Leadership Changes at Binance
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has undergone a significant leadership change with the appointment of Yi He as co-CEO. This move marks a major shift in the company’s structure and comes just weeks after Changpeng Zhao, the former head of Binance, was pardoned for crimes related to enabling money laundering.
Yi He, who co-founded Binance with Zhao in 2017, has been a key figure in the company’s growth and development. She is also known to be close to Zhao, with the two sharing three children together. Her new role as co-CEO will see her share responsibilities with Richard Teng, who had taken over as acting CEO after Zhao’s removal in 2023.
The decision to appoint Yi He as co-CEO highlights the company’s continued reliance on insiders with deep ties to its founding members. This move follows the U.S. President Donald Trump’s pardon of Zhao, who had previously pleaded guilty to violations of U.S. money-laundering laws. The Trump administration has shown a more favorable stance towards the crypto industry, with several high-profile cases being dropped in recent months.
Yi He has maintained a relatively low public profile compared to Zhao, with many details about her roles and activities at Binance remaining unclear. Her social profiles list her most recent position as Chief Customer Service Officer at the crypto exchange. However, she has been vocal in her support for Zhao, particularly during his 2024 trial, where she wrote a letter in Chinese defending him.
In her letter, Yi He identified herself as Zhao’s business partner and “the mother of his three children.” She claimed that she met Zhao at a public blockchain event in 2014, three years before Binance was founded. At the time, she was working at cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin and recruited Zhao to join her.
“As CZ’s life partner, I’ve known him for nearly ten years, so I understand a side of him that’s often overlooked,” she wrote in the 2024 letter defending him.
Binance stated in a statement that Yi He has “played a fundamental role in shaping Binance’s vision and culture, guiding a strategy focused on users’ needs and innovation.” The company also included a public statement from Yi He, in which she emphasized her and Teng’s “complementary perspectives and shared vision.”
“Together, we bring diverse perspectives and are confident in leading the future of the industry during this pivotal time, as we responsibly expand our global presence and drive sustainable innovation with our users always at the center,” she said.
Federal probes into Binance have also referenced her role in the company. In 2020, U.S. prosecutors reportedly sought records of communications involving Yi He and other executives related to anti-money laundering compliance and the creation of Binance’s U.S. entity.
Media reports have previously painted Yi He as a “Crypto Queen” wielding massive sway behind the scenes at Binance. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal in 2023, Yi He was a former Chinese talk-show host before joining OKCoin, and she entered a relationship with Zhao while working together in Shanghai. The report added that He would assume sweeping control over the crypto giant’s marketing and investment divisions.
Binance and Yi He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.