In Brief
- According to a CoinDesk source, Binance is organizing a consortium of crypto firms to help rebuild trust in the industry.
- Multiple crypto firms are already signed up, although none have gone public at the time of writing.
- This is the latest attempt by Binance to act as the most responsible player in the industry.
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is reportedly trying to rebuild trust in crypto with a consortium of crypto companies.
The move aims to rebuild trust in the industry and engage with coming regulations.CoinDesk reported the news first, citing a source familiar with the situation.
According to the report, several companies have already signed up. The companies span the crypto industry, including exchanges, blockchain analytics firms, and individual projects. None of the participants have so far been named.
At the time of writing, BeInCrypto has not been able to verify the existence of the consortium independently.
The source said Binance would not run the organization. It will “be run in as decentralized manner as you possibly can amongst many different projects to ensure an alignment with the community.”
“[The creation of the group is] also to ensure there’s a mechanism in place to call out shortcomings and bad behavior in the industry, and help avoid larger contagion issues.”
Binance: The Industry’s Unofficial Guardian of Trust
Binance has repeatedly tried to position itself as the crypto industry’s most trusted player. Its CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao (or CZ), has made repeated calls for responsible behavior in recent months.
During his appearance in Davos last month, he said the industry should “keep everything safe, let’s be very reliable, and work closely with regulators.”
Crypto had to “consistently demonstrate we are reliable [and that] we do what we say, we will earn our user’s trust.”
After the dramatic collapse of FTX, Binance attempted to position itself as the lender-of-last-resort with an industry recovery fund. CZ said at the time that it would “help projects who are otherwise strong, but in a liquidity crisis.”
A Full Audit Is A While Away
Binance’s head of the Asia-Pacific region, Leon Foong, said a full audit of their books is unlikely to come soon. He attributed this to the accounting industry’s lack of expertise in crypto. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said.
“It shows you the limitations of the more traditional industries because there is a learning curve,” he said. “Number one, it’s not their core competence. And number two, obviously there’s a lot of scrutiny if they get it wrong.”
Disclaimer
BeInCrypto has reached out to company or individual involved in the story to get an official statement about the recent developments, but it has yet to hear back.
Alex
