Kaiser Ng, the chief financial officer (CFO) at cryptoexchange, Binance, is leaving the company. Ng’s departure comes a week after the company fell victim to hackers who made off with more than US$6 billion (~RM24.3 billion), raising questions amongst the community in the process.
“Kaiser Ng has decided to pursue a new venture after more than five years at Binance, with a transition plan implemented over the last six months,” Yi He, Binance co-chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We wish him the best in his next chapter.” Justin Yek will become the firm’s new CFO, she said.
The heist from Binance is believed to be one of the biggest to date. The US’ FBI is currently pointing the finger at a group of hackers based out of North Korea, whom it says stole the assets and converted them into Ethereum. Pyongyang has denied these allegations.
According to Binance, the breach started with malware hidden in software downloads and fake job recruitment efforts that targeted engineers. As part of its recovery efforts, Binance said it has worked with blockchain partners to freeze approximately US$3 billion (~RM12.2 billion) worth of affected assets on-chain so far. The exchange is continuing to work with law enforcement agencies and industry partners to trace and recover the remaining assets.
Ng joined Binance back in January 2022, and before that, he was at Kraken, another crypto exchange mired in its own set of controversies.
Replacing Ng is Justin Yek, who was previously the vice president of finance at AirWallex. “I am thrilled to step into the role of CFO at Binance,” Yek said in the statement. “I look forward to leading our finance organisation as we continue to scale responsibly and deliver on our mission globally.”
