators.
Binance.US, the United States arm of the crypto exchange has cut around a third of its staff — or 100 positions — with its president and CEO Brian Shroder also departing the firm.
A Binance.US spokesperson confirmed the layoffs and Shroder’s departure to Cointelegraph, adding it took the actions to give the exchange “more than seven years of financial runway” amid its move to 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 confirmed Shroder was replaced on an interim basis by chief legal officer Norman Reed.
Shroder joined Binance.US in September 2021 and his departure comes amid a slew of regulatory action taken against the firm in recent months.
Related: Binance’s Richard Teng denies FTX comparisons: ‘We welcome the scrutiny’
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 suspended dollar deposits and notified its customers it would also be pausing fiat withdrawal channels amid the battle with the SEC.
Binance.US then transitioned to a crypto-only exchange for two months, only opening a path for USD ramps again in August when it secured a partnership with MoonPay.
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.
Update (Sep. 13, 12:30 am UTC): This article has been updated with a comment from a Binance.US spokesperson.
Additional reporting by Felix Ng.
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