Yi HE: The woman behind the richest Chinese man, the 38-year-old empire builder.
With the resignation and imprisonment of Binance founder Zhao Changpeng, the world is turning its attention to another co-founder who has long been overlooked, Yi HE.
In 2017, Binance, founded just five months earlier as a humble grassroots company, quickly rose to become the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange and has maintained its position as an industry leader ever since.
In what has been described as perhaps the most legendary seven years of Chinese entrepreneurship, Yi HE has remained behind the scenes for a long time. Coming from humble beginnings, she has "seen high mountains, seen low valleys, seen the vast rifts in the world," with ambitions to change the world; once lost and wandering, she is now worth billions.
She embodies the typical Chinese entrepreneur traits of diligence, flexibility, and shrewdness, which have been crucial to Binance's success; she has also deeply influenced Binance's culture: results-oriented. This corporate culture clearly contributed to Binance's astonishing rise, but it has not necessarily earned Binance much transcendental respect. While she advocates for changing the world with ideals, people sense a true lack of idealism.