Changpeng Zhao Allegedly Receives $404 Million from Binance.US Trading Firm
On February 16, Reuters reported that Binance.US, operating under BAM Trading, had transferred around $404 million from a Silvergate Bank account to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, named Merit Peak Ltd.
This transfer occurred in late 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.
The report suggests that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has a possible financial connection with Binance.US, even though the two have been operating separately since 2019. It also implies that Binance may have control over Binance.US’s finances.
According to regulators cited by Reuters, the lack of public disclosure on this matter has created a conflict of interest. However, Reuters could not determine the source of the transferred funds or whether they belonged to Binance.US’s customers.
The sudden departure of Binance.US’s former CEO, Catherine Coley, around the same time as these transactions raises further questions. Coley reportedly noticed the unusual transactions and questioned Binance.US staff before leaving the firm.
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Binance.US did not comment on the transactions but claimed that the information obtained by Reuters was outdated. Binance.US also stated that Merit Peak is not using its trading services, and Reuters reported that Merit Peak’s activities have since ceased.
This connection between Binance.US and Merit Peak drew attention in February 2022 when reports surfaced that the US SEC was investigating the exchange’s various partners, including Binance.US, which was first subpoenaed in 2020.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
