Stephanie Douse 
Thailand-based Gulf Energy has made significant investments in cryptocurrency exchange Binance US and has also highlighted its pursuit of a joint venture with the global Binance exchange.
Binance cryptocurrency exchange has created a joint venture with Gulf Energy Development, owned by billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi, and will apply for a license to run a digital asset trading platform in Thailand.
Gulf Energy declared its investment in “Series Seed Preferred Stock issued by BAM Trading Services Inc.,” the operator of Binance US, in a regulatory filing on April 18.
Gulf Energy’s investment in Binance US gives it access to “one of the world’s fastest user scale-up exchanges” well ahead of the exchange’s scheduled initial public offering, according to the company.
Binance’s global cryptocurrency exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, revealed in July 2021 that the company was looking into options for a public offering.
Gulf Energy reported in a separate filing on Monday that it is pursuing a “joint venture” with Binance to run a cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand.
The newly created organization will apply for digital asset licenses with the appropriate authorities once the joint venture is founded. Gulf Energy’s report also revealed investments in Binance Coin (BNB), the Binance ecosystem’s native crypto asset.
Gulf Energy and Binance have been working together for several months as the cryptocurrency exchange seeks to re-establish operations in the Southeast Asian country.
Thailand’s securities authority accused Binance of illegally conducting a digital asset business in the country in July 2021. Several additional governments, including Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Cayman Islands, and the Canadian state of Ontario, investigated Binance.