Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has sold a minority stake to United Arab Emirates state-owned investment firm MGX for $2 billion.
The deal was paid in an unnamed stablecoin, Binance said in a statement on Wednesday. The crypto exchange added that the deal is the company’s first-ever institutional investment and is the biggest in the world in a crypto company. Binance didn’t disclose details, including the size of the stake, the completion date of the deal and how it would use the proceeds.
In the statement, MGX said the investment marks its first foray into the crypto industry. The firm is funding Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure project in the U.S. spearheaded by ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank Group.
The investment comes during a pro-crypto regime, thanks in large part to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for a more friendly regulatory environment for digital assets. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a court to put on hold its case against Binance in a joint motion with the crypto exchange. The financial watchdog previously sued Binance and its billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao in 2023, accusing the exchange for mishandling customer funds and artificially inflating trading volumes, among other allegations.
That same year, Binance pledged guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines. As part of a settlement with U.S. authorities, Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance in 2023 and served four months in prison on money laundering violations in 2024. He was succeeded by Richard Teng, a former Singapore Exchange regulator and the ex-CEO of the Abu Dhabi Financial Services Authority.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and has since that grown it to become the world’s largest crypto exchange, processing more than $11 billion in trading volume over a 24-hour period on Thursday, according to tracker Coingecko. Zhao, who owns a majority stake in Binance, is crypto’s wealthiest person with a net worth of more than $60 billion, Forbes estimated. After being released from U.S. custody in September 2024, Zhao now takes an advisory role in Binance’s venture capital arm, YZi Labs, the exchange said in January. YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, makes investments in blockchain, AI and biotech startups.
