Binance – the largest and most popular digital currency exchange in the world – has hired a new deputy chief compliance officer (CCO) and global money laundering reporting officer. The positions will be taken over by Kristen Hecht, who according to a recent blog post, has more than 17 years of experience fighting both financial terrorism and illicit monetary activity.
Binance Now Has Kristen Hecht Aboard
Hecht expressed her excitement about the job in a recent interview and said:
Before joining the industry, I saw that blockchain technology had opened an entirely new way to transfer assets in an open and transparent manner, which continues to propel technological advances making it easier to provide access to individuals and businesses currently excluded from the global financial system. Like with any new industry, I knew there would be significant challenges from criminals who seek to exploit global financial services including crypto digital asset services. I’m leveraging my professional background to continue evolving our compliance controls to outpace illicit actors.
She continued with:
As an organization that is obsessed with its users and has come a long way toward building a best-in-class compliance program comparable to global financial institutions, I hope to raise further awareness with regulatory and industry partners about the crypto industry to build trust and collaborate in this fast-developing space.
Binance CCO Noah Perlman also threw his two cents into the mix, commenting:
We are thrilled to have Kristen step into this new role where she is well positioned to further our global compliance program and evolve it to meet fast-changing regulatory developments and expectations. With her seasoned background, she understands the importance of collaborating with governments and international organizations that are critical to making sustainable advancements and fighting financial crime in the crypto ecosystem.
Prior to this, Hecht worked as the CCO of Meta’s first crypto digital wallet project Novi Financial. Before that, she operated through the compliance transformation program at financial powerhouse HSBC. While in that job, she oversaw financial crime for the company’s China branch and sought to ensure the company was always revamping its compliance program.
A Major Lawsuit in the Mix
She and Perlman will work together to ensure that Binance is also fully compliant and that it always utilizes the most up-to-date technology to keep crime out of the mix and help customers stay protected while using Binance’s products and services.
The hiring of Hecht comes at a time when Binance is enduring some harsh legal troubles. Not long ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against the crypto trading platform, alleging it’s been breaking securities rules since its first day in business. Also, the company accused Binance of commingling its own funds with those of customers, thus potentially taking a page out of the FTX playbook.
