The key facts

  • Binance CFO Kaiser Ng is leaving to «start a new project»; Justin Yek will replace him
  • The announcement followed a week after the theft of $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency
  • Binance and the FBI attributed the attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor; the exchange promised to cover all user losses

CFO change in the wake of the largest hack

Crypto exchange Binance has announced the departure of its chief financial officer, Kaiser Ng. According to Bloomberg, co-CEO Yi He said that Ng is leaving to «start a new project after more than five years at Binance» and that the transition plan «has been in the works for the past six months». Justin Yek will become the new CFO. TechCrunch reported this.

Context: a $6.3 billion hack

The announcement came just over a week after hackers stole from Binance users $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency. The exchange froze withdrawals for several days; after accounts were unlocked, users withdrew a net $3.6 billion within the first few hours. Binance and the FBI blamed the attack on the North Korean group TraderTraitor. The company promised to cover all losses: «Binance will absorb the financial consequences of the theft of funds. These losses will not be passed on to users».

What is known and what remains unclear

Formally, the company presents the CFO change as a long-planned transition rather than a reaction to the incident: according to Yi He, the plan had been prepared for six months. However, the statement being published just days after the hack makes the connection between these events a matter of scrutiny — the sources themselves draw no conclusions about the reasons for Ng's departure. Details of the new project Ng will pursue have also not been disclosed.