Yi He

Yi He (Chinese: 何一; pinyin: Hé Yī^[1], née Chinese: 何英; pinyin: Hé Yīng^[1]; born c. 1986) is a Chinese-born business executive. She is a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and, since December 2025, has served as its co-chief executive officer (CEO), alongside Richard Teng.^[2][3]

Previously, she served as Binance's chief marketing officer and one of its most senior public-facing executives.^[4] Since August 2022 she has headed YZi Labs, formerly known as Binance Labs, a venture capital firm and family office associated with Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao that invests in Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology companies.^[5][6][7]

Before entering the cryptocurrency industry, He worked as a travel television host and marketing executive in mainland China.^[1][8]

Yi He was born as He Ying (何英) in a rural village of Sichuan province in 1986.^[1] Both of her parents were school-teachers, and she entered primary school at the age of five, finishing near the top of her class.^[1]

She has described her childhood as financially modest and physically demanding, recalling chores such as fetching water and chopping wood, as well as reading and re-reading her parents' limited collection of books.^[9] Her academic performance led classmates to nickname her a "bookworm".^[1]

As a teenager, she worked part-time, first as a soft-drink promoter at 16, then for two months as manager of a bedding shop, where she handled staffing and accounts.^[8]

In 2006, she moved to Beijing to enroll in an in-service master's program in counselling psychology and obtained a national psychological-counsellor certificate. Finding the market limited, she left the field and spent two years as a class teacher at a private arts college in Lijiang, where she developed her people management skills.^[1]

After leaving teaching, He auditioned for Chinese travel television. Between 2012 and 2014 she hosted programmes such as 美丽目的地 and 有多远走多远 on Travel Satellite TV, as well as 北京新发现 on Beijing Television.^[1][10]

In March 2014, she joined the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin as vice-president and chief marketing officer, where she launched a billboard campaign in Times Square and recruited engineer Changpeng Zhao to the company.^[8][11]

Leaving OKCoin in 2015, she accepted an offer from Yixia Technology (一下科技) to head marketing for its live-streaming apps 一直播, 秒拍 and 小咖秀. Among other initiatives, she secured a widely viewed live stream with South Korean actor Song Joong-ki that contributed to the company's reported valuation of around US$3 billion.^[8] She left Yixia in mid-2017 and later that year co-founded Binance.^[1]

He and Zhao co-founded Binance in 2017. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, she holds at least 10% of a Cayman Islands holding company associated with Binance and exercises broad influence over the firm's marketing and investment operations.^[4] Within six months of launch, the exchange was reported as the largest globally by trading volume.^[12]

She joined Binance shortly after the platform issued its BNB token in July 2017. Later profiles credit her arrival and subsequent marketing campaigns with helping to reverse an early decline in BNB's price and boosting trading volumes on the exchange.^[1][13] He has said that she invested most of her remaining personal savings into BNB in order to demonstrate confidence in the project to outside investors.^[1]

During Binance's rapid expansion, He took responsibility for global marketing, branding and community engagement. She became one of the main spokespersons for the company, especially in Chinese-language media, and was frequently referred to as "币圈一姐" ("big sister of the crypto circle") in regional coverage.^[1][14]

In August 2022, amid what was described as a "crypto winter", Binance appointed He as head of Binance Labs, the company's venture capital and incubation arm.^[6] Under her leadership, the unit backed projects such as Polygon, LayerZero Labs and Aptos Labs.^[5]

In January 2025, Binance Labs was spun out and rebranded as YZi Labs, described as an investment firm and family office for Zhao and several early Binance executives, including He, with a mandate that spans Web3, AI and biotechnology.^[15][16] YZi Labs has been reported as managing a portfolio of more than 250 projects and several billion dollars in assets, including significant exposure to the BNB Chain ecosystem.^[17] In October 2025, the firm announced a US$1 billion "BNB Builder Fund" for BNB Chain projects.^[18]

He has continued to comment publicly on industry issues, including token listing standards, user protection and the relationship between large exchanges and regulators.^[14][1]

On 3 December 2025, Binance announced that He had been appointed co-CEO of the exchange, sharing the role with Richard Teng, who became sole CEO in 2023 after Zhao stepped down as part of a settlement with United States authorities over anti-money laundering violations.^[19][20] The move was described in media reports as a shift to a dual-leadership structure, with Teng focusing on regulatory and compliance matters and He concentrating on product, user experience and strategic investments.

He has been cited in regional media as one of the most influential women in the cryptocurrency sector and a key figure in Binance's growth.^[1][8] In 2025, she was listed among the "Top 50 Women in Web3 and AI" by CoinDesk and Proof of Talk for her role in co-founding Binance and steering YZi Labs' investment strategy.

She has also spoken at major industry events, including the Hong Kong Web3 Festival and Binance Blockchain Week, where she has outlined views on risk management, long-termism and exchange governance.^[21][22]

Yi He is in a long-term relationship with Changpeng Zhao. They have been partners since 2014 and have three children together.^[10][23]