Binance has appointed Justin Yek as its new chief financial officer, following the departure of Kaiser Ng after more than five years with the company. The transition, which was planned over six months ago, is unrelated to the recent $6.3 billion cryptocurrency hack that occurred on October 29. Yek, formerly a finance executive at Airwallex, will take over the role as Binance works to recover stolen assets and strengthen its cybersecurity measures.
The hack, attributed to North Korean hackers known as 'TraderTraitor,' involved a fraudulent job interview that compromised an employee's computer. Hackers then exploited internal systems, including an AI tool, to execute unauthorized transactions. Binance has pledged to absorb the losses and has already replenished 98% of the affected token assets, with approximately $2.85 billion in stolen assets frozen or intercepted.
Binance co-CEO He Yi confirmed that Ng's departure was planned and unrelated to the security incident. Yek expressed gratitude for Ng's partnership during the transition and looks forward to leading the finance organization as the company continues to scale globally.