Binance France has made significant changes to its ownership structure, replacing co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) with two new shareholders to ensure compliance with French regulations and secure its operational status within the European Union’s second-largest economy.
Changpeng Zhao, who owned 100% of Binance France, pleaded guilty to violating U.S. banking laws last November. Under French law, a company’s majority shareholder cannot have a criminal record, prompting Binance France to restructure its ownership. Keeping Zhao as the primary shareholder would jeopardize Binance’s legal standing in France and the broader European Union, especially with new regulations on the horizon.
The new shareholders, identified as Yulong Yan and Lihua He, each hold a 50% stake in Binance France. Both are co-founding members of Binance:
– Yulong Yan, also known as Allan Yan, was a team member in the original Binance whitepaper and a co-founder and product director of the now-defunct Chinese exchange services company Bijie Tech. Zhao previously mentioned Bijie Tech’s shutdown by the Chinese government in a 2022 blog post.
– Lihua He is not mentioned in the original Binance whitepaper, and Binance has not provided further details about her background.
Binance declined to comment on whether Zhao was compensated for his shares during this transition.
This shareholder swap marks a significant step in Binance’s efforts to move past the controversies associated with Zhao. Binance pleaded guilty to allowing criminals and sanctioned entities to use its platform, resulting in a $4.3 billion penalty and the implementation of court-approved anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) measures. Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison and replaced by Richard Teng, a former Singapore central bank regulator, as CEO late last year.