Yi He, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Binance, has been named to Fortune’s annual Most Powerful Women in Business list in 2026, becoming the first crypto-native executive to appear on the global ranking. The recognition places her among 100 of the world’s most influential women in business leaders and marks a milestone for the digital asset industry as it becomes more deeply integrated into the global economy.
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list is one of the most established and closely watched rankings in global business. It has traditionally featured leaders from major multinational corporations and long-standing institutions. Yi’s debut on the list this year reflects both the growing influence of crypto and Binance’s role in shaping the future of finance and technology.
Yi has shaped Binance from the start. She co-founded the company in 2017 and has been central to its product vision, culture, and user-first approach ever since. In December 2025, she was appointed Co-CEO alongside Richard Teng, creating a dual-leadership structure that pairs her strategic and product expertise with his regulatory and operational leadership. Together, they guide Binance’s global strategy as the company enters its next phase of growth.
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“Being named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list feels meaningful — not just for me, but for crypto as a whole,” said Yi He. “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.”
Yi’s path to this recognition is far from conventional. She grew up in a rural village in Sichuan without running water or electricity. At sixteen, she worked in a supermarket. She later became a television host, entered the tech industry, and taught herself English in her thirties before co-founding Binance. Within the crypto community, she is affectionately known as Binance’s ‘chief customer service officer.’ It is a reflection of the user-first philosophy that has defined her leadership.
This latest recognition also reflects the scale of the platform she helped build. Binance today serves more than 310 million registered users globally and remains the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and digital asset infrastructure provider. In 2025 alone, the platform processed $34 trillion in trading volume, bringing its cumulative all-time volume to $145 trillion by the end of 2025. The company is also expanding beyond crypto into a broader range of asset classes and financial services, consistent with its vision of building a financial super app for the digital economy.
“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. I have never thought of my role as simply running a company. I think about how we serve the people the old system left behind — many of them women, many of them in places the world doesn’t always look at first.”
“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.”
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Yi’s inclusion on Fortune’s list signals a broader shift in global business. Crypto is no longer seen only as an emerging sector. It is increasingly recognized as a force shaping finance, technology, and economic participation worldwide. Her recognition also expands the picture of what leadership can look like, creating greater visibility for women and founders from non-traditional backgrounds.
“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,” said Alyson Shontell, Fortune Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer in its official list reveal release. “These are women transforming business today and preparing for a future during a time of tumult and uncertainty, but also great promise.”