Binance adds 3 independent members to its board

Binance quietly updated its site with three new board members on Monday.

The board, which is mostly comprised of senior Binance executives, added Gabriel Abed, Xin Wang and Arnaud Ventura to the board as independent members, according to the official website.

Abed also serves as the chairman of the board. He founded Bitt and previously served as the Ambassador of Barbados to the United Arab Emirates, according to a bio on the Binance website.

Wang is the CEO of publicly-listed Bayview Acquisition Corporation, which is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). She’s also a lawyer with licenses to work in California, England and Wales.

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Ventura is a partner at Gojo & Company, an investment holding company in Tokyo. He’s also the chairman of the board of Binance France, which is a registered VASP.

The three join CEO Richard Teng, Roger Wang, Hyena Chen and Rock He on the board. Binance also has a global advisory board with members from countries like Germany, Brazil and the US.

Bloomberg first reported the news.

The move comes as Binance faces potential penalties and legal action from Nigeria. The company, in late February, faced an investigation from the country after the central bank governor said that $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria. Since then, Binance ended support for the Naira and is working with the government after it detained two executives.

Late last year, Binance settled with the US Department of Justice for over $4 billion. As part of the settlement, co-founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to charges. He’s set to be sentenced at the end of this month.

As part of the settlement, Binance has to enact a compliance program after the DOJ accused the firm of operating without a proper program in the past.

Additionally, Teng and the company’s chief compliance officer have to sign off on Binance meeting compliance and disclosure requirements.

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