cointelegraph.com
YZi Labs, a venture capital firm founded by Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, is launching a $1 billion fund for founders in the $BNB ecosystem amid the token skyrocketing to all-time highs.
YZi Labs announced Wednesday a $1 billion Builder Fund to double down on founders in the $BNB ($BNB) ecosystem, particularly on the $BNB Chain.
“$BNB ecosystem represents the next phase of digital infrastructure, where decentralization, on-chain scalability converges with security and real distribution,” YZi Labs head Ella Zhang said.
The fund’s launch came shortly after $BNB, the native token of the Binance-backed $BNB Chain, became the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap on Tuesday, adding at least $40 billion in market value in October.
YZi Labs is a serial $BNB ecosystem supporter
Formerly known as Binance Labs, YZi Labs has played a crucial role in reinforcing momentum in the $BNB ecosystem, funding multiple projects, including Binance-linked decentralized exchange (DEX) PancakeSwap.
YZi Labs has also backed ListaDAO, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on the $BNB Chain, the blockchain infrastructure project Aspecta (ASP) and Aster, a multichain DEX that was recently delisted by major crypto data aggregator DefiLlama.
Additionally, YZi Labs has been advancing institutional $BNB participation through projects like $BNB Digital Asset Treasury (DAT), the RWA [real-world asset] fund by China Renaissance and the $BNB Yield Fund by Hash Global.
$1 billion for multiple sectors
According to YZi Labs’ Zhang, the new $1 billion fund targets supporting $BNB builders across multiple sectors, including DeFi, RWA, AI and decentralized science (DeSci). The funding will also seek to support $BNB Chain-based payments and wallets, the announcement noted.
As part of the funding, $BNB Chain’s flagship accelerator, Most Valuable Builder (MVB), will operate under YZi Labs’ Easy Residency global incubation program as a dedicated track for $BNB builders.
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Together, MVB and Easy Residency will create a unified program offering up to $500,000 in funding and direct access to the YZi Labs and $BNB Chain team, alongside YZi Labs’ network of investors, mentors, partners and user ecosystem.
“We look for early-stage founders building for the long term, with strong conviction, execution capability, and clear product-market alignment,” a spokesperson for YZi told Cointelegraph. The representative noted that the fund will be progressively deployed starting immediately.
Does YZi handle CZ’s $BNB, estimated at $116 billion?
WhileYZi Labs has over $10 billion in assets as a global venture capital platform, the company also reportedly manages billions in assets for Binance co-founders CZ and Yi He, according to a report by Bloomberg in January.
Although YZi denied functioning as a family office in January, Zhang had previously reportedly claimed that YZi had been turned into “purely a family office investment vehicle.”
“While the capital originates from CZ, YZi Labs’ structure and operations differ from a traditional family office,” a spokesperson from YZi told Cointelegraph, highlighting focus on progressive investments and incubation programs.
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Amid $BNB posting new historic highs above $1,300, CZ’s personal wealth from $BNB exposure has ballooned by billions. With $BNB’s market cap reaching a record-breaking $182 billion on Tuesday, CZ may hold about $116 billion in the crypto asset, as previous reports suggested that he held at least 64% of the $BNB supply as of June 2024.
CZ is far from being the only one that profited from $BNB’s market surge. According to the onchain analytics platform Bubblemaps, at least 70% of $BNB Chain traders are currently in profit, with 40 traders each earning $1 million.
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