Yi He: The Influential Force Behind Binance

In a move to comply with regulatory requirements, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has disclosed the composition of its board of directors. The board includes the platform’s CEO Richard Teng and three top executives: Heina (Guanying) Chen, Jingkai (Rock) He, and Lilai Wang.

External board members are Gabriel Abed, former ambassador of Barbados to the UAE, Arnaud Ventura, managing partner of investment firm Gojo & Co, and Xin Wang, executive director of Bayview Acquisition.

The name of Binance co-founder Yi He is absent from these lists. Nevertheless, she holds the position of Chief Marketing Officer and leads the venture company Binance Labs.

Biography

Yi He was born in 1986 in the city of Yibin, Sichuan Province, China, to a family of teachers. Her career began as a promoter, distributing free samples of a new soda near a supermarket. 

In an interview, He shared that in 2007 she worked as an assistant psychotherapist at a clinic affiliated with the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She studied for a master’s degree in psychological counseling but did not complete her studies. 

She also served as a class advisor in college and worked as a TV presenter for China Travel from 2012 to 2014.

During this time, He became interested in cryptocurrencies. In March 2014, she co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin with Star Xu, taking on the role of Vice President of User Operations and Marketing. The platform soon captured 60% of the market share in mainland China.

That same year, after meeting Changpeng Zhao (CZ) at a local conference, He invited him to become OKCoin’s Chief Technology Officer.

CZ and He left OKCoin in 2015. 

Subsequently, He joined the mobile platform for short video exchanges, Yixia Technology, as Vice President of Marketing, where she worked until 2017.

During this period, she helped the team secure significant funding, resulting in the company’s valuation exceeding $3 billion. He also launched the live streaming platform Yizhibo, which was later acquired by the social network Weibo. 

“I had a very humble start. I grew up in a small province in China where financial opportunities were limited, and higher education was an exception. Most people in my hometown dropped out of school by age 16 to work in factories.

I questioned the nature of money and read many books but found no answers. In 2013, I first learned about Bitcoin and saw a real path that could overcome global economic barriers,” Yi He said in an interview. 

Career at Binance

Yi He’s skills and reputation did not go unnoticed, and in 2017, CZ invited her to join the new cryptocurrency exchange Binance as an advisor.

While working at Yizhibo, He began by helping draft the white paper for Binance’s $15 million ICO. Later, on August 8, 2017, she officially joined the company. 

“Yi He is probably the strongest marketer I know. I think she is among the top ten specialists in China, and believe me, China is an ultra-competitive market. If we talk about female specialists, she is likely number one. I did everything to convince her to join the team, and luck was on my side,” CZ said in an interview with ForkLog.

Currently, Yi He is responsible for Binance’s business, marketing, and brand strategy. She leads the multi-billion-dollar venture fund Binance Labs, develops the charitable division Binance Charity, and oversees the platform’s listing team. He is the chief specialist for institutional clients and manages major acquisitions, such as CoinMarketCap. 

She is also credited with contributing to the development of the BNB Chain network. 

He is one of Binance’s largest shareholders, though the size of her stake is undisclosed.

“Her business strategy, the foundation of Binance’s rapid growth, is rooted in her leadership in socially-oriented business and the encouragement of representative and humble leaders with an upward company structure,” Binance representatives stated in a comment to ForkLog. 

According to WSJ, Yi He has a say in selecting candidates for the board of directors.

The publication also discovered that He was involved in early discussions between Binance and the US Department of Justice. The department insisted that as part of a deal, she, along with Zhao, leave the company, as her name was mentioned in the context of attempts by the exchange to circumvent US restrictions.

For more on Binance’s legal proceedings, see ForkLog’s special report.

Commenting on the claims against the exchange in June 2023, He considered her departure from the company. However, she stated that backup top managers are being prepared, whose names the entrepreneur did not disclose.

“I think everything will be fine. We are not a single point of failure,” she emphasized.

Personal Life 

He and CZ are raising three children together and live in the same house in Dubai (currently, Zhao is under travel restrictions in the US). He refers to the former Binance CEO as a “comrade-in-arms” and something akin to a dormitory roommate.

She categorically rejects comparisons of their relationship to the romantic involvement of former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried with his colleague Caroline Ellison.

“There is a significant difference here: Caroline was an employee, and I am a partner. Relationships between co-founders require much more than dating relationships. The former are based on camaraderie, shared beliefs, and transcend gender boundaries, while the latter are based on chemistry, physical attraction, and selfish desires,” she stated.

Yi He explains her lack of public presence by her limited knowledge of the English language. This supports Binance’s firm stance on denying any connection with China and local authorities, which the exchange has been repeatedly attributed to. 

Comments from Former Colleagues 

Former Binance Director for Asia and Eastern Europe Gleb Kostarev told ForkLog that Yi He plays one of the key roles in the exchange’s team, significantly influencing the company’s strategic decisions.

“He is relatively non-public outside the Chinese-speaking information space, but her contribution to Binance’s success cannot be overestimated. Many are unaware that it is precisely due to her efforts and unique approach in marketing and regional development that Binance has achieved such outstanding results,” he noted. 

According to Kostarev, He focuses on developing local communities and intuitively understands their needs. 

“Despite all the changes and challenges Binance faces, Yi He remains one of the most influential figures in the company and the entire cryptocurrency industry as a whole,” added the former exchange employee.

Earlier in 2024, Binance quietly spun off its venture division with $10 billion in assets into a separate business. 

Binance Labs’ portfolio includes about 250 projects, including Sky Mavis, Aptos Labs, LayerZero, Polygon, and The Sandbox. The total “paper” value of the assets exceeds $10 billion.