Former FBI Agent Joins Binance US As Head Of Investigations
- Binance US has announced the hiring of former FBI agent BJ Kang as its first Head of Investigations who will be responsible for tracking down scammers and exploiters.
- Kang is recognized for conducting high-profile investigations into some of the worst insider trading cases on Wall Street.
- Kang will “will lead and oversee all aspects of Binance.US’ commitment to protecting users by partnering closely with law enforcement, regulators and industry peers,” said the exchange.
The United States division of the world’s largest crypto exchange platform by trading volume Binance, Binance US, has announced the hiring of former FBI agent BJ Kang as its first head of investigations, marking another milestone in its efforts to mitigate crypto-related crimes.
Kang, who is recognized for conducting high-profile investigations into some of the worst insider trading cases on Wall Street, might give the exchange legitimacy as it deals with federal authorities’ inquiries. A number of cryptocurrency companies have recently been the subject of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Kang will “will lead and oversee all aspects of Binance.US’ commitment to protecting users by partnering closely with law enforcement, regulators and industry peers — along with building Binance.US’ own investigations infrastructure…,” according to a statement made on Thursday.
To identify and eliminate criminal activity relating to cryptocurrencies on the platform, the company is also planning to create its own “investigations infrastructure.”
It is important to note that during his 20 years of work as an investigator of financial crimes with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kang has supervised a number of probes related to insider trading, including Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors and Galleon Fund’s then-chief Raj Rajaratnam. Kang recently left the FBI to start a new journey with Binance.US.
“He [BJ] will be instrumental in strengthening our partnerships with law enforcement agencies and ensuring Binance.US continues to be a leader in developing a safe, secure digital asset marketplace for all Americans,”
said Brian Shroder, CEO and President of Binance.US.
The appointment of Kang coincides with the crypto industry seeing a large price decline this year, which has caused a number of once-promising crypto firms to go bankrupt. The overall number of crypto hacks is also expected to cross that of 2021, leading to Government officials urging stricter control.
Despite the ongoing crypto bear market, Binance seems shielded with its massive strategies. While several major companies like Coinbase have laid off a large portion of their staff, Changpeng Zhao’s exchange continues to expand its position in the industry. Recently, the US branch of Binance onboarded former Paypal CFO Jasmine Lee to lead Initial Public Offering (IPO) efforts.
Moreover, the exchange giant has also increased its regulatory efforts around the world. In August this year, Binance US obtained money transmitter approval from the Nevada Department of Business and Industry.
The world’s biggest exchange has been making numerous headlines this year with the exchange becoming the entity with the second-highest voting power in the Uniswap community, accumulating 5.9% of the total voting power, as reported by BitcoinWisdom earlier.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
