Just as everyone was still immersed in the mood of commemorating 3.12, a financing news caused the market to explode.

On the evening of March 12, Binance officially announced that Abu Dhabi MGX completed a US$2 billion investment in Binance. This investment not only refreshed the largest single investment amount of crypto companies in terms of amount, but also the largest investment ever paid in cryptocurrency.

As the leader in the most core trading platform in the crypto market, although CZ subsequently tweeted that it only sold a minority stake, Binance's sales still caused the market to discuss. On the other hand, the market is also full of curiosity about the sudden dark horse Abu Dhabi MGX.

The 3.12 this year is perhaps the quietest 3.12. The decline has already hit the previous day, but the fluctuation is still there, leaving only the public's awe of the market. However, the peaceful day was broken by Binance's financing news.

That night, Binance and Abu Dhabi MGX jointly issued a statement saying that the two completed a signature $2 billion investment, which was the first institutional investment accepted by Binance so far, marking an important step forward in promoting digital asset adoption and strengthening the role of blockchain in global finance. CZ also tweeted to confirm the news, saying that the transaction was 100% paid by stablecoins and Abu Dhabi MGX acquired a minority stake in Binance.

In fact, the market was not surprised when the news was released. Binance's sale rumors have been around for a long time. As early as 2021, Wu said that the Coin Security Ball Station considered a valuation of US$200 billion to US$300 billion and absorbed investments into sovereign funds controlled by Singapore and other places. However, the subsequent financing ended in failure and was selected by Temasek, an investment company wholly owned by Singapore's Ministry of Finance, to have a more Wall Street background at the time. The countless troubles caused by this transaction are not to be described.

At the end of last year to February this year, the market was also full of rumors that Binance would be sold, which led to CZ's statement on February 17 to refute the rumors, mentioning that this is a strategy for competitors to divert attention. As a shareholder, it will not sell Binance, but emphasized that single-digit investment may be allowed in the future. It can be seen that CZ's speech at that time had already sent out a signal that Binance could be acquired, combined with the current information, perhaps the rumors are not exaggerated, Binance should be in consultation with institutions at the end of last year.

From the investment perspective alone, Binance, as the core niche of the crypto market, is undoubtedly an excellent investment target. According to its press release, Binance is far ahead in the industry, with trading volume exceeding the combined number of subsequent cryptocurrency trading platforms, with more than 260 million registered users worldwide and cumulative trading volume exceeding $100 trillion. But precisely because it is the leader and the alternative centralized leader in the decentralized world, it is not short of money that is the norm for Binance. After all, not all platforms can silently put out billions of dollars to deal with fines.

Why does Binance sell its equity? Is Binance short of money in the bear market?

To talk about the reasons, we have to start with this mysterious investment institution. MGX, an investment institution based in Abu Dhabi, is very low-key and has not been established for a long time. According to the official website, MGX was established on January 22, 2024, and has only a more than one year of history and is still a rookie among investment institutions. From the investment field, MGX is positioned as a technology investment company focusing on accelerating the development and adoption of AI and advanced technologies by establishing world-leading partnerships in the United Arab Emirates and the world. MGX focuses on investing in areas where AI can provide value and economic impact at scale, including semiconductors, infrastructure, software, technology-enabled services, life sciences and physical AI.

In short, MGX is an investment institution focusing on AI. AI is popular and investment institutions are crowded. AI investment is not uncommon. But what's strange is that before Binance, MGX launched more than $30 billion in AI funds with asset management tycoon BlackRock and global giant Microsoft in September last year. The fund not only demonstrates MGX's wealth, but also reflects the strong strength behind the institutions. In the investment circle that has always been famous for its high and low, not any rookie can be on the same starting line as the top big guys, not to mention that it has acquired the tough hard-to-kill Binance in the future.

Continue to dig deeper, the mysterious background of this institution finally surfaced. In the official information, MGX's board chairman is Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current deputy chief of Abu Dhabi and a security consultant for the UAE. The National Security Advisor and Deputy Chief have already shown that their relationship with Abu Dhabi is extraordinary, and just searching down with their name, all the questions have been found.

The full name of the current founding father and founding president of the UAE is Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-nahayan, and the current president's name is Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Although the name is very long, you can see that the names of the three are very overlapping. In fact, the chairman of the board of directors of MGX is the son of the founding president of the UAE and the younger brother of the current president.

Search for About Tahnoun's news is rare, but Bloomberg once described it as managing more than $1.5 trillion of state-owned assets and private funds, and emphasized that meeting him means a huge opportunity for any financial person.

It is enough to see that MGX is a complete state-owned capital of Abu Dhabi, behind which is the world's richest white-clothed man group. Furthermore, it has a great relationship with Abu Dhabi sovereign funds. In this context, it is not surprising that MGX can successfully invest in Binance. The saying that money can make the devil mould have value everywhere.

As for how Binance can join Abu Dhabi, the industry speculates that it is because of the current Binance CEO Richard Teng, before Binance, Richard Teng served as CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Bureau for 6 years. On the other hand, Binance's expansion in the UAE is also quite large. Binance has hired about 1,000 employees in the UAE, accounting for about 20% of its more than 5,000 employees worldwide.

But it is not enough to acquire Binance alone. As mentioned above, Binance is not that short of money. Judging from the reserve data, as of March 1, 2025, after deducting the net balance of customers, Binance held 4,840 Bitcoins and 8 ETHs, but its USDT was USDT of 1.3 billion, USDT 2.1 billion US dollars, overall, reserves are very healthy, and as a platform, Binance's cash flow is also very strong. Daily transactions of 260 million users will generate high fees. There are market rumors that Binance's single-day handling fee can reach US$30-40 million.

This is also the reason why Binance only sells single-digit shares. Equity is the carrier of real money and a symbol of power. Under this background, Binance will definitely not sell equity on a large scale. But why should it beNow, who is not short of money, will you give up your shares? From the core point of view, this is most likely to be the protection fee of Binance and the founder team.

From the founder's perspective, this year has not been so easy. Binance received a sky-high fine, and CZ was imprisoned is the key. Although CZ was imprisoned for less than 4 months with various mediation, I believe no one wants to try the taste of imprisonment. At the same time, with the growth of Binance's scale, as an alternative centralized institution for decentralized platforms, the collision between sovereignty and decentralization is becoming increasingly fierce. In addition to the U.S. jurisdiction that has finally subsided, harassment in Nigeria continues to escalate. On February 20, the Nigerian Federal Taxation Bureau filed a lawsuit with the Federal High Court of Abuja, demanding that Binance pay more than $2 billion in taxes and pay $79.51 billion in damages. Although Nigeria is only a small country, the power of machines and individuals is still very different, let alone Nigeria is not the last. As long as the battle with the decentralized world continues, there will inevitably be other charges against Binance. The Binance founder team, which is at the top of the wealth of the currency circle, may not be able to escape easily without seeing the sword struggle and power crushing.

In this context, seeking resources for protection is the most reasonable and far-sighted approach. This move is not only responsible for one's own security, but also an objective guarantee for Binance's long-term stability. He Yi's speech further confirmed this point. He said that (continues to) welcome sovereign funds, "Forget about financial investors", it can be seen that Binance is seeking resources rather than financial resources. Based on this, it is not surprising that the founding team stationed in the UAE chose Abu Dhabi. In addition, Abu Dhabi's international status and global mediation capabilities are also second to none among investors, and funds are the last consideration.

In addition to the main protection, the introduction of external capital also has a positive impact on the long-term operation of the enterprise. In fact, looking at Binance in the past year, although it is still the leader, public opinion controversy has never stopped. Either He Yi’s personal friendship is surrounded by the market, or CZ’s magical speech has aroused the anger of the market. The market performance has also declined, and the value discovery is not as good as that of the later exchanges. VC tokens have been boycotted, and the listing effect has gradually declined. In addition, as Binance continues to expand its scale, large companies have emerged, and internal corruption and low management efficiency have also become key issues that Binance needs to face in its development.

In this context, gradually letting go, strengthening supervision and standardization may also be the purpose of Binance to introduce external institutions.one. This is almost an inevitable choice for all enterprises to develop to a certain scale. After all, the problems that individuals and families can solve are a minority. In order to develop sustainably and stably, appropriately introducing external capital and professional groups to achieve refined management and professional development is the realistic path, especially the relatively gray field of encryption. Of course, at this stage, Binance has not yet sent out a signal of change. Judging from the introduction of minority equity in capital, it does not want to disperse its management rights. In addition to protection, it is more likely to use the Middle East as the anchor to find the right position to open up new markets, but it is still uncertain whether the long-term strategy will change.

On the other hand, Binance's "making friends" with Abu Dhabi this time is another milestone event for traditional institutions to enter crypto, indicating the further arrival of the compliance era. It can be foreseeable that the integration of sovereign funds, capital institutions and the crypto field will become increasingly in-depth.

After all, decentralization has returned to the context of a centralized world, and even the rebellious boss has become a "good card" to find a backer, so how about anything else?