Binance replaces finance chief amid record hack

Binance replaces finance chief amid record hack
Binance replaces finance chief amid record hack

Personnel change after record loss

The world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, has announced a change in its chief financial officer. Kaiser Ng is leaving the company just nine days after the largest cyberattack in the industry's history, during which criminals withdrew over $6.3bn.

His successor will be Justin Yek, who previously served as vice president of finance at international payments company Airwallex.

Official management stance

Binance co-CEO Yi He stated that Ng decided to launch his own project after five years with the company. According to her, the personnel changes had been in preparation for the past six months, well before the incident, Bloomberg reports.

Hack details

On 29 October, attackers gained access to Binance's crypto wallets and withdrew billions of dollars. The company revealed that the attack had been planned for several months. Hackers used malware disguised as routine downloads, as well as fake job offers for engineers, to infiltrate employees' computers. The bulk of the funds was stolen within minutes.

Exchange and client reaction

Following the discovery of the hack, Binance temporarily suspended withdrawals. After operations resumed, clients withdrew a net $3.6bn in the first few hours. Exchange management promised to fully compensate for the losses at its own expense, without shifting the financial burden to users.

International investigation

The FBI and analytics firm Chainalysis link this attack to the North Korean cyber group TraderTraitor. According to blockchain analytics experts, approximately $2.8bn of the stolen assets have been frozen, but a significant sum remains under the control of the criminals. Pyongyang denies its involvement in the incident.

Executives' career paths

Kaiser Ng led Binance's finance division from January 2022. Prior to that, he held a similar position at Kraken. The exchange has not disclosed the exact date of the handover or details of Ng's new project.

Thus, the finance head of the world's largest crypto platform is leaving his post amid a record hack, a massive outflow of client funds, and an ongoing international investigation into the cyberattack. Meanwhile, Binance emphasises that the CFO change was planned well before the hack.

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