Binance names Richard Teng to run all regional markets outside the US, a swift ascension for the executive that joined in August 2021, as CZ comes under fire
Binance tapped Richard Teng to head all its regional markets outside of the US, a swift and steady ascension for the executive …
Context & Ripple Effects
When Binance elevated Richard Teng in May 2023 to run every regional market outside the US — less than two years after he joined in August 2021 — it was widely read as succession staging rather than a routine operating appointment. Within days, sources had him as the frontrunner to replace Changpeng Zhao if Zhao stepped down under US regulatory pressure.
That reading proved correct: Zhao stepped down as CEO that November and Teng took the top job, inheriting spiraling compliance costs and an ongoing SEC lawsuit. The regional-markets promotion was the step that put him in command of everything outside the jurisdiction where the scrutiny was concentrated.
First-order effects
- Teng gains consolidated authority over Binance's non-US operations, concentrating the exchange's international business under one executive while CZ absorbs the regulatory fire personally.
Second-order effects
- The move formalizes a de facto succession line — sources within a week named Teng as the CEO-in-waiting — forcing Binance's leadership question into the open months before Zhao actually stepped aside.
Third-order effects
- The pattern holds through what followed: a first-ever board of directors installed in 2024 and co-founder Yi He added as co-CEO alongside Teng in late 2025, marking Binance's shift from founder-dominated control toward institutionalized, multi-executive governance.
The trend: Major crypto exchanges are replacing founder-led command structures with institutionalized governance as US regulatory pressure makes single-point-of-failure leadership untenable.