5 Things to Know About Yi He, First Crypto Boss on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women List

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Binance co-CEO Yi He has become the first crypto-native executive ever named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list. The 2026 ranking placed her at #64. Her debut puts a single name from the cryptocurrency sector alongside chiefs from finance, retail, and Fortune 500 technology. The recognition arrives months after Binance formally promoted her to co-CEO in December 2025. 1. She Recruited CZ to Crypto, Not the Other Way Around Yi He pivoted from Chinese television into the cryptocurrency sector in 2014. She joined the exchange OKCoin, now known as OKX, as a marketing executive. From that perch, she recruited a then-little-known engineer, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), as chief technology officer. The pair later became life partners and co-founded Binance during the 2017 ICO boom. Yi He led marketing, branding, and global user growth while CZ handled the technology stack. Most retellings of Binance’s origin reverse who pulled whom into the digital asset space. 2. She Went from Kerosene Lamps to Multibillionaire Status Yi He was born in 1986 in a rural Sichuan village without consistent electricity or running water. She lost her father at age nine and worked promoting soft drinks at 16. She later worked as a travel television host and, in her thirties, taught herself English to help expand Binance globally. She reportedly holds about a 10% stake in Binance through a holding company. “CZ reportedly owns nearly 90% of Binance, while his partner, co-founder, and the mother of his children, Yi He, controls the remaining 10%,” one user highlighted. That position makes her one of the wealthiest women in the crypto sector, according to a Fortune profile. 3. Every New Binance Hire Works the Customer Service Line Yi He built Binance around what she calls a user-first philosophy, and she enforces it operationally. New employees, regardless of seniority, must spend time handling customer support tickets. She also engages directly with users on X, Telegram, and WeChat, including responding to scam reports. Bloomberg has previously called her the most powerful woman in crypto. Chinese-speaking communities refer to her as “一姐” (Yi Jie), or “Big Sister Yi.” 4. She Runs an Investment Arm that Bets Far Beyond crypto Yi He leads YZi Labs, the family-office successor to Binance Labs that rebranded in January 2025. The fund deploys capital across Web3, artificial intelligence, biotech, and other frontier sectors. YZi Labs reportedly manages more than $10 billion in assets across over 300 portfolio companies. The vehicle gives her a power base outside the exchange itself. She co-owns the fund with CZ, with whom she has three children, but was never legally married. 5. Her co-CEO Promotion Followed Binance’s Biggest Legal Crisis Yi spent years as a behind-the-scenes operator before her formal elevation to co-CEO in December 2025. She shares the title with Richard Teng, who handles compliance and regulatory affairs. The promotion followed her work steering Binance through CZ’s 2023 guilty plea. That episode included a $4.3 billion U.S. settlement that nearly redrew the exchange’s future. In her response to the Fortune recognition, Yi He framed it as a marker for the industry rather than a personal trophy. “I’m truly humbled to be the first crypto-native executive to receive this recognition on the #FortuneMPW list. Building Binance from the very beginning has been an incredible journey, and this is a very personal moment for me,” she said. Whether her debut becomes a one-off or the start of broader recognition for crypto leaders remains to be seen. Much will depend on how Binance handles its next compliance cycle. “The recognition may carry my name, but it belongs to the Binance team, Binance users, Satoshi Nakamoto, and to every member of the crypto community who helped turn this industry from an idea into a global wave,” she added.

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