Binance names Justin Yek CFO after $6.3B hack

Binance has appointed Justin Yek as chief financial officer, replacing Kaiser Ng just over a week after roughly $6.3 billion was stolen from the exchange in what is believed to be the largest digital asset theft on record, Fox Business reported.

Co-CEO He Yi said Ng was leaving after more than five years to pursue a new venture. Yek most recently served as Airwallex’s vice president of finance; that payments firm named him head of strategic finance and corporate development in February 2023, citing earlier roles at Morgan Stanley and Citi. A Binance spokesperson told Fox Business the transition was planned more than six months ago and is unrelated to the Oct. 29 attack.

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Key facts

• The CFO announcement came nine days after the Oct. 29 cyberattack, which Binance has attributed in part to a fraudulent job interview used to compromise an employee’s computer.
• In a Nov. 3 update, Binance said it had replenished 98% of affected token assets and that about $2.85 billion in stolen funds had been frozen or intercepted.
• The FBI has attributed the breach to North Korean hackers linked to an operation known as TraderTraitor.
• Ng had served as Binance CFO since January 2022 after working at rival exchange Kraken; Yek’s appointment at Airwallex was announced in February 2023.
• Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency supervisors began calling U.S. banks on Monday morning to ask about unusual activity or service disruptions, Reuters reported, according to Bitcoin Magazine and Crypto Briefing.

Recovery figures differ by outlet

Binance’s own Nov. 3 statement put the replenishment at 98% of affected tokens, with roughly $2.85 billion frozen or intercepted. Crypto Briefing reported that by early November Binance said it had recovered 90% to 95% of stolen assets through repurchases and freezes, a different framing of the same cleanup. Crypto Briefing also reported that hackers drained between $6.3 billion and $6.4 billion from hot wallets in 20 to 30 minutes across multiple blockchains, with Ethereum carrying most of the activity, and that Tether froze about $1.57 billion in USDT while Circle froze more than $800 million in USDC tied to the funds. Those stablecoin freeze totals appear in Crypto Briefing and not in the Fox Business account.

Co-CEO Richard Teng previously told Fox Business that customers would not bear losses and that the exchange had replenished affected assets. Binance said it is working with law enforcement and industry partners to trace the stolen funds while strengthening its cybersecurity defenses. Bitcoin Magazine reported that the theft began with a fake job interview and ran for five months before coins moved, combining a poisoned software download, a staged recruitment process and an internal AI tool turned against wallet engineers. Binance reopened withdrawals in stages four days after the hack, starting with bitcoin, according to that report; Crypto Briefing placed the reopening on Nov. 1 and put early user outflows at roughly $3.6 billion to $4.7 billion.

Also read: Ramp seeks OCC trust charter for digital asset custody

Why it matters

The regulatory outreach matters because supervisors are treating the theft as a possible risk to traditional finance, not only to crypto exchanges. Bitcoin Magazine noted that banks have been running diagnostics on their own systems, and that one large U.S. bank’s cybersecurity team contacted Binance counterparts within hours of the hack. The backdrop is a loosening of U.S. rules: the OCC rescinded its crypto custody nonobjection requirement in March 2025, and the Fed withdrew related notification guidance the following month, per Bitcoin Magazine. Crypto Briefing reported that CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has pushed for stronger oversight of offshore exchanges after the hack. Binance said it was not aware of conversations between banks and regulators or of any impact on U.S. banks.

What to watch

Watch whether the Fed and OCC outreach surfaces any real disruption at banks, and whether Selig’s push produces formal proposals, both flagged by Crypto Briefing. Binance’s withdrawal volumes after access was restored are the other gauge of customer confidence. Neither the Fed nor the OCC has publicly announced new guidance tied to the hack.

Written by

StockPil Editorial

The StockPil Editorial desk covers stock markets, business, finance, forex and crypto. Our AI-assisted newsroom builds each article from published, linked sources, checks it for accuracy before it goes live, and our editors review published articles and correct anything that needs it.

Sources: Fox Business, Bitcoin Magazine, Crypto Briefing