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CZ says crypto winter bets by YZi Labs will be top performers

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CZ says crypto winter bets by YZi Labs will be top performers

2026-09-06 06:35 UTCBy AlphaScala Research DeskSource reporting: Crypto newsEditorial standards

CZ says crypto winter bets by YZi Labs will be top performers

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Binance founder says YZi Labs deployed capital "during the depth of the crypto winter." Five disclosed bets span robotics, custody, prediction markets, AI payments and DeFi lending with few valuations published.

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Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is betting that the worst time to deploy capital is the best time to count returns.

The Binance founder said on Sept. 4 that investments made by YZi Labs during the recent crypto downturn will rank as some of the firm’s best ever. “I strongly believe the YZi Labs investments over the last few months will be some of the best performing because those investments were done during the depth of the crypto winter,” Zhao wrote.

The statement is a forward-looking opinion, not a verified track record. Neither Zhao nor YZi Labs published acquisition prices, current valuations or realized returns that would confirm the prediction.

YZi Labs, the rebranded investment arm of Binance Labs, says it manages more than $10 billion in assets across Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. It operates independently from Binance and manages capital belonging to Zhao and Binance co-founder Yi He. Zhao has said Web3 still accounts for about 70% to 80% of the portfolio, though the firm has been rotating toward infrastructure that connects blockchain systems with AI and institutional finance.

Publicly identified YZi Labs investments in 2026 include robotics company RoboForce, digital asset custodian BitGo, prediction market Predict.fun, AI payments protocol AEON and fixed-rate lending platform TermMax. Several deal values remain undisclosed.

RoboForce was the largest known bet. YZi Labs led the robotics company's $52 million financing round in March. The oversubscribed deal brought RoboForce's total funding to $67 million. The company develops physical AI systems for industrial work in solar, data centers, manufacturing and logistics. It said it had secured letters of intent for more than 11,000 robots. That figure represents prospective demand, not completed deliveries or recognized revenue. The $52 million covers the full round, not YZi Labs' slice, and no valuation or equity stake was disclosed.

The BitGo investment came around the custodian's January listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The amount and purchase terms were not disclosed. The trade gave YZi Labs exposure to a regulated U.S. financial infrastructure provider whose publicly traded shares offer continuous price discovery, unlike YZi Labs' private holdings.

In April, YZi Labs made a follow-on investment in Predict.fun alongside Susquehanna Crypto. Predict.fun, EASY Residency Season 2 graduate, said it had processed more than four million orders on BNB Chain and surpassed $1.8 billion in cumulative volume. The investment amount and valuation were not disclosed, and volume is not the same as profit.

YZi Labs led an $8 million pre-seed round for AEON in May, with IDG Capital, HashKey Capital and Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund participating. AEON is building a settlement layer for AI agents to execute and settle transactions. The $8 million is the full round; individual contributions, valuation and ownership stakes were not disclosed.

August brought a strategic investment in TermMax, a fixed-rate lending protocol operating across Ethereum-compatible blockchains. TermMax has raised over $8 million across all its rounds. YZi Labs' contribution was not disclosed.

Zhao's timing thesis is straightforward: lower market entry prices improve future returns when companies survive and grow. Bitcoin, which traded near $79,945 on Sept. 6, had recovered from lower levels recorded earlier in 2026 but remained below its prior record. A price recovery for the largest crypto does not establish whether privately placed YZi Labs holdings have appreciated.

Each portfolio company operates in a different market. RoboForce needs industrial adoption. BitGo competes in regulated custody. Predict.fun relies on prediction-market liquidity. AEON and TermMax court payments and DeFi lending. No single benchmark can measure all five. Testing Zhao's view would require YZi Labs to publish entry valuations, subsequent financing prices or realized distributions.

The firm has not said when it will disclose portfolio performance. The next measurable signals will come from public financing rounds, product adoption figures or liquidity events at individual portfolio companies.