Binance CFO Kaiser Ng leaves nine days after the US$6.3bn hack; Justin Yek takes over

Nine days after thieves took about US$6.3 billion from Binance, the person who has run its money for nearly five years is leaving. The world’s largest crypto exchange said on Saturday, 7 November, that its CFO, Kaiser Ng, is stepping away and that Justin Yek now holds the job.

Binance says this was planned well before the hack. Still, a change of finance chief in the middle of a recovery is news for every customer who keeps money there. It comes in the same week Binance says it has replaced almost all of the stolen assets, so this is a good moment to check where things stand.

What Binance said about the Binance CFO change

In a statement given to the press, co-CEO Yi He said Ng “has decided to pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance, with a transition plan implemented over the last half year.” Reuters and Bloomberg carried the same words. We found no post about it on Binance’s own announcements page when we checked.

Ng has been Binance CFO since January 2022, Reuters reports, citing his LinkedIn profile; earlier he worked at Kraken, another exchange. Yek, the new CFO, was most recently vice-president of finance at Airwallex, a financial technology company, according to Reuters. Binance has not said when Ng’s last day is, or what his new venture will be.

A planned handover, at a hard moment

The timing is the obvious question. The Binance hack of 29 October 2026 was the largest crypto theft on record. It began months earlier, Binance has said, with harmful software hidden in downloads and fake job interviews aimed at its engineers. The FBI has blamed North Korea’s TraderTraitor group, as we covered when the FBI named the hackers; North Korea denies it.

Binance does not link Ng’s exit to any of this. Its own words point the other way: counted back, a six-month plan would have started around May, well before the attack. Our reading: finance handovers at large companies are usually planned months ahead, so that timeline is plausible. But Binance has given no reason beyond “a new venture”, and readers can fairly ask for more.

What Binance customers should know about withdrawals now

The CFO change does not, by itself, change anything about your account. The recovery does. Here is where it stood on 7 November, from Binance’s own Recovery Updates:

• Money replaced. On 4 November, Binance said it had replaced about 98% of the stolen amount. The last 2% is slower, because some tokens trade in small volumes and must be bought on the market or through large private (OTC) deals. Binance says it set aside more than 100% from its own money and will not pass losses to users.
• Withdrawals. After the first reopening on 1 November, users took out a net US$3.6 billion or so in the first hours, TechCrunch reports. More coins reopened on 3, 5 and 6 November, network by network, including assets on Ethereum, BSC, Base, Tron, Polygon and Sui. Deposits stayed open throughout. Check Binance’s withdrawal page for your exact coin and network before you move anything.
• The reserves check. Binance’s new Proof of Reserves snapshot, taken at midnight UTC on 4 November, covers 44 tokens, up from 10. The zero-knowledge proof behind it, which confirms the totals without exposing anyone’s data, takes about 50 to 60 hours to produce. Binance had not announced it as finished by Saturday evening (UTC). When it is out, log in and confirm your own balance is included.

Why the reserves proof matters more than the new name

On balance, Binance has handled the public side of this recovery well. Nine numbered Recovery Updates by 6 November, a clear promise to cover losses, and a much wider reserves check are what anxious customers need.

The open questions are real too. The last 2% is not done, the 44-token proof is not yet out, and there is still no full post-incident report. A finance chief’s exit during that work leaves a gap Binance has not fully explained.

Our reading is calm: a leadership change is worth noting, not a reason to panic. What will tell you more is the evidence, starting with the reserves proof. Our first story on the pause in Binance withdrawals explains why the promise to pay mattered from day one.

Watch for three things next: the 44-token proof, the last 2% of the stolen assets, and the full report on how the attackers got in. Justin Yek’s first test as CFO is likely to be the same as everyone else’s: showing the numbers add up.