Original link: Fortune

Compiled by Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Translated by CryptoLeo ( @LeoAndCrypto )

Editor's Note: Fortune recently interviewed Binance co-founder He Yi, discussing his career in crypto and the challenges he faced during and after CZ's time at Binance. Odaily Planet Daily has republished the original article.

As a little girl in the 1980s, He Yi fetched water from a well and sometimes relied on a kerosene lamp for light. Today, He Yi is a celebrity to millions of Chinese and a billionaire thanks to her 10% stake in Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. As a co-founder and senior executive, she wields immense influence within the company. However, her life hasn't been easy.

Binance co-founder CZ was jailed in the United States last year as part of a $4.3 billion plea agreement. This situation posed significant business challenges for both Binance and He Yi. For He Yi, CZ's imprisonment was also a traumatic experience, as he was not only the company's CEO but also the father of her young child.

Today, Binance has weathered the storm. CZ has completed his prison sentence. His guilty plea dealt Binance a blow that could have crippled most companies, but Binance remains the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. He Yi, who played a pivotal role in Binance's success, is now stepping forward to publicly manage the company after years of behind-the-scenes control.

In this rare interview, He Yi tells Fortune about her journey from impoverished rural girl to cryptocurrency billionaire, the trials she faced during the Binance crisis, and her vision for an industry that is rapidly transforming global finance.

Chief Customer Service, the approachable He Yi

He Yi has overcome many obstacles in her life and career, one of which was learning English. She didn't begin studying English until four years ago, when she was in her thirties. During a long Zoom interview, He Yi was quite conscientious, only turning to her translator when she struggled to explain a Chinese idiom or proverb.

He Yi understands the power of communication. At Binance, she's renowned for her exceptional marketing and customer service skills, which propelled Binance to become the world's largest exchange in less than a year. To this day, she prides herself on listening to Binance customers on Telegram, X, WeChat, and any other platform they might find themselves on, and insists that everyone else at Binance do the same. She's also known for requiring everyone who joins Binance to spend several weeks on the front lines of customer service.

In the interview, He Yi discussed a recent experience involving a university student who mistakenly sent $500 worth of cryptocurrency to the wrong wallet. This is a common mistake in the cryptocurrency world and often results in irrecoverable funds. However, He Yi took the time to track down and recover the misdirected funds. She recalls the student telling her, "This money is a drop in the bucket for you, but it means everything to me."

He Yi says she can relate to these experiences, given her own upbringing in poverty in Sichuan province. She lost her father at age 9, and by 16, she was spending long hours selling soft drinks outside a supermarket. Though she eventually went to university (pausing to recall the joy she felt walking into a library for the first time) and became a TV host, she says her upbringing means she can still relate to Binance's many lower-income customers.

He Yi's story brings to mind Jennifer Lopez's song "Jenny From the Block," which tells the story of a beautiful woman who, even after achieving success, remains down-to-earth—the type of story Americans are keen on.

But Eowyn Chen, CEO of the cryptocurrency company Trust Wallet, who previously worked with He Yi at Binance, says this isn't the case in China. Chen believes Chinese people are less inclined to support the underdog and more likely to insult those who rise above their station. He Yi is often the target of articles and social media posts that attempt to belittle and ridicule her, but she responds by returning the negativity to those who spread it.

She told people: "Sure, I didn't come from a good background, but I'm successful, so why can't you do the same?"

Hailed by Bloomberg as the “Most Influential Woman in Crypto,” He Yi has risen to the pinnacle of the blockchain world through her ingenuity, fighting spirit, and confident, outspoken personality—qualities she shares with her co-founder and partner, CZ.

Creating Binance

When CZ founded Binance in 2017, he cultivated a distinct public persona through the moniker “CZ,” as most people know him today. He cultivated the “CZ myth” by taking significant risks (like selling his Shanghai home in 2014 to buy more Bitcoin) and by enthusiastically engaging in the daily banter of the online community known as “Crypto Twitter.”

CZ had invited He Yi to join Binance in its early days, but He Yi had recruited CZ years earlier, convincing him to join OKCoin (now OKX) as CTO in 2014. Both shared a passion for cryptocurrency, but they also had other things in common. CZ and He Yi both spent their early years in unheated rural schoolhouses, only finding their fortunes after CZ's father immigrated to Canada. CZ worked minimum-wage jobs at Chevron and McDonald's during high school. CZ also tended to fight back against those who mocked his background, even retweeting a meme of himself in a Golden Arches uniform.

It was during their time at OKCoin that the two became a couple and gained experience in large-scale cryptocurrency operations. Today, the pair, who never married but remain romantically involved, work closely together as parents and business partners. The Wall Street Journal reported that He Yi and CZ co-own YZi Labs, Binance's venture capital arm, and hold at least a 10% stake in the parent company.

Regarding her relationship with CZ, He Yi asked not to be named and instead provided a written statement: "My personal life is separate from my professional life. As a co-founder, my achievements and abilities are often questioned because of my personal life," she wrote, while also emphasizing that Binance has 280 million users.

Whatever the personal nature of the relationship, it has proven highly effective professionally. He Yi's role at Binance is roughly equivalent to Sheryl Sandberg's at Facebook. Sandberg helped build the company in its early days and helped its then-unfair CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, gain traction.

In practice, this means CZ serves as Binance's legendary spokesperson and product visionary, while He Yi drives Binance's massive growth through aggressive promotional campaigns, including car giveaways. Her approach has resonated with both the overseas Chinese community and those within China, where cryptocurrency, despite being somewhat banned, remains incredibly popular, in part because it's an easily transferable asset that's not subject to government regulations.

A Binance employee who wished to remain anonymous described He Yi as a demanding boss, but also one who supports her employees and advocates for those around her. While discussing Binance's day-to-day operations, He Yi stated that the company's core principle is "founder culture," a term used in the tech world to describe companies that retain the spirit of an early startup.

In Binance’s case, its early growth was fueled in part by its willingness to quickly circumvent regulation and frequently move from country to country amidst government scrutiny. While this strategy fueled Binance’s astonishing growth, it also sometimes became the company’s greatest weakness—the very thing that led to the loss of its most prominent founder.

Binance in the post-CZ era

By early 2023, the situation had become increasingly dire. Following the collapse of SBF's FTX exchange the previous year, the US government had redoubled its efforts to target the cryptocurrency industry, with a particular focus on Binance, its largest player. For years, the company's lawyers had been engaged in discussions with the Department of Justice regarding various charges, but ultimately a settlement was reached.

In September 2023, US regulators announced a comprehensive settlement that not only required Binance to pay a $4.3 billion fine (the largest such penalty in corporate history), but also forced CZ to resign as Binance's CEO and admit to failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering measures. Simultaneously, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, citing multiple anonymous sources, reported that regulators were also attempting to force He Yi out of Binance. (A company spokesperson stated, "Binance's plea agreement with US regulators is public.")

Despite the blows to its funding and leadership, two years later, Binance remains by far the largest cryptocurrency exchange under the leadership of CZ's successor, Richard Teng. A former senior regulatory official in Singapore, Teng has helped Binance implement a series of compliance measures and cultivate a new image, signaling a shift away from its early fast-and-loose tactics. In January of this year, Binance also took the significant step of introducing a formal board structure for the first time, with seven members, including Teng, and three independent directors.

Despite this, a former employee told Fortune that power at Binance remains in the hands of early executives: CZ, He Yi, and two other early Binance executives, Lilai Wang and Wei Zhou. The employee added that He Yi has the final say on all personnel matters and holds the greatest authority over customer experience decisions. Meanwhile, a Binance spokesperson stated that this statement is inaccurate and that the company's culture encourages employees to exercise a high degree of autonomy.

Meanwhile, the founder of a venture capital firm described Binance as a company run with an “iron fist” that has maintained its position as a market leader despite facing new legal restrictions and the challenges of operating a large global business. This assessment appears to be supported by recent data from Coingecko, which shows that despite the emergence of new competitors, Binance still holds the largest share of trading activity - accounting for 39% of centralized exchange trading volume in June:

For He Yi, Binance’s continued dominance is a testament to her customer-first strategy and the company’s founder’s personal belief in cryptocurrency – a technology she sees as transformative, on par with the impact the advent of the internet had on traditional media and television.

He Yi predicts that cryptocurrencies will accelerate their penetration into the traditional financial system through stablecoins and other blockchain technologies, and the two fields will be fully integrated in the next five to ten years.

On a personal level, He Yi said the mass adoption of cryptocurrency feels like another huge technological shift she’s experienced since her teenage years, when her home didn’t have electricity or running water.

Regarding her journey, He Yi quoted a proverb from Xi Murong: "Once you have said it's good, don't say it hurts."