In a timely interview, Binance Regional Markets Director Vishal Sachendran provides insight into the crypto giant’s operations amid major changes.
Sachendran emphasized the company’s commitment to compliance and shared insights into its future goals. In conversation with BeInCrypto, he discussed how one of the largest crypto exchanges is tackling regulatory hurdles, adapting to its connection with Changpeng Zhao (CZ), and how it plans to take its next steps.
What progress has been made in Binance’s global compliance policy, especially since the CZ incident?
It is somewhat unfair to say that we only focused on compliance after the agreement with CZ. Compliance has been our focus for over four years. Even though we are only a seven-year-old company, we have paid a lot of attention to compliance over the past few years.
If you look at the (US) Department of Justice settlement, it states that this happened in the early days of the company when there were no rules and regulations in place, and that we have had a good compliance program since then.
We currently have about 500 to 600 people in our compliance and regulatory department and we are continuing to invest in our team. We expect to be close to 700 to 800 people by the end of this year. So we are one of the most regulated crypto companies. We just completed our 19th registration in India a few weeks ago.
Overall, we have done quite well in the area of compliance. I don't think the agreement with the US regulators has anything to do with the current pace of compliance.
What will be the relationship between CZ and Binance after his release?
He is only the largest shareholder. He has no involvement in management at all, that was part of the agreement. He will not be coming back, and you can see that in the statement. He has no involvement in any operations.
There is also a lot of speculation that if that happens, the price of Binance-related tokens will rise.
You should pay more attention to the US Federal Reserve rate cut. That will have a bigger impact than anything else.
What is the outlook for the cryptocurrency industry?
2025 is going to be a very interesting year for crypto and we are looking forward to what happens then. There are a lot of good things happening as regulation catches up with innovation. We are seeing regulators looking to grow the industry, not just for their own sake.
Binance is putting a lot of effort into education in the cryptocurrency space. What are some of your key achievements?
We need to start with cryptocurrency education from the ground up. In Kazakhstan, we are working with universities and high schools to teach children about blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Our users are also becoming more knowledgeable. People who want to invest need to know what they are investing in , thorough research is very important and they should not just follow the trend .
A huge effort in education is being made not only at Binance Academy, but also in our work with regulators, law enforcement, and governments around the world. Our compliance team works with law enforcement around the world to provide education to them. We provide cybersecurity education to many people.
Just as it was mandatory for banks to have AML and KYC training when they joined, it should be mandatory for cryptocurrencies as well. Training will be key to them understanding the industry and knowing how to deal with it.
Which jurisdiction has the most reasonable regulation for the cryptocurrency industry?
Every jurisdiction is different. For example, Japan was one of the first jurisdictions to introduce a cryptocurrency framework globally. They treated cryptocurrencies from an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) registration perspective.
If you look at the comprehensive framework for cryptocurrencies, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) was the first in Abu Dhabi and I was part of the team that implemented it. Everyone has different risk appetites and different perspectives on how they think cryptocurrencies should be regulated.
The jurisdictions that are likely to succeed will ensure that they regulate the industry without killing it. Cryptocurrency regulators will either regulate, ban, or do nothing. I think regulation is key.
For specific jurisdictions, we see cryptocurrency adoption in the MENA, Latin America, and Southeast Asia markets . Indonesia, Thailand, and India have the highest cryptocurrency adoption rates globally.
