Bill Qian, the head of Binance Labs, is expected to quit the organisation shortly, according to a statement made on June 3rd.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and Binance Labs is the company’s venture capital arm. The news comes just days after Binance announced the raise of a $500 million fund to perform investment in Web 3 and blockchain startups. DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, Whampoa Group, and other investment firms invested.
#Binance Labs closes $500M investment fund to boost blockchain, web3, and value-building technologies!
The fund is supported by leading global institutional investors such as DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, & more.
— Binance (@binance) June 1, 2022
Bill Qian to resign Binance Labs, spokesperson
A representative for Binance confirmed the departure of Bill Qian, saying,
“Binance has a policy of not commenting on people’s actions. We can confirm that Bill is quitting Binance for personal reasons.”
Binance Labs’ executive director, Nicole Zhang also resigned from the company last month, according to her LinkedIn page. Nicole Zhang’s resignation was verified by another Binance spokesman.
Binance Labs employed both executives for more than 2 years. According to LinkedIn page of Bill Quian, he joined Binance Labs in March 2020 from China’s JD Group, where he served as head of finance for more than 5 years.
Bill Qian deactivated his Twitter account
Bill Qian, a Chinese native, changed his surname to Chin, as evidenced by the Binance-Forbes agreement announced in February. His prior LinkedIn profile with the surname Qian no longer exists. He appears to have also deactivated his Twitter account.
Nicole Zhang joined Binance Labs as its executive director in April 2020, according to her LinkedIn page. She is now a partner with the financial technology venture capital company Lingfeng Capital, leading its Innovation Fund.
Binance investment
Binance Labs was founded in 2018 and has been investing its own funds since then. The company has invested in over 100 firms, including Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity, StepN, a move-to-earn startup, 1inch, a decentralised exchange aggregator, and CertiK, a blockchain audit firm.
