It’s been several years since Binance’s global operation left the US market. But at the WEF this year, Co-CEO Richard Teng implied to CNBC that the company will consider returning under the right conditions. With the global spotlight on the US and its GENIUS Act and the potential for an upcoming Clarity Act advancement, it’s clear that regulators still have a long way to go before they can potentially bring big players like Binance back into the fold.
“Wait and See” Approach
In January, CNBC interviewed Richard Teng while he was in Davos for the World Economic Forum 2026. When asked about Binance’s future and if there are any plans to return to the US, Teng said that Binance is taking a “wait and see” approach. The company left the US market in 2023 and has not shared any official plans to return. Instead, the company has been posturing itself towards the US in a manner that is cautious but open-minded.
As part of its State of the Blockchain 2025 year-end report, several Binance officers commented on the need for more legal clarity while not directly touching on the US itself.
The Binance General Counsel Eleanor Hughes said on the issue of regulatory needs, “Digital assets are evolving into strategic financial tools… This trend will accelerate as institutions diversify into altcoins and governments implement clearer regulations and pilot programs, including CBDCs.”
In other words, the regulations need to come first. Once those are in place, companies like Binance can easily deploy technologies and strategies that grow the market at scale.
Source: https://www.elliptic.co/blog/a-world-of-crypto-regulation-at-a-glance
Speaking on risks that all blockchain companies face, the CLO added: “The risk landscape can be addressed through four pillars: clear and consistent regulation, active collaboration between industry and policymakers, stronger platform security infrastructure, and widespread user education.”
The company isn’t shy about boasting its successes in other markets where regulatory clarity is already in place. In the year-end report, the Binance Head of VIP & Institutional Catherine Chen said, “Binance has demonstrated how regulation and scale can coexist”, meaning it’s not an either-or scenario.
Binance Succeeds Where Frameworks are in Place
The list of countries where Binance is available to users is lengthy. It’s far longer than the list of countries where the service is not available, which includes the US, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and a few others.
In a separate interview at Davos with CNBC-TV18, Teng said that the company has 300 million users currently and is gaining around 60 million new sign-ups per year. The demand for the company’s services is clearly there and growing, but the US is still on the short list of locations where Binance is unavailable. Without speculating on what the company may do in the future, it is safe to say that the potentially upcoming Clarity Act could greatly change the regulatory environment for all companies in the US that handle crypto or other digital assets.
Among the goals the legislation is aimed at meeting are to finally define with absolute specificity what digital assets are. For example, which are securities, commodities, and stablecoins? Which governmental body is responsible for overseeing the market, the SEC or the Clarity Act’s proposed change to the CFTC? Further, the act contains language that would give the federal government the ability to supersede state laws on crypto. This means that if a company runs afoul of a state law but is in compliance with the federal laws, then the federal laws will prevail. This type of legislation can protect both companies and users.
The Impact of US Legislation on the Global Crypto Market
Speaking on the issue of creating regulatory clarity with CNBC-TV18, Teng said that “once the US does it, the rest of the world will be forced to sit up and take notice.” He also commented on the US that with it being “the champion by fostering growth, talent density and innovation”, the country is poised to be “at the leading edge” of the crypto world.
Teng spoke positively about the US and its potential as a crypto hub, but so far the company has remained quiet on the idea of returning. His “wait and see” strategy he touched on in the other interview suggests that perhaps the company isn’t ruling out the idea of returning entirely. So far, the company has not yet made any statements about intent or timelines for returning to the US.
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