Binance Names Justin Yek CFO After Six-Month Handover, Days After $6.3 Billion Hack
Key Takeaways
- •Binance appointed Justin Yek, previously vice president of finance at payments company Airwallex, as its new chief financial officer, replacing Kaiser Ng.
- •Kaiser Ng, who served as CFO since January 2022 and previously worked at Kraken, is leaving Binance after more than five years to pursue a new venture, with Co-CEO Yi He stating the transition plan had been in place for six months.
- •The CFO change was announced on November 7, just over a week after the October 29 theft of $6.3 billion in the largest cryptocurrency theft on record, an intrusion that began months earlier through employee computers compromised by malware hidden in software downloads and fake recruitment offers.
- •The FBI linked the attack to a North Korean hacking group in an October 31 attribution, which Pyongyang denied in early November.
- •Binance has pledged full customer reimbursement and reported covering roughly 95% of the stolen assets, about $6 billion, leaving approximately $315 million outstanding with no announced timeline for completion.
Binance has appointed Justin Yek as its new chief financial officer, replacing Kaiser Ng, who is leaving the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange to pursue a new venture after more than five years with the company.
The company announced the change on Saturday, November 7 — just over a week after hackers stole $6.3 billion from the platform in the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. Binance said the leadership change had been planned well in advance, with Co-Chief Executive Officer Yi He noting that a transition plan had been in place for the last six months.
A Planned Handover at the Top
"Kaiser Ng has decided to pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance, with a transition plan implemented over the last half year," Yi He said in a statement. The company did not share details about Ng's next role.
Ng has served as Binance's CFO since January 2022, meaning he spent close to five years in the top finance job. Before joining the exchange, he worked at rival crypto exchange Kraken, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Yek joins Binance from Airwallex, a payments company, where he was most recently vice president of finance. Reuters, which described Yek as a longtime finance executive, reported on the appointment. He now takes charge of the exchange's finances as it works to repay customers hit by the hack. The CFO seat at a platform of Binance's scale covers treasury management, financial reporting, and oversight of how customer funds move — responsibilities that carry added weight while a multi-billion-dollar reimbursement is still being funded.
The timing of the CFO change also drew attention on X, where the account EveningAI posted:
Binance just changed its CFO nine days after the $6.3B hack. Kaiser Ng is leaving after more than five years (CFO since Jan 2022) to "pursue a new venture." His replacement is Justin Yek, most recently VP of finance at Airwallex. Binance says this was planned — a transition… — EveningAI (@eveningb1123) November 8, 2026
Inside the $6.3 Billion Breach
Binance said the theft unfolded on October 29. However, the attack started months before that date. Attackers first broke into the computers of several Binance employees. The company traced the intrusion to malware hidden in software downloads. The hackers also used fake job recruitment offers aimed at Binance engineers. The exchange has described the overall operation as a sophisticated attack. In other words, the way in was Binance's own staff rather than its core trading systems — an intrusion that ran for months before the theft itself.
The FBI has blamed a North Korean hacking group for the theft, linking the group to the attack on October 31, two days after the breach unfolded. Pyongyang has denied the allegation, rejecting the accusation in early November.
Repayment Effort Still Underway
Binance has pledged to fully reimburse all affected customers, and the exchange has not reported any change to that promise since the CFO announcement. In early November, Binance said it had already covered 95% of the stolen assets — roughly $6 billion of the total — leaving about 5% of the losses still to be covered under its pledge.
Yek steps into the CFO role with that repayment effort still underway. The outstanding 5% amounts to roughly $315 million based on the stolen total. Binance has not said when the remaining funds will be covered, and it has given no details on Ng's next venture either — the two open items hanging over the handover as Yek takes charge.
