Binance co-founder and co-CEO Yi He publicly condemned sexual rumors and defamation campaigns targeting women across the cryptocurrency sector on Nov. 11, announcing that Binance’s legal department will provide legal protection for affected female employees.
In a post on X, Yi He said women in institutional representation roles had been dragged into fabricated scandals, with personal photographs circulated alongside false claims. The attacks reportedly reached Binance staff, women working on BNB ecosystem projects, influencers who had worked with the exchange, and female employees of rival platforms. She stated that some Chinese-language news outlets repeated the claims and that similar incidents had occurred before.
The clearest commitment covered Binance’s own workforce. Yi He wrote that the company’s legal department would provide legal protection for the female employees involved and invited women to join what she described as a fair and transparent workplace.
However, Binance did not announce a formal lawsuit, identify specific defendants, or specify a legal jurisdiction. Yi He also questioned the motives behind coordinated attacks, urging observers to examine what those behind such actions stood to gain. A verified OKX account publicly thanked her for speaking up.
Yi He connected the harassment to broader workplace bias, arguing that women often face higher barriers to leadership and should be judged on professional merit. She also discussed hiring assumptions around parental leave and marriage expectations.
Gender-related discussions have been documented elsewhere in the industry. Pantera Capital’s 2024 compensation survey of 502 US respondents found that women had median salaries 14.67% higher than men, which Pantera partly attributed to experience: women respondents were more likely to hold roles requiring at least five years of experience, while entry-level roles were more often occupied by men.
