Yi He ascended to one of cryptocurrency‘s most influential positions in December 2025, joining Richard Teng as co-CEO of Binance—a move that both stabilizes the world’s largest crypto exchange and signals the sector’s grudging maturation. Her appointment marks a watershed moment: the first woman to co-lead a major cryptocurrency platform assumes operational control of an institution commanding roughly $100 billion in daily trading volume.
The trajectory itself reads like improbable fiction. A former television host from rural China—someone who drew water from wells and relied on kerosene lamps—became a foundational figure in the crypto industry by 2014 when she joined OKCoin. Her prescience proved consequential: she recruited Changpeng Zhao as CTO, later collaborating with him to establish Binance in 2017. Within months, her marketing acumen transformed the fledgling exchange into the sector’s dominant player. The 10% ownership stake she accumulated along the way elevated her to billionaire status, though that quantification arguably downplays her influence.
The co-CEO structure reflects strategic calculation rather than mere egalitarianism. Teng, a former Singapore financial regulator, shoulders compliance and legal architecture—precisely what Binance desperately requires following Changpeng Zhao’s 2023 resignation amid U.S. criminal investigations. Zhao’s guilty plea to anti-money-laundering violations underscored the regulatory pressures that necessitate Teng’s expertise.
Yi He, conversely, steers retail operations and product development, leveraging her intimate understanding of customer engagement and Asian markets. This division acknowledges an uncomfortable truth within crypto: rapid growth and regulatory adherence rarely coexist naturally.
Binance’s persistence as the world’s largest exchange despite allegations of facilitating illicit transactions suggests that market dominance and regulatory legitimacy occupy separate dimensions in cryptocurrency—at least for now. Yi He‘s promotion attempts collapsing that distinction. Her responsibility encompasses not merely profitability but the delicate work of institutionalizing a platform that emerged during crypto’s Wild West phase. Under her leadership, implementing robust KYC practices becomes crucial for verifying user identities and ensuring the exchange meets traditional financial institution standards.
The appointment carries symbolic weight extending beyond Binance. Within a traditionally male-dominated sector notorious for bro culture and questionable ethics, Yi He’s elevation to co-CEO—achieved through demonstrable competence rather than tokenistic gestures—suggests that meaningful female leadership in cryptocurrency, however overdue, remains possible.
Whether this translates into systemic change or represents a celebrated exception remains the genuinely interesting question.
