How Binance’s Yi He became ‘the most powerful woman in crypto’—and steered the company past its biggest ordeal

Binance’s other cofounder, the flamboyant Changpeng Zhao, went to prison last year in the United States as part of a $4 billion plea deal. The situation created a huge business challenge for Binance and for Yi He, a painful personal one since Zhao was not only the company’s CEO but is the father of her young children.

Today, Binance appears to have weathered the ordeal. Zhao has served his sentence, and Binance, despite incurring the sort of blow that would have crippled most companies, is still on top as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange. Yi He has been instrumental in achieving this, and after years of wielding power behind the scenes, is taking on a more public role running Binance.