Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, CEO of Binance, one of the world's largest exchanges, says its U.S. affiliate is eyeing an initial public offering within three years.
According to a report by The Information on Wednesday, Zhao said “Binance.US is just going to do what Coinbase did” by following in the footsteps of Brian Armstrong's exchange.
The move to go public would be a boon for the embattled Binance brand, with several countries having announced investigations into or published warnings against Binance.
A spokesperson for Binance confirmed with CoinDesk that Zhao had revealed a projected timeline during an interview with the publication and underscored his response as being dependent on market factors.
Asked during the interview about a clear sense of what the timing would be for Binance.US‘s initial public offering, Zhao said it depended on the business’ growth.
“So if the business can grow consistently over the next three years, then three years should be sufficient for an IPO,” he said. “If there‘s a prolonged bear market for, I don’t know, maybe three or five years, then it may be a little bit longer.”
Zhao had first brought the idea that its U.S. affiliate was eyeing an IPO during his time at the Redefine Tomorrow event in July. The timeline is highly dependent on a number of factors including regulatory approval.
Binance.US is also eyeing the completion of a large private funding round within the next two months that would see the exchange‘s CEO reduce control of the U.S. affiliate’s board, according to the report.
Earlier this year, the CEO said parent Binance had no plans to go public, citing comfortability with its overall growth and cash reserves.
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