Binance CFO exits days after $6.3B crypto hack

Kaiser Ng, chief financial officer of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is leaving the firm. The leadership change comes just over a week after a record-breaking breach in which hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance users.

On Nov. 7, Binance’s co-CEO Yi He said in a statement that Ng “has decided to pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance, with a transition plan implemented over the last six months,” according to Bloomberg. 

In a LinkedIn post, Ng said he decided to build something of his own and will be “moving from the CFO’s chair to the founder’s.” He added: “Finance is seldom the loudest function in a company, but it is where trust is earned. Over these five years, we transformed Finance from a pure back-office function into one that consistently generates new ideas and revenue opportunities for the company.”

Ng joined Binance in January 2022 as chief financial officer from crypto exchange Kraken, where he was CFO for over five years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Earlier roles include senior director of finance and operations for Canada at mobile gaming company DeNA; director of finance at multi-channel bill payment processor TIO Networks Corp.; and treasury manager of Canadian energy supplier BC Hydro. 

Justin Yek was named as Ng’s successor. Most recently, Yek was vice president of finance at payments platform Airwallex. He previously served as head of Southeast Asia tech investment banking, executive director at Morgan Stanley. 

“I am thrilled to step into the role of CFO at Binance,” Yek said in a LinkedIn post. “Kaiser leaves behind a world-class finance team, and I’m grateful for his partnership and support throughout the transition over the past few months.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the attack to a North Korean hacking group known as TraderTraitor. The hackers started preparing for the theft 36 hours before by moving money between hacker-controlled wallets, and it took about 20 minutes to take most of the money, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. 

Binance froze all transactions for several days after the theft. When withdrawals resumed on Nov. 1, investors withdrew $3.6 billion of assets from Binance in the first few hours before activity started to stabilize. In a statement, the firm said it “will fully cover the financial impact of the funds stolen in this incident.”