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she used to be just a drinks promoter.

author: mao yufei

on september 27, 2024, changpeng zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange binance and the former richest man in china, was released from prison in california, usa, and returned to the public eye again. at the same time, the world began to turn its attention to another binance founder, he yi.

·zhao changpeng.

zhao changpeng was sentenced in april this year to serve four months in prison for money laundering and other crimes. some media reviewed the four months he was absent from binance and said that the company's performance "did not decrease but increased."

the wall street journal quoted sources as saying: "while zhao changpeng was in jail, he yi was binance's largest shareholder and took over control of the company's marketing and investment departments." domestic media reported that he yi was the general manager of binance. mentioning that "there is a very big mole" on her chin, "from a facial point of view, this mole is really big."

not well known

from being the richest man in china to being imprisoned, it only took zhao changpeng 3 years.

in 2017, binance was established. just six months later, binance became the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world. by 2021, the 44-year-old zhao changpeng's wealth once reached us$94.1 billion (approximately 660.4 billion yuan), becoming the richest chinese and one of the top ten richest people in the world.

this piece of "fat meat" has been targeted by the united states. in june 2023, the american stock exchange filed 13 charges against changpeng zhao and binance, including suspected money laundering. changpeng zhao turned the huge wealth in his pocket into what the us government calls a "fine" - he signed a plea agreement, resigned as ceo of binance, and paid a total of more than 7 billion us dollars (approximately 63.2 billion yuan). he was imprisoned for 4 months to get through this "difficulty" in his life.

·he yi and zhao changpeng.

compared to zhao changpeng, people are much stranger to the name he yi, even in the cryptocurrency circle.

since co-founding binance in 2017, he yi has long been behind the scenes. when she appears in public, she always introduces herself with this sentence: "i am binance's chief customer service." however, in fact, employees generally believe that within the company, he yi was once regarded as second only to changpeng zhao. number two”—he yi owns at least about 10% of binance shares, making her one of the richest women in the world and one of the most influential women in the global cryptocurrency circle.

when people look back at the huge storm that binance has experienced, they are surprised that he yi can escape from it unscathed. changpeng zhao pleaded guilty to multiple charges and resigned as ceo in april this year. according to reports, court documents at the time showed that he yi was also involved in planning to evade supervision. some media quoted sources as saying: the u.s. department of justice hoped that he yi would resign, but ultimately did not hold he yi accountable "for unknown reasons." he yi's name did not even appear in the plea agreement, "for unknown reasons."

not only that, it is reported that after changpeng zhao pleaded guilty, the us department of justice arranged for an independent monitor to be stationed in binance for 3-5 years. he yi has the right to participate in the selection of the monitor. someone described: "the us authorities overthrew the 'king of cryptocurrency', but the 'queen' still stands."

while binance has been in crisis for more than a year, he yi, as chief marketing officer, has managed the company well—increasing the number of users from 130 million to 200 million. he yi also said that he is looking forward to the day when the number of users of the company exceeds 1 billion.

because of this, the scandal of being imprisoned did not seem to affect zhao changpeng's "making money". the american "forbes" magazine estimated zhao changpeng's net worth during his sentence, saying that his personal income during his sentence may reach billions of dollars. "according to this estimate, zhao changpeng can earn us$25 million (approximately 176 million yuan) every day in prison." cheng shaoming, a lawyer at tahota washington law firm, told global people.

after being released from prison, changpeng zhao posted on the x platform that binance seems to have become better without him at the helm, "this is great." later that day, a photo of zhao changpeng and he yi circulated on the internet.

coming from "a very poor family"

he yi is 38 years old this year. she grew up poor and said she had "seen the huge fragmentation of the world." his growth story is quite "inspirational".

he yi was born in sichuan in 1986, his parents are both teachers. in an interview, she mentioned: "i come from a very small village, a very poor family." when he yi was 9 years old, his father died. when she was 16 years old, she worked in a supermarket as a beverage promoter. "it was a hard job. she had to shout until her throat was hoarse every day to attract customers."

later, he yi went to beijing to study for a postgraduate degree in psychological counseling. however, she believed that it would be "hard to find a market" in the domestic psychological counseling industry in the short term, so she gave up. after that, he yi also worked as the host of a travel show, but resigned after two years.

in 2007, he yi stepped into the stock market for the first time and happened to catch up with the sharp rise in a shares. she earns whatever she buys, and feels that she is "pretty good." in 2013, the price of bitcoin skyrocketed, which made he yi "feel very excited." in 2014, he yi started working in the cryptocurrency circle and became the co-founder of the cryptocurrency company okcoin, responsible for user operations, online marketing, public relations and brand management.

it was at this time that he yi met zhao changpeng at an event about blockchain. subsequently, he yi invited changpeng zhao to join okcoin.

in 2015, he yi left okcoin. in december of that year, with a non-compete agreement in hand, she opened up a new career field and joined a mobile video technology company as vice president, responsible for product management and marketing. at that time, when mobile live broadcast platforms were on the rise, he yi founded "yibo" and built it into the leading live broadcast platform in china. soon after, "yibo" was acquired by a social network company.

in 2017, changpeng zhao established binance in shanghai. previously, he sold his house and converted all his wealth into cryptocurrency. he yi later recalled: "binance was preparing for a public offering, and changpeng zhao was raising funds. he asked me to help with some consulting work... many people who consult for start-ups require a certain amount of shares, but i decided to do it for him for free. because i believe that zhao changpeng is ambitious and hard-working."

for he yi, returning to the cryptocurrency field is "returning to the battlefield." "the world is crazier than you think, and i'm part of this crazy world," she said.

in august 2017, he yi was appointed as the chief marketing officer of binance, responsible for managing the venture capital department and marketing work. many foreign media reported that he yi was in a relationship with married zhao changpeng at that time, and the two later had at least one son.

·he yi and zhao changpeng.

the "account" with the united states is not over yet

when cryptocurrencies were invented, there were no laws around them. in the eyes of currency players, they seem to be able to build a new world without any restrictions. binance was established “at the right time”: in 2017, the value of cryptocurrency skyrocketed, with bitcoin reaching $20,000 per unit (approximately 145,000 yuan). binance issues its own token bnb (binance coin), becoming the go-to exchange for various cryptocurrencies. but soon, as china's regulatory measures tightened, changpeng zhao began to move binance's headquarters overseas and began to develop efforts in the united states.

in the united states, binance’s record is brilliant. from 2017 to 2022, binance has successfully attracted more than 1 million u.s. retail investors, and the total transactions of these users have exceeded us$550 billion (approximately 3.8 trillion yuan).

behind this, he yi played an important role. according to reports, in order to attract overseas users and expand binance’s influence, he yi hired a group of “beautiful customer service”. this strategy was once regarded by the outside world as "vulgar club-style marketing."

·he yi.

another important reason for binance’s brutal growth is that it deliberately does not implement anti-money laundering measures. “retail investors use illegally obtained black money to buy cryptocurrencies and then sell them. this transaction process provides opportunities for illegal activities such as terrorism.” cheng shaoming said, “these strategies also helped binance become the world’s largest at the time. cryptocurrency trading platform.”

however, the us government's attitude towards this is to "turn a blind eye" - turning binance into a "fat sheep" and then slaughtering it wantonly. this is a business that is sure to make money without losing money.

some analysts say that although changpeng zhao has been released from prison, the "account" between binance and the united states is not over yet. in fact, it is not difficult to continue to harvest binance with new crimes. u.s. prosecutors have previously emphasized that binance failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with hamas, al qaeda, and is extremist organizations. prosecutors said the binance platform also supported the sale of child sexual abuse material and was the recipient of large amounts of ransomware proceeds. in the past two days, just after changpeng zhao was released from prison, three cryptocurrency investors filed a lawsuit against binance and him.

in order to tell the new "binance story" well, he yi, who had been behind the scenes for a long time, appeared more and more in front of the camera. she encourages entrepreneurs: “focus on being a good business leader.”

one of the netizens left a message: my relative was defrauded of 300,000 by this platform. the myth of getting rich in cryptocurrency will always only belong to that small group of people.