Binance CEO Richard Teng: Our team and the global cryptocurrency community are celebrating Binance’s seventh anniversary, which is also the first anniversary since I took over as CEO of Binance. By general standards, a company that has been established for seven years is still in its early stages of growth, as an ambitious startup; however, in the cryptocurrency industry, a company that has been established for seven years and has consistently maintained its leading position during this period has become an experienced industry veteran. In this rapidly changing industry, Binance has emerged as a force to be reckoned with, surviving and prospering through various stages of development.
The upcoming seventh anniversary of Binance embodies both of these characteristics: it maintains the curiosity, agility, and growth mindset of a startup, while also possessing the wisdom and resilience of a seasoned veteran forged through overcoming various crises and challenges. With over 210 million global users and still growing, they have placed immense trust in us, willing to embark on their cryptocurrency journey with us, becoming a driving force for global financial freedom and inclusivity. This is where we stand today.
Table of Contents
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Current Development of the Binance Ecosystem
Driving Cryptocurrency into the Mainstream Infrastructure
Security and Compliance
Looking Ahead
Whether it was our first anniversary, second anniversary, upcoming seventh anniversary, or any future anniversary, Binance has always stayed true to its original mission: “Putting Users First” is the most important consideration in all our decision-making processes. With our hardcore work culture and a sense of ownership, we strive for continuous innovation with the purpose of improving people’s lives.
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The past year has been a mix of familiar challenges and exciting moments for Binance. We have turned the page on past issues, undergone leadership changes, and witnessed signs of renewed user confidence through strong inflows of funds and surging new registrations. We have remained strong and have never stopped building the industry.
A key milestone this year was reaching the threshold of 200 million global registered users in early June. Among them are many users who were already familiar with digital assets, but there are also many new users entering this industry, believing that Binance will open the door for them to enter the Web3 world for the first time. Each new user signifies a step closer to digital assets entering the mainstream. We warmly welcome these new users and promise to do everything we can to make them feel comfortable and secure as they explore the future of finance with us.
The addition of more users means that Binance is custodian to more funds. Earlier this year, the amount of user funds on our platform under custody surpassed $100 billion for the first time. Our user funds are safeguarded as always, according to the principles of security and transparency, in a 1:1 ratio.
To better support both new and existing users in exploring the world of cryptocurrency, we have provided a range of infrastructure, products, and services to meet any user’s needs related to Web3 and digital assets. Currently, Binance supports 541 carefully selected digital assets and 2,632 cryptocurrency trading pairs. Our robust system is ready to handle a large volume of user activity. The highest historical query per second (QPS) on the Binance platform, which measures the number of user requests sent to our system and responded to per second, reached a staggering 2.58 million. This figure indicates that Binance is capable of smoothly handling a very large load when users need it the most.
To promote the popularization of cryptocurrency and financial inclusion, we continue to expand our product coverage to ensure the accessibility of the broader cryptocurrency field and provide essential financial services.
Our “Simple Earn” product line allows users to grow their cryptocurrency holdings in 392 different cryptocurrencies, and it has attracted over 8 million users to experience Binance Earn. Payment is another pillar for the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. Currently, more than 24 million people worldwide are using Binance Pay for secure and efficient domestic or cross-border transfers.
In the current market cycle, another key force driving digital assets into the mainstream is the increased participation of institutions. Binance’s unparalleled liquidity and market depth, as well as products and solutions tailored to the stringent requirements of professional investors, have attracted a large number of institutions to join the Binance ecosystem. Between January and June 2024, we witnessed a more than 36% increase in institutional user registrations.
Cryptocurrency education is also another important foundation for the popularization of digital assets. The total number of students who have accessed Binance Academy has reached 43.6 million. Through learning, users can gain a deeper understanding of the blockchain world and digital assets, and invest in cryptocurrencies in a more thoughtful and responsible manner.
Over the past seven years, we have made significant investments in regulatory compliance and will continue to do so with even greater determination. We are well aware that robust compliance practices will play a crucial role in the mature stage of the cryptocurrency industry. We continue to recruit top talent, improve our systems and technology, and work closely with governments and regulatory bodies in many countries to obtain operational licenses and registrations. Currently, we have obtained licenses and registrations in 18 jurisdictions, ranking first among all centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Another area of focus for Binance is strengthening cooperation in the digital finance sector. Our law enforcement training program has contributed to the capacity building of global law enforcement agencies in combating illegal activities related to digital assets through various online and offline courses. From June 2023 to May 2024, the Binance team handled 62,800 law enforcement requests, with a total of 173,800 requests processed. Each request plays a crucial role in the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases, locating criminals, and recovering victims’ funds.
To protect Binance users from potential security risks and losses caused by extreme circumstances, we maintain the size of the SAFU fund at over $1 billion and will continue to do so. Earlier this year, we converted all SAFU funds into the more trusted and transparent stablecoin USDC, further enhancing the reliability of the fund’s size and ensuring its value remains stable at $1 billion.
As we approach our eighth year of serving cryptocurrency users, we will steadfastly lead the digital asset industry into the next stage of development. With market and industry trends becoming clearer, the forces shaping it are well known.
The institutionalization of digital assets, coupled with clearer regulation, will attract more large-scale investors and capital to enter this field. At the same time, the importance of retail users will not change, as the group of early adopters will continue to expand, attracting more new users from new regions and populations. They need a more intuitive user experience, easily understandable knowledge of digital assets, user support, and continuous innovation – all of which Binance is designed for.
With the trust and support of the global community, we believe that the hard work of the past seven years has laid a solid foundation for even greater success, and the path to financial freedom and inclusion will continue to widen. And this is just the beginning.
Richard Teng
Binance
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