By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, November 9 (Radarr Africa) – Binance announced on Sunday, November 8, that chief financial officer Kaiser Ng is leaving the company, days after the theft of a record $6.3 billion in crypto assets that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has blamed on North Korea.
The exchange named Justin Yek, formerly vice-president of finance at payments company Airwallex, as his successor. Binance said the exit followed a transition plan under way for the past six months. Co-chief executive Yi He said Ng “has decided to pursue a new venture.”
Ng joined Binance in January 2022 after about five years at rival exchange Kraken. Yek said he was excited to take the role and would lead Binance’s finance organisation as it expands globally.
The FBI said in a statement on Saturday that a North Korean group known as TraderTraitor was behind the theft and was converting the stolen assets mainly into Ethereum, which it expected to be laundered further in stages. It asked virtual asset service providers to block transactions tied to the laundering and shared suspected digital addresses. The same group was blamed for a $1.5 billion theft from the Bybit platform in February of last year.
Binance said it had replaced 90 per cent of the stolen amount by buying new tokens with company funds. The remaining 10 per cent consists of less liquid tokens that may take longer to buy, and Binance said it would keep buying until coverage reaches 100 per cent. The purchases were funded from its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users, a Bitcoin reserve fund, part of its Futures Insurance Fund and the corporate treasury.
Co-chief executive Richard Teng said the breach was a “complex attack” involving a compromised laptop and malicious software designed to delete evidence.
Binance halted withdrawals after the hack and said it was on track to reopen them on Sunday. It also published a new proof-of-reserves snapshot showing customer assets are backed at a minimum 1:1 ratio. Crypto prices fell on Friday.
A chief financial officer oversees financial reporting, risk assessment and internal controls, rather than technical security, but the timing of the departure puts scrutiny on the exchange’s risk management and internal oversight. Bitget and Bybit have also suffered major breaches in recent years.
