For crypto exchanges, compliance is the background department that can save the whole company. For Binance, it has become the story.
Binance Holdings Ltd. is adding two former Crypto.com compliance executives, Antonio Alvarez and Duncan DeVille, to shore up its compliance team. Alvarez, who until recently led Crypto.com's compliance team, will soon join as the deputy chief compliance officer under Noah Perlman. DeVille, who also worked at Crypto.com, now oversees Binance's financial crime compliance on a global scale. These are not entry-level positions.
The experience runs deep. Alvarez worked at American Express, Visa and Western Union before joining Coinbase in 2019 and Crypto.com in 2020. DeVille also had a Western Union and the U.S. Treasury Department behind him before joining Crypto.com in 2022.
Perlman said in a statement that their decision to join is "both a vote of confidence in our program and a reflection of our continued commitment to building one of the strongest compliance functions in the industry." Crypto.com has not yet offered a public response to the announcement.
The hires came after a difficult stretch for Binance's compliance team. Over the past year, a number of senior members have departed from Binance's compliance division. Press reports covered the departures and linked some of them to Binance's handling of Iran-related money. Binance rejects key parts of those reports and says its compliance systems did what they were built to do.
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The legal history is hard to ignore. In 2023, Binance and co-founder Changpeng Zhao admitted to failing to keep a proper anti-money-laundering program. That program is the exchange's defense against criminals who try to use crypto to hide money. This admission resulted in a $4.3 billion settlement paid by the exchange.
Zhao spent several months in prison. Then in October, a presidential pardon from Donald Trump was granted to him. Binance has stated it cooperates with investigations.
The pressure has not fully lifted. It was recently reported that three Binance employees were questioned in the United Arab Emirates as part of an investigation into a bank account linked to client funds. Binance says it works with the authorities.
The company also notes that its compliance team has been strengthened over the past year, even as some staff departed. New hires like Alvarez and DeVille are expected to fill gaps left by those exits.
It was also reported in April that Perlman has discussed exiting at some point this year or next, though no firm decision has been made. So the new hires are arriving while the plan around their boss remains uncertain.
This is not just exchange drama. If a crypto exchange has a serious compliance problem, regulators can step in. Users can face frozen accounts, and withdrawals can become difficult. The platform can also pay heavy fines, which raises its costs and can make doing business harder.
When a company like Binance brings in people with decades of experience, it is trying to show regulators and customers that it takes the rules seriously. A stronger compliance team means a more reliable exchange, and that matters for anyone holding crypto or using the platform.
The real work is still ahead. These two hires are a signal, not a solution. The next few months will show whether Binance can keep the trust it is trying to rebuild.
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