Institutional and Corporate Investors Experience a 40% Increase in Growth

Binance, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has reported an uptick in institutional and corporate investors by 40% in the current year, according to CEO Richard Teng during a dialogue with CNBC reporter Lin Lin on Wednesday.

Richard Teng commented on the margin of institutional investors’ engagement in crypto as ‘just the beginning’ while attending the Token2049 event in Singapore, having taken the CEO reins in November 2023. He stated that the majority are still in the research phase.

He highlighted a significant surge in corporate and institutional investors’ registrations on their platform this year but withheld specific names or their sizes.

The leap indicates a growing preference for and engagement with cryptocurrencies among substantial financial players, even for an exchange like Binance, which faced a considerable U.S. investigation leading to a $4.3 billion settlement.

Following this event, Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s co-founder and ex-CEO resigned, yet he continues as a significant stakeholder, Teng revealed.

Teng mentioned Binance’s transition toward being governed by a board with seven directors, reflecting a structure that regulators are more familiar with.

Prior to his Binance CEO role, Teng oversaw the company’s Singapore operations starting in 2021. His past executive roles included leading the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market and serving as regulatory officer at the Singapore Exchange.

Since Bitcoin’s inception in 2009, it has paved the path for a variety of cryptocurrencies based on blockchain, which allows for secure, intermediary-free transactions.

The U.S. made a significant move by sanctioning the first bitcoin spot price ETFs in January and later ether funds in July, providing regulatory clarity and attracting mainstream consumers according to Teng.

Teng attributed bitcoin’s surge to an all-time high earlier in the year to the influx of institutions in the market and mentioned the transformation of BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink from a bitcoin skeptic to proponent of digital gold.

He also referred to firms like Franklin Templeton, with CEO Jenny Johnson expecting another, larger wave of institutions following the initial adopters into cryptocurrency investments.

Currently, Bitcoin’s market price hovers around $60,440. Teng refrained from projecting specific prices but hinted at a trend where prices see an upturn 160 days following bitcoin’s “halving” event, with the market being merely days away from that crucial period.

— Contributions to this report by CNBC’s Ryan Browne, MacKenzie Sigalos, and Jesse Pound.