Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s $10 billion investment firm YZi Labs is considering plans to open the fund to outside capital and external investors.
YZi Labs oversees Zhao’s personal wealth and contributions from several early Binance insiders, including co-founder Yi He. The fund accepted around $300 million in external funding in 2022, but subsequently returned part of it, citing the substantial amount of capital already managed.
“There’s always a lot of external investors interested,” Ella Zhang, who leads the fund, stated to the Financial Times. “We will eventually consider turning it into an external-facing fund. We just think it’s not there yet.”
YZi Labs’ portfolio encompasses major crypto and Web3 projects such as Aptos Labs, Polygon, 1inch Network, Sky Mavis, along with infrastructure and security firms like LayerZero, Mysten Labs, and CertiK. It has over 230 companies in its portfolio, according to Dealroom.
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SEC seeks private demo of YZi Labs portfolio
Zhang informed the FT that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently asked for a private demonstration of companies backed by YZi Labs, following its chair’s absence at the fund’s demo day at the New York Stock Exchange, indicating a more crypto-friendly approach from US regulators under the Trump administration.
“Paul Atkins and other commissioners, they are very open-minded,” she mentioned. Atkins has been the SEC chair since April 2025.
Zhao stepped down from Binance last year after admitting guilt to a US criminal charge regarding the lack of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls.
He served a four-month prison term and is currently pursuing a pardon from US President Donald Trump. Despite his resignation, he remains the largest shareholder of Binance.
Cointelegraph reached out to YZi Labs for a response, but had not received any comments by the time of publication.
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Galaxy Digital’s first external fund raises $175 million
The move by YZi Labs to contemplate external investors comes amid increasing interest in crypto-native investment funds. In June, Galaxy Digital raised $175 million for its inaugural externally backed venture fund, surpassing its initial $150 million target.
In July, Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo disclosed that he had sold most of his Bitcoin (BTC), arguing he could achieve higher returns by investing in Bitcoin infrastructure. Woo claimed early-stage Bitcoin startups present 100–1,000x potential returns.
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