The number of institutional and corporate investors joining cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s platform has grown by 40% this year, CEO Richard Teng said in an interview with CNBC’s Lingling on Wednesday.
“Institutional investment in crypto is just the tip of the iceberg. It's still early days because many institutional investors are still doing their due diligence,” Teng said on the sidelines of the Token2049 conference in Singapore. He took over as CEO in November 2023.
“So, just with our company alone, we've seen a significant increase in institutional and corporate investors. This year alone, we've seen a 40 percent increase in new entrants in this space,” he said. Teng declined to disclose specific company names or size.
The announced growth reflects just how excited the so-called big money is. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and has indicated its willingness to cooperate with the exchange, which is currently the subject of a U.S. investigation and $4.3 billion settlement.
Binance co-founder and former CEO, billionaire Zhao Changpeng, stepped down last year as part of the settlement. Zhao remains a major shareholder, Teng said.
Teng pointed to Binance's pivot from a founder-led company to one led by a seven-person board of directors, a structure he said regulators are more comfortable with.
Teng joined Binance in 2021 as CEO of the company's Singapore operations. He previously served in roles including CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market and Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange.
Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and paved the way for many other cryptocurrencies based on similar blockchain technology, which quickly creates a permanent, secure record of transactions between two parties, eliminating the need for a third-party intermediary.
More institutions join the fray
After years of regulatory uncertainty, the U.S. approved the first exchange-traded fund tracking the spot price of bitcoin in January. In July, the U.S. allowed trading of a similar fund for ethereum, another cryptocurrency.
Teng said such regulatory clarification “gives certainty to ordinary users,” attributing Bitcoin’s record high earlier this year (over $70,000 in March) to “the power of institutional investors.”
He pointed out that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has gone from being a bitcoin skeptic to calling it “digital gold.”
It and other traditional Wall Street investment firms such as Franklin Templeton have also launched Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson told CNBC in May that bitcoin's rise at the time was due to “the first wave of early adopters,” and said she expects to see a wave of “much larger institutions” buying into crypto funds.
Bitcoin was trading around $60,440 as of Wednesday afternoon Singapore time.
While Teng did not offer any specific price predictions, he noted that cryptocurrencies tend to “rise” in prices 160 days after Bitcoin undergoes a technical event known as a “halving,” which last occurred in April.
Teng noted that as of Wednesday, the market was “nine days away from 160.”
—CNBC's Ryan Brown, Mackenzie Sigalos and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
