Eleanor Hughes Appointed as Binance’s General Counsel

Eleanor Hughes Appointed as Binance’s General Counsel

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has appointed Eleanor Hughes as its new General Counsel after its former General Counsel Hon Ng quit along with two other Senior Executives including its Vice President of compliance.

In her new role, Eleanor will oversee the company’s global legal affairs alongside a team of 85 legal experts. A major focus of her work will be on collaborating with Binance’s Global Compliance team to support our commitment to responsibly grow the global Web industry in close collaboration with regulators and policymakers around the world.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s Founder and CEO, shared that, during her nearly two years with Binance, Hughes has grown to be a trusted advisor to himself and the team on legal matters. He added, “With Eleanor at the helm, I am confident that our industry-leading legal team will continue to flourish in its mission to always protect users and manage risks on our platform.”

Eleanor is an accomplished legal professional with 15 years of experience in both private practice and in-house roles. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with First Class Honors and, prior to joining Binance, spent more than ten years at US law firms including Skadden, Arps, Slate, and Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, where she focused on litigation and contentious matters.

Hughes joined Binance’s Legal team in November 2021. She was subsequently promoted to be the Head of Legal for APAC and MENA, where she oversaw matters in the two regions and managed a team of lawyers specializing in regulatory affairs, M&A, commercial law, and litigation. She was instrumental in securing virtual asset service provider licenses and registrations for Binance in several jurisdictions, including Bahrain, Dubai, and New Zealand.

Hughes shared her excited to lead the accomplished legal team at Binance during such a pivotal time and commented, “Together with regulators, Binance has the responsibility as an industry leader to ensure consumers are protected while leaving space for the technology to keep growing and innovating. Our team will continue to engage and collaborate closely with regulators around the globe to achieve this vision.”