Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s $10 billion investment firm YZi Labs is weighing plans to open the fund to outside capital and external investors.
YZi Labs manages Zhao’s personal fortune and funds from a few early Binance insiders, including co-founder Yi He. The fund accepted about $300 million in outside funding in 2022, but later returned part of it, citing the overwhelming scale of capital already under management.
“There’s always a lot of external investors interested,” Ella Zhang, who heads the fund, told 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 includes prominent crypto and Web3 projects such as Aptos Labs, Polygon, 1inch Network, Sky Mavis, and infrastructure and security firms like LayerZero, Mysten Labs and CertiK. It has over 230 companies in its portfolio, according to Dealroom.
YZi Labs portfolio. Source: Dealroom
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SEC seeks private demo of YZi Labs portfolio
Zhang told the FT the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently requested a private demo of companies backed by YZi Labs, after its chair missed the fund’s demo day at the New York Stock Exchange, signaling a more crypto-friendly stance from US regulators under the Trump administration.
“Paul Atkins and other commissioners, they are very open-minded,” she said. Atkins has served as chair of the SEC since April 2025.
Zhao resigned from Binance last year after pleading guilty to a US criminal charge over failure to implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls.
He served a four-month prison sentence and is now seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump. Despite stepping down, he remains Binance’s largest shareholder.
Cointelegraph reached out to YZi Labs for comment, but had not received a response by publication.
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Galaxy Digital’s first external fund raises $175 million
YZi Labs’ move to consider external investors comes amid rising demand for crypto-native investment funds. In June, Galaxy Digital raised $175 million for its first externally backed venture fund. The fund exceeded its initial $150 million target.
In July, Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo revealed he had sold most of his Bitcoin (BTC), claiming he could earn higher returns by investing in Bitcoin infrastructure. Woo said early-stage Bitcoin startups offer 100–1,000x potential returns.
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