Markets & Business
Binance CFO Kaiser Ng departs a week after $6.3 billion hack
Binance's chief financial officer Kaiser Ng is leaving to pursue a new venture, barely a week after hackers stole $6.3 billion from the exchange's users.
Kaiser Ng, Binance’s chief financial officer, is stepping down from the cryptocurrency exchange. Co-CEO Yi He said, in a statement reported by Bloomberg, that the move will let Ng “pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance,” adding that a transition plan has been in place for the last half year. Justin Yek will succeed him as CFO.
Just over a week earlier, hackers had taken $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance account holders. The exchange froze withdrawals for several days; once accounts reopened, users pulled out a net $3.6 billion within the first few hours.
Binance and the FBI have blamed the breach on a North Korean group called TraderTraitor. The exchange has pledged to absorb the losses itself rather than pass them on to users.
Why it matters
Coming so soon after the $6.3 billion breach, Ng’s departure puts fresh scrutiny on Binance’s financial leadership just as the exchange tries to reassure users it can absorb the losses on its own.