Binance Co-Founder He Yi: Binance's Differences with Regulators May Not Be Significant, Not a "Wrongdoer"
7x24h News
Binance Co-Founder He Yi: Binance's Differences with Regulators May Not Be Significant, Not a "Wrongdoer"
Binance co-founder He Yi recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Bloomberg in Dubai, where she sought to convey two key messages. First, she suggested that Binance's differences with regulators may not be as significant as perceived. Second, she emphasized that Binance is far from being the "bad actor" critics have portrayed it to be. "If they truly took the time to understand our industry," He Yi said, "they would find almost no other global trading platform or offshore company operating as compliantly as Binance." She expressed respect for recent regulatory actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global regulators against Binance. Whether supportive or restrictive toward cryptocurrency development, she believes regulators' intentions are generally aimed at investor protection. In her view, global regulation is inevitable, and shouting slogans alone won't resolve the challenges. From He Yi’s perspective, Binance offers greater transparency than critics claim and has consistently worked to cooperate with U.S. regulators. Unlike the allegations leveled against FTX, Binance has not used user funds for its own purposes, nor has it pledged its native token BNB as collateral for loans. Behind the scenes, He Yi wields significant influence within Binance. Among her many responsibilities, she oversees Binance Labs, a venture fund managing billions of dollars. The fund has backed over 200 projects, including decentralized file-sharing platform BitTorrent and blockchain game Axie Infinity. She is widely credited with driving the development of BNB Chain (whose native token BNB was recently labeled an unregistered security by the SEC) and has played a key role in supervising institutional client services and acquisitions such as CoinMarketCap. When asked how Binance would fare without her and CZ (Changpeng Zhao), He Yi responded: "Both CZ and I have backup executives currently in training. We can't disclose their names yet, but I'm confident we'll get through any challenge. We're not a single-point-of-failure organization." Bloomberg noted that the dynamic between He Yi and CZ might invite comparisons to Caroline Ellison and SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) of FTX. But He Yi firmly rejected the analogy: "Caroline was an employee; I am a partner. The relationship between co-founders requires much more than a romantic connection. Our bond is built on shared beliefs, transcends gender, and resembles the camaraderie between comrades-in-arms. Romantic relationships, by contrast, are based on physical attraction and selfish desires." He Yi added that her presence in the crypto space predates CZ’s. "Even setting aside our personal relationship, it was I who introduced CZ to crypto trading. And CZ brought me into Binance because I had already achieved considerable success on my own."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsTechFlow news — Binance co-founder He Yi recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Bloomberg in Dubai. In the conversation, she sought to convey two key messages: first, that Binance's differences with regulators may not be as great as perceived; and second, that Binance is far from being the "bad actor" critics have portrayed it to be.
"If they truly took the time to understand our industry," He Yi said, "they would find almost no other global trading platform or offshore company operates with the same level of compliance as Binance." She expressed respect for recent regulatory actions taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global market regulators against Binance. She believes that regardless of whether regulators support or oppose cryptocurrency development, their overall intent is to protect investors. In her view, global regulatory trends are inevitable, and shouting slogans alone won't resolve anything.
According to He Yi, Binance offers greater transparency than critics claim and has consistently worked proactively with U.S. regulators. Unlike the allegations leveled against FTX, Binance has not used user funds for its own purposes, nor has it used its native token BNB as loan collateral.
Behind the scenes, He Yi holds significant influence within Binance. Among her many responsibilities, she oversees Binance Labs, a venture fund managing billions of dollars. The fund has backed over 200 projects, including the decentralized file-sharing platform BitTorrent and the blockchain game Axie Infinity. She is widely credited with driving the development of BNB Chain (whose native token BNB was recently labeled an unregistered security by the SEC), and has played a key role in supervising institutional client operations and acquisitions such as CoinMarketCap.
When asked how Binance would fare without her and CZ (Changpeng Zhao), He Yi responded: "Both CZ and I have deputy executives currently in training. We can't disclose their names yet, but I believe we will get through this. We're not a single point of failure."
Bloomberg noted that the relationship between He Yi and CZ invites comparisons to Caroline Ellison and SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) of FTX. But He Yi firmly rejected the analogy: "Caroline was an employee; I am a partner. The relationship between co-founders requires more than just a romantic connection. Co-founders share beliefs—it transcends gender and is more like camaraderie or brotherhood among comrades. Romantic relationships, on the other hand, are based on physical attraction and selfish desires."
He Yi added that her presence in the crypto space predates CZ’s. "Even setting aside personal relationships, I was the one who introduced CZ to crypto trading. And CZ brought me into Binance because I had already achieved certain accomplishments."
