Is Binance Backing Hyperliquid? CZ Breaks Silence, Reveals Founder’s Failed Binance-Backed Project

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has addressed growing speculation that Binance may have ties to the fast-growing decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, confirming that while the platform’s founder was once part of a Binance Labs incubation program, there are no current investment links between the ￰1￱ a post on X, CZ said Jeff Yan, the founder of Hyperliquid, participated in Binance Labs’ first incubation cohort in 2018 through a startup called ￰2￱ ￰3￱ a couple of posts on this topic: If you didn't know, Jeff (HL) was part of the YZiLabs (Binance Labs back then) incubation season 1 cohort in 2018. Unfortunately, that project ￰4￱ did not recoup any of its ￰5￱ happens.

I did not… ￰0￱ — CZ BNB (@cz_binance) October 10, 2025 The project, which focused on a decentralized prediction market called Deaux, eventually failed, and Binance Labs did not recover its ￰6￱ said he had little interaction with Jeff at the time and only learned about the connection earlier this year. “If you didn’t know, Jeff (Hyperliquid) was part of the YZiLabs (Binance Labs back then) incubation season 1 cohort in 2018. Unfortunately, that project failed. Hyperliquid’s Founder Once Part of Binance Incubator, CZ Confirms No Ongoing Ties YZiLabs did not recoup any of its investment,” CZ ￰7￱ added that YZiLabs holds no equity or tokens in Hyperliquid and emphasized that Binance supports all builders in the space.