Binance CEO Seeks Middle East Money For Crypto Recovery Fund

Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has been meeting with investors in Abu Dhabi, seeking cash for the exchange's crypto recovery fund, Bloomberg reported, Jamie Crawley reported for CoinDesk.

Photo Insert: Binance appears keen to fill the role of being the. white knight of troubled crypto firms.

Zhao held several meetings with potential backers of the fund last week, including entities affiliated with the United Arab Emirates' national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. After the article came out, however, Zhao tweeted that the report was false.

Binance announced its plans to start a recovery fund earlier this month, to help projects with strong fundamentals but suffering a liquidity crisis, owing to the fallout from FTX's collapse.

Details of the fund – its size and the projects it will support– are yet to be disclosed.

“CZ’s meetings in Abu Dhabi were all focused on general global regulatory matters – specifically how Middle Eastern regulators could lead the globe by exploring more aggressive proof of custody requirements for crypto exchanges,” a Binance spokesperson said, according to the report.

Prior to its collapse, FTX had been making moves to be the white knight of troubled crypto firms following the market crash in June. Now this is a void Binance appears keen to fill.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic