He Yi's Decade: The Binance Legend from Margin to Peak

In March 2026, when people mention outstanding female leaders in the cryptocurrency industry, He Yi’s name has become a symbol of the sector. From co-founder to co-CEO, this woman who controls the world’s largest crypto exchange has rewritten the landscape of the crypto world in ten years. Her story is not just a miracle of wealth but also an art of strategy and decision-making.

But if we go back to the eve of the Spring Festival in 2014, no one would have imagined that a woman host from the traditional internet sector would become a key figure in driving the globalization of cryptocurrencies. This is He Yi.

Choosing to Change the Trajectory: The Logic Behind Early Decisions

To understand how He Yi managed to establish herself in the crypto space, we must first look at her life path before entering the industry.

Born in 1986, He Yi started elementary school at age five. At sixteen, she made the most critical decision of her life: dropping out to work. This was not out of necessity but a proactive choice. While her peers were still immersed in studies, He Yi realized that “the big book of society can never be fully learned.” Over the next decade, she worked as a beverage saleswoman, a home goods store manager, studied psychology in Beijing, and later became a travel TV host.

These seemingly scattered experiences all laid a foundation for her entry into the crypto world. Selling drinks taught her insight into human psychology; managing a store honed her operational and cost-control skills; hosting built her extensive network. More importantly, her persistent focus on understanding “consumer needs” ultimately became her secret weapon in marketing within the crypto industry.

In 2013, He Yi made her first fortune through stock trading, sparking her strong interest in financial investments. During the Spring Festival of 2014, a call from an OKCoin investor changed everything.

He Yi and OKCoin: The Golden Era of the Triumvirate

When He Yi first encountered the concept of Bitcoin, her reaction was not greed but entrepreneurial acuity. She quickly recognized the unprecedented market potential of this “decentralized, globally circulating, 24-hour trading” product.

In June 2014, He Yi joined OKCoin as Head of Marketing. There, she met Zhao Changpeng (CZ) for the first time, who was then CTO at Blockchain.info. He Yi saw that CZ was not only technically skilled but also had a global vision—exactly what OKCoin needed for its international expansion. After months of communication, CZ eventually joined OKCoin as CTO.

Thus, a powerful team formed—Xu Mingxing (strategy), CZ (technology), and He Yi (marketing). Under her push, OKCoin quickly became a leading exchange domestically, even surpassing Huobi at one point to become the volume leader.

However, internal conflicts also brewed within this triumvirate. By late 2015, Xu Mingxing’s technical background clashed fundamentally with CZ over product direction. As the introducer, He Yi faced her first career dilemma. Ultimately, she chose to leave OKCoin, signing a two-year non-compete agreement.

This seemingly passive departure laid the groundwork for her subsequent rise.

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: He Yi’s Salvation of Binance

In June 2017, after leaving OKCoin, He Yi received an invitation from CZ: to co-found a new exchange—Binance. At that time, the crypto market was in a bear phase, and Binance seemed like a “newborn baby, with no reputation or user base.”

But He Yi made a decision that shocked everyone: she invested all her remaining 900,000 RMB into BNB. This was not just an investment but a gamble on her own judgment as an entrepreneur. Her logic was straightforward: “If I don’t believe in this project myself, why should users believe in it?”

The real test of her decision-making came on September 4, 2017. When Chinese regulators announced bans on ICOs and token fundraising, the entire crypto community panicked. This was later called the “94 Incident” regulatory crackdown.

At this critical moment, He Yi demonstrated extraordinary strategic vision. She realized that domestic exchanges were forced to exit, but global demand for trading remained. Despite being less than three months old, Binance could just seize this flow of traffic.

Her three classic responses:

First, “Conscience Refund”—refunding users at market price rather than issuance price. This caused Binance short-term losses of tens of millions but earned industry-wide trust.
Second, “Scientific Internet Access Tutorials”—risking policy violations, she taught users how to continue using Binance via social media, showing her “considerate service” to users.
Third, “Global Marketing”—leveraging her media resources and contacts, she promoted Binance in both Chinese and English, stirring waves among overseas Chinese communities.

The results were astonishing: three months after the 94 Incident, Binance’s user base skyrocketed, and trading volume surged. By December 2017, Binance had become the world’s largest exchange by trading volume. The 900,000 RMB she invested grew to 36 million USD as BNB’s price soared from $0.5 to $20.

This was not luck but a precise judgment of market trends, user psychology, and her own capabilities.

Leadership Transformation: From Behind the Scenes to the Spotlight

In 2018, Binance suffered a severe hacking attack. For 72 hours, He Yi worked tirelessly—coordinating technical teams to handle the crisis and communicating with users on social media. Her promise, “Guarantee with integrity—user funds are safe,” once again earned market trust. Binance ultimately announced full compensation from reserves, with losses exceeding $10 million.

In the following years, He Yi gradually evolved from Binance’s marketing head to its operational soul. She launched the famous “Binance Angel” program, recruiting volunteers worldwide to promote Binance—covering over 100 countries and becoming a key driver of Binance’s global reach.

As Binance’s internationalization accelerated, she made a wise decision: to step back from the front lines and let CZ, with his more international background, take the lead. But this retreat did not mean losing influence—instead, He Yi still controls Binance’s core operations: user management, community engagement, crisis PR. She calls herself “Chief Customer Service,” available 24/7 to answer user questions.

A detail that exemplifies her dedication: a university student mistakenly transferred $500 in crypto. It should have been unrecoverable, but upon seeing the request for help, He Yi personally followed up and helped recover the funds. “This money may be small to you, but it’s everything to me.” The student’s words deeply moved her.

Turning the Darkest Hour into a Comeback

On November 21, 2023, CZ pleaded guilty in a federal court in Seattle, and Binance was fined $4.3 billion. CZ was sentenced to four months in prison and forced to resign as CEO. The moment the news broke, the market plunged into panic. BNB’s price fell from $313 to $213, with over $3 billion in funds flowing out of Binance within 24 hours.

This was Binance’s darkest hour and the ultimate test of He Yi’s leadership.

While caring for her three young children (all CZ’s children), stabilizing the company, and dealing with media and regulators, her stress was unimaginable. But her first response was not panic but action.

She sent an internal email to all staff, full of confidence, promising no layoffs; she kept communicating on social media, explaining Binance’s financial situation in detail; she personally spoke with key employees to boost morale. Meanwhile, she actively cooperated with U.S. regulators to push forward compliance reforms.

Most notably, He Yi did not assume the CEO role herself but appointed Deng Weizheng, a former senior regulator at the Singapore Monetary Authority, as CEO. This decision sent a clear signal: Binance would pursue compliance and seriously address regulatory challenges.

After months of turbulence, Binance achieved a remarkable turnaround: user numbers grew from 250 million to 280 million, trading volume share remained around 39%, BNB’s price recovered and hit new highs, and the company’s valuation returned to the trillion-dollar level.

Her Management Philosophy: Data-Driven Decision-Making

In 2022, Binance signed a $60 million endorsement deal with football star Cristiano Ronaldo. The new global marketing director designed a traditional advertising campaign, but He Yi was dissatisfied. She believed the conversion rate was too low and not aligned with Binance’s user growth logic. The marketing director eventually left.

This detail reflects her management philosophy: results-oriented—if goals aren’t met, adjust. This “He Yi-style management” is well-known inside Binance—setting clear business targets while tolerating reasonable trial and error.

She dedicates most of her time to three things: spending time with her children, managing the company, and learning English. Yes, the woman who controls the world’s largest exchange still insists on studying English daily because she knows that language is a necessary barrier to leading Binance into the global stage.

Co-CEO Vision: Building a New Web3 Financial Ecosystem

On December 3, 2025, Binance announced the appointment of He Yi as Co-CEO, alongside Deng Weizheng, to jointly lead the company. This marked her official transition from behind the scenes to the front, from co-founder to the helm.

In an interview, He Yi outlined Binance’s next grand goal: reaching 1 billion users. This number sounds crazy to many, but her confidence stems from a deep understanding of industry trends.

“Cryptocurrencies are evolving from niche investment assets into mainstream financial tools, just like the internet shifted from a geek toy to a daily necessity,” she explained. For example, ChatGPT reached 100 million users in less than a year, TikTok achieved the same in nine months. “Binance now has 280 million users—reaching 1 billion is not a dream.”

Her vision for Binance’s future is not just an exchange but a complete Web3 financial ecosystem—including infrastructure providing blockchain development tools for developers, digital banking making cryptocurrencies as easy to use as traditional currencies, NFT and metaverse platforms for digital art and virtual worlds, and educational systems to promote blockchain knowledge.

“We want to become the Alipay of the Web3 world, enabling everyone to enjoy the benefits of decentralized finance.” This is He Yi’s positioning for Binance’s future.

From Poverty to Glory: He Yi’s Life Wisdom

Late at night at Binance’s headquarters, He Yi sits in her office, gazing at the city skyline. Her 38-year journey flashes before her eyes: from a poor mountain village in Sichuan to the top executive office of the world’s largest exchange; from a girl carrying a torn bag on long bus rides at 16 to a business leader managing hundreds of billions of dollars.

A message of gratitude from a user made her smile: “Thank you for your customer service helping me recover the $500 I transferred incorrectly. It really means a lot to a student.”

He Yi picks up a pen and writes a line of poetry by Xi Murong on a sticky note: “Since I’ve spoken kindly, I won’t speak of pain.”

This encapsulates her life philosophy—once you choose this path, you must bear all its challenges.

Looking back at He Yi’s story, we see several key life principles:

First, the power of choice determines the height of life. Every critical decision—dropping out, changing careers, joining OKCoin, leaving OKCoin, investing in Binance, betting on BNB—points to one direction: finding opportunities to create maximum value. She isn’t passively driven by fate but actively seizes turning points.

Second, crises often contain opportunities. The 94 Incident was a fatal blow to other exchanges but became an opportunity for Binance’s rise. CZ’s guilty plea was a huge setback for Binance but became a stage for He Yi to demonstrate leadership. Her secret is always asking, “How can this crisis be transformed into an opportunity?” rather than “How can we avoid this crisis?”

Third, value creation surpasses wealth accumulation. He Yi’s wealth (over $10 billion) comes from creating value for users. Her decisions during the 94 Incident—refunding users at market price, fully compensating for hacking losses—seemed to incur short-term losses but built trust, ultimately turning into long-term business advantages.

Fourth, female leadership is a competitive advantage. In a male-dominated crypto world, He Yi proves that women can be outstanding leaders. Her understanding of user psychology, attention to detail, and team cohesion are not gender advantages but leadership strengths.

Conclusion: An Industry Icon Forever

He Yi’s story is still unfolding. If Binance in 2017 was a rookie, and the 2023 crisis was a test of growth, then in 2026 she stands at a new starting point—aiming for 1 billion users and shaping the future of Web3 finance.

From a poor family in Sichuan to the center of global finance, He Yi has spent over twenty years demonstrating that choosing the right opportunities, making decisive decisions, and creating value can change destinies.

No matter how high Bitcoin rises or how the crypto industry evolves, He Yi will remain an iconic figure—not because she has the most money, but because she has the clearest vision; not because she is the luckiest, but because she is the most capable.

This is the true value of He Yi’s story.