Binance’s new CFO inherits a test that goes beyond the balance sheet

Good morning. Taking on a CFO role for the first time is no small feat. Doing it at Binance, the world’s largest digital currency exchange, in the aftermath of what has been described as the biggest heist in crypto history, is quite another.

Justin Yek, a former VP of finance at Airwallex, will become Binance’s new CFO, succeeding Kaiser Ng, who has held the position since 2022 and is stepping down to pursue a new venture, the company said on Saturday. Binance co-CEO Yi He said in a statement that a transition plan had been “implemented over the last half year.”

On Oct. 29, hackers drained an estimated $6.3 billion from the platform, Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts reported. Binance later said North Korean hackers orchestrated the attack, using social engineering and malicious software to compromise engineers and gain access to systems that enabled unauthorized withdrawals.

The damage was partly contained. Tether and Circle froze about $2.5 billion in stolen stablecoins. Binance says it has replenished 98% of the stolen coins through reserve funds and other sources, and that users won’t bear the losses. Read more here.

But, the incident brings questions that go beyond cybersecurity. How strong are Binance’s internal controls? And how can the exchange convince customers and regulators that their assets are safe?

Those are questions that will inevitably land on the new CFO’s desk.

Yek brings a résumé suited to a growing global fintech. At Airwallex, he progressed from head of strategic finance and corporate development to VP of finance, leading the........

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