The chief executive of Binance’s U.S. arm has left the embattled crypto exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported. Brian Shroder, who took the helm of Binance.US in 2021, will be succeeded on an interim basis by the company’s chief legal officer, Norman Reed, according to a company spokesperson. The company is also cutting about one-third of its workforce—or more than 100 employees. “The actions we are taking today provide Binance.US with more than seven years of financial runway and enable us to continue to serve our customers while we operate as a crypto-only exchange,” the spokeswoman said. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been waging a sweeping crackdown on the crypto industry since the collapse of Binance rival FTX last year. In June, the SEC sued Binance.US, alleging it has operated an illegal trading platform in the U.S. Its market share has dissipated since. Launched as the American affiliate of Binance in 2019, Binance.US has said it is separately managed from the global exchange. But both have the same majority owner, crypto tycoon Changpeng Zhao, and internal messages reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year showed that the two exchanges are more intertwined than the companies had previously disclosed, mixing staff and finances. Shroder’s departure marks the first major executive to leave the U.S. arm of Binance. The global crypto exchange has seen a string of executives leave in recent months following regulatory lawsuits and a continuing probe by the Justice Department.
