EXCLUSIVE: Former head of Binance France joins Société Générale-Forge

It’s a move that has made some waves in the crypto ecosystem. As we revealed on Wednesday, Stéphanie Cabossioras, general manager of Binance France for two years (2022-2023), has just joined Société Générale-Forge, the crypto subsidiary of the French banking giant.

Stéphanie Cabossioras now holds the position of general secretary of SG-Forge, replacing Stéphane Blemus, who has just left his position.

"I am very happy to join SG-Forge, which is a pioneer on topics related to crypto," she explained on social media on Thursday.

‍The former member of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) had left Binance France last October, to everyone's surprise, while the world’s largest exchange platform was undergoing review to secure the PSAN accreditation, the essential license to operate in the European territory from 2026 (an accreditation it still doesn’t have).

In addition, Binance is also the subject of several investigations in France, including one around its anti-money laundering obligations. In the United States, its founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced at the end of April to 4 months in prison and the company has agreed to pay the sum of 4 billion dollars to settle its disputes.

Busy schedule for SG-Forge

Since her departure, Stéphanie Cabossioras has remained very active in the crypto ecosystem, notably via the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (Adan), the largest trade association in the sector in Europe. At SG-Forge, she joins Guillaume Chatain, a defector from Coinbase, who takes up the position of commercial director.

Thanks to its subsidiary, the Société Générale Group is one of the world's most advanced banking players in crypto.

There are many challenges for SG-Forge, particularly in relation to its euro stablecoin, CoinVertible (EURCV), launched in April 2023. The challenge for SG-Forge will now be to get it widely adopted, particularly in decentralised finance (DeFi) and with other institutional players.

A first major step was taken on 1 July with the announcement that SG-Forge had obtained its e-money establishment licence, enabling it to distribute it legally throughout Europe.

SG-Forge is also working on the launch of an asset tokenisation platform for its institutional clients.