Yi He Becomes First Crypto-Native Executive Named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business List - 新浪香港

Yi He, Co-CEO and Co‑Founder of Binance, has been named to Fortune’s 2026 Most Powerful Women in Business list, becoming the first crypto‑native executive to appear on the global ranking. The recognition places Yi among 100 of the world’s most influential business leaders and comes as Binance — founded in 2017 — reports more than 310 million registered users and processed $34 trillion in trading volume during 2025, bringing its cumulative all‑time volume to $145 trillion by the end of 2025. In December 2025 Yi was appointed Co‑CEO alongside Richard Teng as Binance moves into a dual‑leadership structure.

“Being named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list feels meaningful — not just for me, but for crypto as a whole,” Yi said. “A few years ago, a founder from this industry showing up on a list like this would have been unusual. Today, it reflects how far we’ve come: from the edge of finance toward the center of how the world actually works.”

Context and career arc

The inclusion of Yi He on Fortune’s list, now in its 29th year, signals a widening view of what constitutes global corporate leadership. Fortune’s Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer Alyson Shontell noted the international composition of the list in the official release: “In its 29th year, this iconic list of powerful women includes almost half from outside of the U.S., reminding us that the impact of women leadership is being seen globally.”

Yi’s path to the top of crypto is unconventional. She grew up in a rural village in Sichuan without running water or electricity, worked in a supermarket at sixteen, later became a television host, entered the tech industry and taught herself English in her thirties before co‑founding Binance in 2017. Within the crypto community she is known as Binance’s ‘chief customer service officer,’ a nickname that reflects a long‑standing focus on product and user experience.

Under the pair of Co‑CEOs — Yi’s strategic and product expertise paired with Richard Teng’s regulatory and operational leadership — Binance has expanded beyond spot and derivatives trading into a broader suite of products and services. The company describes itself as a global blockchain ecosystem and digital asset infrastructure provider trusted by more than 310 million people in 100+ countries, with ambitions to build a “financial super app for the digital economy.”

• Registered users: more than 310 million
• 2025 trading volume: $34 trillion
• Cumulative all‑time volume by end of 2025: $145 trillion
• Founded: 2017
• Co‑CEO appointment: December 2025

Yi framed the recognition as both personal and industry‑wide in a second passage of remarks: “I’m honored by this recognition, and it only deepens my commitment to the 310 million people who place their trust in Binance every day — including a son in Nairobi sending wages home to his mother, and a woman in a small Indian city opening her first account at fifty. Finance has never been equally kind to everyone, and that trust is something we have to earn every day.”

Looking ahead, Yi outlined an ambitious horizon for crypto’s role in financial inclusion: “Three hundred and ten million is a number we’re grateful for. It’s also a small fraction of the people this industry was built to serve. We’re working toward three billion — roughly everyone still outside the formal financial system today. A future where money moves as freely as information, where people, software, and AI agents share the same open economy, where no one needs permission to take part. That vision is what keeps me going. In many ways, it still feels like day one.”