Key Highlights:
- The Binance founder CZ responded to rumors that Hyperliquid CEO Jeff Yan and YZi Labs were connected, stating it was just a “gossip tweet.”
- CZ affirmed that Jeff was a member of the first cohort of incubation of YZi Labs (then Binance Labs) in 2018 but that the project had failed.
- YZi Labs is a newly formed company that recently declared the merger of its fund and accelerator with a fund of $1 billion, to enhance innovation on the BNB Chain.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has publicly come out to refute rumors that there might be a relationship between decentralized exchange Hyperliquid and YZi Labs, which was previously called Binance Labs. This was discussed following an X post that went viral, which suggested Hyperliquid and its co-founder, Jeff Yan, could have had the support of YZi Labs and Binance.
Binance’s CZ Clears the Air on YZi Labs Investing in Hyperliquid
With the increasing talk, CZ rejected the assertion as gossip but explained the type of previous engagement that Jeff had with the company. “If you didn’t know, Jeff (HL) was part of the YZiLabs (Binance Labs back then) incubation season 1 cohort in 2018,” CZ wrote on X. “Unfortunately, that project failed. YZiLabs did not recoup any of its investment. It happens.”
Gossip tweet. Saw 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 failed. YZiLabs did not recoup any of its investment. It happens.
I did not… https://t.co/zUVtjQ3RCO
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 10, 2025
The re-published 2018 photo displayed a team of initial founders throughout the initial incubation scheme in YZi Labs, where Jeff Yan was among the attendants. CZ also testified that he did not have much personal contact with Jeff at the time. He said, “I did not interact with Jeff much back then. I forgot about it. I only learned this from Ella early this year.”
He also said of a lost opportunity to reconnect more recently. “I was supposed to have a call with Jeff a few months back, but I missed it due to a schedule error on my part. And we never had a chance to reschedule it,” CZ explained.
The rumors were directly dealt with, as CZ made it clear that YZi Labs “was not given and does not own any investments (equity or token) in HL,” referring to Hyperliquid. Further, he concluded by reaffirming support for the crypto community: “Regardless, we support all builders!”
YZi Labs Continues Supporting New Developers in the Ecosystem
Meanwhile, YZi Labs, the venture arm earlier associated with Binance, continues to support new innovation in the crypto industry. After its rebranding, the company has been branded as an independent accelerator and venture arm focused on fostering blockchain innovation on the BNB Chain.
YZi Labs has recently announced a significant project, a $1 billion BNB Builder Fund, to enhance projects in the domain of decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world assets (RWA), artificial intelligence, payments, and other new blockchain applications. One of the fundamental building blocks of the strategy is to combine its long-standing Most Valuable Builder (MVB) accelerator with its EASY Residency program into a single platform where early-stage founders will start in October 2025.
The participants of this program gain access to up to $500,000 of direct funding, mentorship, and integration services offered by YZi Labs and BNB Chain developers. It will also expose the participants to the global network of investors and partners that the company claims to have over 460 million users across the world.
YZi Labs has been sponsoring diverse high-profile blockchain programs over the years, such as PancakeSwap, ListaDAO, Aster, and Aspecta, some of which have come out of its incubation programs. In addition to financing, the company has also increased the involvement of institutional investors in the form of joint ventures like the BNB Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) with BNC, the RWA Fund with China Renaissance, and the BNB Yield Fund with Hash Global.
On the bigger picture, Head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang called the blockchain industry “the next phase of digital infrastructure, where decentralization and on-chain scalability converge with security and real distribution.” She added, “Through this $1B BNB Builder Fund, YZi Labs is committed to supporting BNB builders across sectors such as DeFi, AI, RWA, and DeSci: those building the next generation of open systems that connect technology back to human progress.”
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