Binance has named Justin Yek as its next chief financial officer, Reuters and Bloomberg reported, as the exchange responds to a security incident it said affected about $6.34 billion in digital assets.
Binance co-CEO Yi He said Kaiser Ng was leaving to pursue “a new venture” and that the handover plan had been implemented over the previous six months, Reuters reported. Yek most recently served as vice president of finance at Airwallex, Reuters reported. Airwallex said in 2023 that Yek joined as head of strategic finance and corporate development.
Binance’s Nov. 3 incident report estimated the affected assets at about $6.34 billion and put the amount frozen or intercepted at about $2.85 billion. The company cautioned that reconciliation and market-price movements could change those figures.
In a Nov. 4 update, Binance said its replenishment effort had reached about 98% of the affected value, with purchases continuing for the remaining, less-liquid tokens. The exchange said it had set aside more than the amount needed to cover the losses and would pay for them from its own resources rather than pass the cost to users. The 98% figure describes Binance’s replenishment, not assets recovered from the attackers.
Binance said the attackers accessed an internal wallet-signing service and described a campaign involving fake recruitment interviews, malicious downloads and compromised internal AI tools. It said its investigation was continuing and that its findings would undergo independent review.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attributed the theft of more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance around Oct. 29 to North Korea, naming the activity “TraderTraitor.” Kim Yo Jong rejected the attribution in a statement carried by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, the Associated Press reported, calling it “a trite provocation.”
Binance had scheduled additional withdrawals to reopen in phases at 11 p.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 5 (04:00 UTC Friday, Nov. 6), subject to security and readiness checks. The company’s Nov. 4 update said it was continuing to source the remaining assets.
