Binance Executive Departures Gather Pace With Kostarev, Smerkis Leaving

Muyao Shen, Bloomberg News

The Binance logo on a smartphone arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The list of digital tokens deemed as unregistered securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission now spans over $120 billion of crypto after the US agencys lawsuits against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Two Binance executives overseeing regions including Eastern Europe and Russia have left the world’s largest crypto exchange, which has been rapidly losing senior managers as regulators in the US and elsewhere crack down on it.

Gleb Kostarev, regional head of Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand; and Vladimir Smerkis, a general manager for the CIS region, announced their departures on Facebook. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Some of our team members are growing into bigger roles, some outside of Binance,” Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao said on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after the departures became public. “Some are doing new exciting ventures.”

Helen Hai, who most recently ran Binance’s global fiat business, has also left, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Hai and Binance representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The three departures add to a spate of top executives who decamped in the past three months, including global head of product Mayur Kamat and Leon Foong, who ran Binance’s business in Asia-Pacific. The turnover adds to challenges facing Zhao, who along with his company is the target of lawsuits from the US Securities And Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

--With assistance from Emily Nicolle.