The U.S. branch of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance has been stumbling for some time due to enormous pressure from regulations. Now a restructuring within the company is taking place among staff.

Reuters news agency reports that Binance.US is parting ways with its CEO Brian Shroder and another 100 employees. This means the US arm of the world's largest crypto exchange is downsizing by a third.

Norman Reed takes over

Norman Reed (not to be confused with "Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus) will take over as chief executive, effective immediately. He has been the company's chief legal officer since 2021 and previously worked as an attorney for crypto companies such as Ripple. Before moving to the private sector, Reed also worked for the New York Federal Reserve and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"It's a rare opportunity to find a legal leader who has experience at both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as well as in the crypto and FinTech industries; fortunately, we found that in Norman," said the now-fired Shroder at the time of Reed's taking office as chief legal officer.

At the time, Shroder was still "confident" that Reed would help Binance.US on its way to becoming "the most successful crypto exchange in the US." Following the current promotion or mass layoff, it looks more like damage control.

Attempt to save the relationship between the SEC and Binance

It remains to be seen whether this latest development will allow Binance.US to reconcile with the SEC and its chairman Gary Gensler. It was announced recently that the regulator had filed an undercover motion in court against Binance. An extremely rare event that could indicate ongoing criminal investigations against the world's largest crypto exchange. What impact this move could have on the survival of subsidiary Binance, read here.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is also putting pressure on Binance.US and is considering suing the crypto exchange for fraud.