RIYADH: Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, appointed its Singapore CEO Richard Teng as the company’s chief for the Middle East and North Africa, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The move came after Binance Global announced an agreement with the Dubai World Trade Center Authority to establish an international virtual asset ecosystem earlier this week, Bloomberg reported.
Teng ran the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority for six years, and joined Binance Singapore as its CEO just four months ago.
Teng is key to helping the crypto firm expand in Dubai, according to Binance Holdings CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The firm has held discussions with regulators in the UAE about a potential headquarters in the Gulf nation, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The UAE is in talks with Asian firms seeking to relocate to the Gulf nation, as part of efforts to transform itself into a hub for cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 22.
“We’ve seen multinational firms right now waiting to relocate out of east Asia,” UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.