Binance chief financial officer Kaiser Ng is leaving the cryptocurrency exchange to "pursue a new venture," the company said, barely more than a week after hackers stole $6.3 billion worth of crypto from Binance users. Co-CEO Yi He said in a statement that a transition plan had been "implemented over the last half year," according to Bloomberg.
Justin Yek will replace Ng as CFO. The change lands at a sensitive moment: Binance froze withdrawals for several days after the hack, and once accounts were unfrozen, users pulled a net $3.6 billion in the first few hours.
Justin Yek named Binance CFO
Binance framed the leadership change as a planned handover rather than a reaction to the breach. Yi He said the departure lets Ng move on after more than five years at the company, and that the succession had been prepared over roughly six months. Justin Yek takes the CFO seat.
The exchange has not said when Ng's last day will be beyond the transition arrangement. TechCrunch and Techmeme both reported the move, citing Bloomberg's account of Yi He's statement.
- Kaiser Ng: leaving Binance to "pursue a new venture" after more than five years
- Justin Yek: named as the new Binance CFO
- Transition plan: described by Binance as implemented over the last half year
- Timing: announced just over a week after the $6.3 billion hack
The $6.3B hack and TraderTraitor
Hackers stole $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency from Binance users, a record-scale heist that forced the exchange to halt withdrawals for several days. Binance and the FBI blamed a North Korean group called TraderTraitor for the attack.
The company said it would absorb the damage itself, promising that "Binance will bear the financial impact of the stolen funds. These losses will not be passed on to users." Even so, the withdrawal freeze triggered a rush: users took out a net $3.6 billion in the first few hours after accounts were unfrozen.
