Crypto
Binance CFO Kaiser Ng Steps Down Nine Days After the $6.3 Billion Hack, With the Exchange Calling the Handover Planned
Image: bjmyers via Pixabay
Co-CEO Yi He says a transition plan was set six months ago; Justin Yek, formerly of Airwallex, takes over as finance chief.
By Noris Ortiz ·
Binance said its chief financial officer, Kaiser Ng, is leaving the company, announcing the change nine days after the largest crypto theft on record and describing the handover as planned well before the attack.
Co-CEO Yi He announced the move in a statement on Saturday, Nov. 7, according to The Block [1]. He said Ng "has decided to pursue a new venture," and that a transition plan had been in place for the past six months [1]. Ng had been CFO since January 2022 and previously worked at Kraken [1]. Justin Yek, most recently vice president of finance at payments company Airwallex, will replace him [1]. The statement did not give an effective date for Ng's departure or say what he will do next [1].
The timing invites scrutiny because of what came before. The hack took place on Oct. 29, and CoinDesk put the loss at $6.3 billion, citing a correction to its earlier figure [2]. Decrypt, citing Chainalysis and TRM Labs, reported a figure closer to $6.4 billion, more than four times the previous record of $1.5 billion in the Bybit theft of February 2025 [3]. The FBI attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, according to CoinDesk [2].
Decrypt reported that the theft began around 4:05 p.m. ET on the Thursday, after U.S. stock markets closed, and that most of the funds left within about 20 minutes [3]. Binance said the attack targeted its own infrastructure rather than the blockchains themselves, first tracing it to a compromised engineer's laptop before finding additional points of breach [3]. CEO Richard Teng said one delegation "did not pass through our normal approval controls" [3]. Binance said customer assets were not touched [3].
The financial fallout has been large. CoinDesk reported that Teng cited $10.97 billion in withdrawals and $5.28 billion in net outflows over 46 hours ending that Tuesday, though hourly deposits had started to exceed withdrawals [2]. Tether, Circle and law enforcement, including the U.S. Secret Service, helped freeze stolen funds, and researchers estimated $2.85 billion had been frozen or seized [2]. Binance has said it would cover all losses using company funds and its Secure Asset Fund for Users [3]. The Block reported that as of Nov. 2, the exchange had replaced about 95% of the affected assets with its own money, completed a proof-of-reserves snapshot and begun restoring withdrawals [1]. It added that Elliptic found the hackers swapped stolen tokens for $124 million in bitcoin [1].
Binance's account of the departure is the only one on the record. The statement describes a long-planned succession, and nothing in the reporting contradicts it, but nothing independently confirms the timeline either. Executive changes after security failures are common, and a planned handover can coincide with an incident without being related to it.
For crypto markets, leadership stability at a major exchange is one of several factors traders weigh while the aftermath of the breach plays out. Items to watch include the effective date of the finance handover, whether Binance publishes further proof-of-reserves updates, how deposits and withdrawals trend in the coming days, and any regulatory response to the incident.
Sources:
[1] The Block, "Binance CFO steps down nine days after record hack; co-CEO says transition was planned six months ago", November 7, 2026. https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-11-07-binance-cfo-steps-down-nine-days-after-record-hack-co-ceo-says-transition-was-planned-six-months-ago-435992
[2] CoinDesk, "CZ warns of more AI-driven hacks following Binance's historic $6.3 billion heist", November 3, 2026. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/11/03/cz-warns-of-more-ai-driven-hacks-following-binance-s-historic-usd6-4-billion-heist
[3] Decrypt, "Binance Hack: Everything You Need to Know About the Biggest Crypto Heist in History", October 31, 2026. https://decrypt.co/382306/binance-hack-everything-you-need-to-know
This article was produced with AI assistance. It is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. StockVolt and its authors may hold positions in securities mentioned.