Richard Teng took over Binance amid a scandal but is rebuilding its credibility, one rule at a time

In November 2023, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced the end of an era. Its co-founder and then CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ and is long synonymous with the company he built, stepped down. Succeeding him was Richard Teng, a former regulator from Singapore. 

The move raised eyebrows, given the circumstances at the time: Binance had pleaded guilty to violating the US anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, agreeing to a landmark US$4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice. Zhao himself was sentenced to four months in prison, fined US$50 million, and barred from any operational or management role at the company. This past October, US President Donald Trump pardoned Zhao, lifting restrictions that had stopped him from running financial ventures.

Teng was no stranger to Binance. He joined the exchange in August 2021 as Binance Singapore’s CEO and, barely a month into the role, faced his first major hurdle when the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the nation’s central bank and integrated financial regulator, placed Binance on its Investor Alert List for offering payment services to Singapore residents without the necessary licence. The platform has since ceased its local operations.

But while Binance’s expansion in Singapore stalled, Teng’s ascent within the company gathered pace. He went on to oversee its operations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, before being appointed to the top job in 2023. His main goal upon taking the helm, he says, was to steer Binance “from a company [that was] often misunderstood into a mainstream [entity]”.

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Twenty years ago, Omega reimagined the classic diver’s watch with the launch of the Seamaster Planet Ocean, a timepiece that captured both the romance of exploration and the rigour of precision engineering. Now, on its 20th anniversary, the collection returns in its fourth generation, distilled to its purest essence: calmer, leaner, and unmistakably modern.

Since its introduction in 2005, the Planet Ocean has carried forward Omega’s long-standing affinity with the sea—a relationship that began with the Marine of 1932, the world’s first watch for civilian divers, and evolved through icons such as the Seamaster 300 and the formidable PloProf, each pushing the boundaries of underwater precision. The Planet Ocean was the next chapter in that story: a dive watch that paired technical mastery with modern refinement, instantly recognisable by its bold use of orange and its uncompromising functionality.

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At just 30, Isabelle Bui, winemaking development manager at Krug, already sits at the heart of one of champagne’s most storied houses. Meet her in the tasting room or walking through Clos du Mesnil, and what comes through is not bravado but focus—someone who listens closely, to the wine and to the people around it. Her path began far from any grand cellar. Raised in the Aube, she spent her teenage summers working in vineyards simply to earn money, before realising she was more interested in what was happening in the vines than in her pay cheque.

“I never came from a wine family,” she says, “but working in the vineyards, talking with the growers, I became fascinated with viticulture.” That curiosity soon turned technical. “I became obsessed with food chemistry,” she adds. After studying food science engineering, she went on to earn France’s National Diploma in Oenology, determined to stay in Champagne and become a winemaker.

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A true Penangite, chef-patron Kim Hock Su knows his city like the back of his hand. That said, he’s on a mission to showcase Penang in a new light—not just as Malaysia’s street-food capital, but as a destination where fine dining, inventive bars, and exceptional hospitality thrive alongside its legendary hawker culture.

From collaborating with local chefs and mixologists to highlighting boutique hotels and hidden gems, Su is revealing a more complete, modern vision of his hometown. Here’s where to get started.

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In the final edition of Tatler Homes Singapore for 2025, a year that marked the magazine’s 20th anniversary and Singapore’s 60th, we conclude a trilogy of features reflecting on who we are as a design culture, and where we might be headed. If the earlier chapters explored the objects that anchor our identity and the habits and gestures that shape our everyday spaces, this final instalment looks ahead, asking 20 local creative voices a simple question: “What is a space, material or detail you’ve encountered recently that feels like a glimpse into the future of Singapore design?”

Their answers vary and there is no right or wrong, only a collective that forms a bright gestalt of what tomorrow may hold: nature-led integration, emerging materials, collaboration, cross-pollination and the hybrid forms of creativity now taking root across the island.

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