CZ Slams FT Over YZi Labs Funding Rumors: “Completely False”

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has denied reports that his family office, YZi Labs, is preparing to raise outside ￰5￱ issued the rebuttal on X on Monday, calling a Financial Times article on the matter “completely false” and filled with “made-up info and negative narratives.” The FT report had suggested that YZi Labs, which was established in January to manage Zhao’s personal wealth, was considering opening its $10 billion investment vehicle to external backers in the ￰6￱ Zhao may open his $10B investment vehicle to external capital in future, as YZi Labs, spun out of Binance, builds teams and assesses timing. #CZ #YZiLabs ￰0￱ — ￰7￱ (@cryptonews) September 23, 2025 Citing comments from YZi Labs chief executive Ella Zhang, the newspaper said the firm could become an external fund once it had matured its internal ￰8￱ was quoted as saying there was steady interest from outside investors and that bringing in new capital would represent a “huge responsibility.” YZi Labs Operates Independently, Has Not Sought External Capital, Says Zhao In response, Zhao said that YZi Labs has never prepared a pitch deck, held a demo, or engaged in fundraising discussions since its rebranding earlier this ￰9￱ also rejected the claim that the company was spun out of Binance, insisting it operates independently.

“As far as I know: YZiLabs is not raising external fund,” Zhao wrote. “There has been no demo, no requests, no discussions.” Complete false news from FT, with fake/wrong/made-up info and negative ￰10￱ is just from what I gathered on social media, I did not even read the FT ￰11￱ ￰12￱ far as I know: YZiLabs is not raising external ￰13￱ is no ￰14￱ is a demo… ￰1￱ — CZ BNB (@cz_binance) September 23, 2025 Zhao further pushed back on the FT’s characterization of his ￰15￱ settlement, in which he pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy ￰16￱ said the case concerned failure to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program and should not be equated with “money laundering violations,” as the report had framed ￰17￱ Labs currently manages Zhao’s capital along with funds from a small circle of early Binance executives, including co-founder Yi ￰18￱ firm invests mainly in cryptocurrency start-ups but has also backed projects in artificial intelligence and ￰19￱ 2022, it briefly accepted around $300 million from outside investors before returning part of that ￰20￱ FT report noted that if YZi Labs eventually admitted U.

S. investors, the firm would face heightened regulatory oversight, particularly as policymakers in Washington signal a more accommodative approach to digital assets. Zhao, however, emphasized that no such move is under ￰21￱ also criticized the media outlet for what he described as misleading coverage, adding that he had declined an invitation for a lunch interview, which was later attended by Zhang. “It was a trap!” he wrote on ￰22￱ present, YZi Labs employs a 12-person team focused on long-term investment horizons rather than short-term ￰23￱ Labs Backs Avalon and Ethena as Part of New Investment Strategy In January, Binance Labs, the venture arm of crypto exchange Binance, rebranded as YZi Labs, showing a shift toward broader investment ￰24￱ firm, co-led by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and longtime partner Ella Zhang, now focuses on blockchain, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, while retaining ties to the Binance ecosystem. @BinanceLabs has rebranded to YZi Labs, expanding its focus to include AI and biotech investments. #CZ #AI #Binance ￰2￱ — ￰25￱ (@cryptonews) January 23, 2025 Zhao, who stepped back from his exchange role last year, said the transition reflects his long-term vision to support technologies with societal and environmental impact.

“I’m a long-term investor who cares about impact, not returns,” he noted, adding that YZi Labs will continue incubating Web3 projects while expanding into new ￰26￱ firm has already backed high-profile ￰27￱ May, it invested in Avalon Labs , a Bitcoin DeFi platform developing BTC-backed lending, a stablecoin known as USDa, and credit ￰28￱ project currently manages over 20,000 BTC and more than $500 million in total value ￰29￱ YZi Labs Avalon has invested in @AvalonFinance , growing a BTC-collateralised market with USDa stablecoin, lending and credit services while targeting global licenses. #Bitcoin #DeFi @yzilabs @cz_binance ￰3￱ — ￰30￱ (@cryptonews) May 26, 2025 Notably, in August, the firm said it made a strategic investment in ￰31￱ , a stablecoin protocol designed to bring infrastructure finance (InfraFi) on-chain by providing hardware-backed credit to AI ￰32￱ Labs also expanded its position in Ethena Labs , the protocol behind USDe, now the third-largest U.

S. dollar-pegged crypto asset with $13 billion ￰33￱ Labs has increased its Ethena stake as the USDe synthetic stablecoin reaches $13 billion TVL milestone despite regulatory challenges. #Ethena #Stablecoin ￰4￱ — ￰34￱ (@cryptonews) September 19, 2025 The renewed funding will accelerate integration across exchanges and DeFi platforms while supporting new products, including a compliant stablecoin and an institutional settlement layer.