He Yi: From Rural Villages to the Pinnacle of Crypto Power, Interpreting the Breakthrough Path of the "Crypto Queen"
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
He Yi: From Rural Villages to the Pinnacle of Crypto Power, Interpreting the Breakthrough Path of the "Crypto Queen"
Since I said it's fine, I won't say it hurts.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Jeff John Roberts, Fortune
Translation: Saoirse, Foresight News
In the 1980s, when He Yi was a young girl, she had to walk to a well for water and her family sometimes relied on kerosene lamps for light. Today’s reality is vastly different: as co-founder and executive at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, she holds roughly 10% of the company and is worth billions of dollars, with millions of followers across China. Yet despite this, her journey has never been smooth.
Binance’s other co-founder, Changpeng Zhao, made headlines with his bold actions—last year, he pleaded guilty in the U.S. to a $4 billion settlement and served prison time. The fallout hit Binance hard and struck He Yi doubly so—Zhao wasn’t just the CEO; he was also the father of her young children.
Now past the storm, Zhao has completed his sentence, and Binance—though battered by penalties that would have crippled most companies—remains firmly positioned as the world’s top crypto exchange. He Yi played a pivotal role during this crisis, stepping into the spotlight after years behind the scenes to lead Binance more publicly.
He Yi spoke with Fortune about her transformation from a poor rural girl to a crypto billionaire, the trials she endured during Binance’s most turbulent year, and her vision for an industry rapidly reshaping global finance.
A Consistent Connection with Ordinary People
Throughout her life and career, He Yi has overcome numerous obstacles—one being learning English. She only began studying the language around age 35, just four years ago. But during a lengthy Zoom interview, she handled herself with ease, needing translation help only when explaining Chinese idioms or proverbs.
He Yi deeply understands the power of communication. At Binance, she’s known for exceptional marketing and customer service skills—capabilities that helped propel the exchange into the global top tier within less than a year. To this day, she insists on personally listening to users across platforms like Telegram, X, and WeChat, and demands her entire team do the same. Her rule is widely known: every new Binance employee must spend several weeks working directly in customer support.
She recounted a recent incident: a university student accidentally sent $500 worth of cryptocurrency to the wrong wallet. Such mistakes are common and usually mean permanent loss. But He Yi took the time to track it down and ultimately recovered the funds. She remembers the student telling her: “This money may be nothing to you, but it’s everything to me.”
He Yi can empathize with such stories because of her own background. Growing up in a poor village in Sichuan, she lost her father at age nine and started selling drinks outside a supermarket at sixteen. Though she later entered college (she laughs recalling her joy upon first entering a library) and worked as a TV host, her humble roots keep her grounded and attuned to the realities faced by countless ordinary Binance users.
Her story mirrors Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny From the Block”—a narrative where success doesn’t erase one’s origins. These kinds of stories resonate strongly in the U.S.
But Eowyn Chen, CEO of crypto firm Trust Wallet and former Binance executive, says this kind of image doesn’t land the same way in China: “People here aren’t quick to cheer underdog triumphs. Instead, they often mock those who ‘climb too high.’” Chen notes He Yi frequently becomes the target of articles and social media attacks—but He Yi’s response is to throw the criticism right back.
“She’ll tell them: ‘Yes, I came from nothing, yet I made it. Why can’t you?’”
Bloomberg has called He Yi “the most powerful woman in crypto.” Through intelligence, grit, and determination, she’s climbed to the top of the blockchain industry—traits she shares with her co-founder and partner.
Building the Binance Empire Together
When Changpeng Zhao launched Binance in 2017, he already had a strong public persona under the name “CZ.” He built the “CZ mythos” through bold bets—like selling his Shanghai apartment in 2014 to buy bitcoin—and active engagement in the crypto Twitter community.
Zhao invited He Yi to join Binance in its early days, but years before that, it was actually He Yi who first reached out to him. In 2014, she persuaded Zhao to join OKCoin (now OKX), where she worked, and take on the role of CTO. This duo shared not only a passion for cryptocurrency but many similarities. Like He Yi, Zhao spent his early school years in unheated rural classrooms; later, after his father immigrated to Canada, he worked minimum-wage jobs at Chevron and McDonald’s during high school. When criticized for his background, Zhao has always pushed back directly—even sharing memes of himself in a McDonald’s uniform as self-deprecating humor.
The pair fell in love while working at OKCoin, gaining experience running large-scale crypto operations. Today, though never formally married, they remain close partners both in raising their children and leading their business. According to The Wall Street Journal, He Yi and Zhao jointly manage YZi Labs, a family office spun off from Binance’s venture arm, and she owns at least 10% of Binance’s parent company.
When asked about her relationship with Zhao, He Yi declined to comment publicly, offering only a written statement: “My personal life and professional identity are entirely separate. People obsess over my private affairs while overlooking my achievements and capabilities as a co-founder.” She also noted that Binance now has 280 million users.
Regardless of their personal dynamic, their professional synergy is undeniable. He Yi’s role at Binance resembles that of Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook—a leader who helped scale the company in its formative years and provided steady guidance to a brilliant but socially awkward CEO.
In practice, Zhao serves as Binance’s influential visionary and product mind, while He Yi drives explosive growth through aggressive marketing tactics—including giveaways of luxury cars. Her strategies resonate not only with overseas Chinese communities but also domestically—even though cryptocurrency is technically banned in mainland China, it still has a massive user base, partly because it offers an easily transferable asset that bypasses government capital controls.
A Binance employee who requested anonymity due to discussing executives described He Yi as a demanding boss who consistently supports her team and stands up for those around her. On daily operations, He Yi emphasized Binance’s core principle of “founder culture,” a tech-industry concept referring to companies that retain the raw energy and urgency of their startup phase.
For Binance, one defining trait in its early growth was a flexible, often evasive approach to regulation—moving operations between countries whenever facing government scrutiny. While this fueled rapid expansion, it also repeatedly became a critical vulnerability—the very flaw that ultimately cost the company its most central founder.
Post-CZ Leadership: He Yi Takes the Helm
In early 2023, Binance’s operating space began shrinking fast. The previous year, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapsed, prompting the Biden administration to intensify crackdowns on the crypto sector—with Binance, as market leader, squarely in the crosshairs. After years of legal teams fending off various allegations, the moment arrived when a deal became unavoidable.
In September 2023, the Department of Justice announced a landmark settlement: Binance paid a $4.3 billion penalty—the largest of its kind in corporate history—while Zhao stepped down as CEO and admitted to failures in anti-money laundering controls. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported that U.S. authorities had also demanded He Yi’s departure. (A Binance spokesperson said: “The plea agreement with U.S. regulators is part of the public record.”)
Despite severe financial and leadership setbacks, two years later, under Zhao’s successor Richard Teng, Binance remains the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The former senior Singaporean regulator has implemented a series of compliance measures, crafting a new image of the company moving beyond its early wild-west days. In January 2025, Binance took another key step: introducing a formal board structure with seven members, including three independent directors.
Still, a former Binance employee told Fortune that real power within the company hasn’t shifted—it remains firmly held by Zhao, He Yi, and two other early executives, Wang Lai (Roger). The source, speaking anonymously to speak freely, added that He Yi has final say on all personnel matters and is the most influential voice on decisions related to customer experience. However, a Binance spokesperson countered that this characterization is inaccurate, emphasizing the company’s culture of empowering employees with high autonomy.
Meanwhile, a venture capitalist described Binance as a tightly controlled, “iron-fisted” operation. Despite new legal constraints and the complexities of managing a vast global business, the company shows no signs of losing its market dominance. This view appears supported by CoinGecko’s latest data: even amid rising competition, Binance still commands the largest share of trading activity, accounting for 39% of volume on centralized exchanges in June.
For He Yi, Binance’s continued leadership validates her customer-first philosophy and reflects the founders’ unwavering commitment to cryptocurrency. In her view, the technology holds transformative power comparable to how the internet disrupted traditional media and television.
He Yi predicts crypto will accelerate its integration into traditional finance via stablecoins and other blockchain innovations. Within five to ten years, she believes the two worlds will fully converge.
For her personally, the rise of cryptocurrency feels like living through another technological revolution—from a childhood without electricity or running water, all the way to today.
As for the trials along the way, He Yi quotes Xi Murong: “Since I chose to say yes, I won’t speak of the pain.”
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@FortuneMagazine
