Another major upset for Binance as one of its highly influential CEOs has resigned from Binance US over the issue of the company’s non-compliance with regulatory issues. Before departing, Brian Brooks said that his opinions and recommendations regarding regulatory concerns were not considered.
Binance’s issues with the regulators are not something new. In fact, they have been surfacing from time to time in different parts of the world. Most of them were already settled, however, a few remain unresolved. But the situation got further bad when different regulators of the world, one after the other, issued regulatory warnings. The warnings also contained some penal actions as well which in return damaged Binance’s reputation along with its business globally. A few major and recent warnings against Binance were from the UK, Japan, Germany, Malaysia, Lithuania, and Hong Kong.
However, before these warnings, it seems that Binance was aware that at some point in time, it was going to face warnings. The firm then adopted a strategy and tried to hire CEOs with the background of having experience with the regulators. For example with regard to Binance US’s CEO, Binance Global appointed Brian Brooks who had once remained Comptroller of the Currency (COC). The reason for appointing Brooks could be two-fold. Firstly, he had experience as being the “regulator” himself and knew how to react in any given situation. Secondly, because he was the COC, he would still have his influence within the regulator and over officials of the regulators.
It has now been reported that last day Brooks has announced his disassociation with the Binance US. In his tweet message, he told that he had resigned from the post of Binance US’s CEO. He tweeted that he had officially submitted his resignation and does not wish to undo what he has done already. He also wished the people with whom he was working at Binance US. He bode farewell to them and said that though his opinions and recommendations were not considered, he wants to wish them success in their pursuits.
Brooks had resigned from the COC in January this year. He was handpicked by the US President, Joe Biden. He was initially put in place as an acting COC because the earlier COC’s tenure with the office had expired. From then onwards, Brooks continued his duties as an “acting” COC until he decided to leave the post by resignation. Soon after his leaving COC’s office, he was appointed as Binance US’s CEO and took over the charge in May the same year.
At Binance US, he was working in the capacity of CEO where he was faced with regulatory compliance issues. Being regulator himself he must have advised the company to ensure compliance otherwise there will be consequences. However, the way he has left Binance, shows that there was a lack of mutual understanding between him and Binance’s upper management.
