CZ says YZi Labs’ crypto winter bets may outperform

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said on Sept. 4 that YZi Labs’ recent investments could become some of the firm’s best performers because it deployed capital during a broad crypto market downturn.

“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 Zhao’s opinion, not a verified performance result. Neither Zhao nor YZi Labs published acquisition prices, current valuations or investment returns supporting the prediction.

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

YZi Labs expanded beyond conventional crypto investments

YZi Labs describes itself as an investment vehicle focused on Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. The organization emerged from the rebranding of Binance Labs and says it manages more than $10 billion in assets.

The firm operates independently from Binance and manages capital associated with Zhao and Binance co-founder Yi He. It invests across multiple business stages and also runs the EASY Residency incubation program for early-stage founders.

Zhao previously said Web3 still represented roughly 70% to 80% of YZi Labs’ portfolio. However, the firm has increased its exposure to technologies connecting blockchain systems with artificial intelligence, robotics and institutional finance.

In May, Zhao said YZi Labs preferred investing in infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence rather than competing directly with heavily funded AI model developers. That approach was reflected in the firm’s robotics and autonomous-payment investments.

His latest comments connect the investment strategy to market timing. Crypto valuations came under pressure during the first half of 2026 as Bitcoin and other digital assets traded well below their previous peaks.

Bitcoin was trading near $79,945 on Sept. 6, based on current market data. It had recovered from lower levels recorded earlier in 2026, but remained below its prior record. That recovery alone does not establish whether YZi Labs’ private investments have appreciated.

RoboForce received the largest disclosed 2026 round

YZi Labs led RoboForce’s $52 million financing round in March. The robotics company said the oversubscribed transaction raised its total funding to $67 million.

RoboForce develops physical AI systems for industrial work in sectors including solar power, data centers, manufacturing, mining and logistics. The company is building robots designed to perform labor-intensive tasks in challenging environments.

The $52 million figure represents the entire funding round rather than YZi Labs’ individual contribution. Neither company disclosed how much capital YZi Labs provided, the valuation assigned to RoboForce or the equity stake received.

RoboForce also said it had secured letters of intent covering more than 11,000 robots. That figure represents prospective demand claimed by the company, not completed deliveries or recognized revenue.

The investment is different from YZi Labs’ traditional blockchain portfolio because RoboForce is primarily an industrial robotics company. However, it matches Zhao’s stated interest in businesses supplying infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

Whether the investment becomes a leading performer will depend on RoboForce converting prospective orders into commercial deployments. No independently audited revenue or return figures accompanied the funding announcement.

YZi Labs backed custody and prediction-market infrastructure

YZi Labs also invested in BitGo around the digital asset custodian’s January listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The investment amount and purchase terms were not disclosed.

The firm said regulated custody infrastructure would become increasingly important as institutional capital entered digital assets. BitGo’s public listing offered YZi Labs exposure to a regulated U.S. financial infrastructure provider rather than an early-stage token project.

The investment accompanying BitGo’s NYSE debut also created a clearer route to price discovery than YZi Labs’ privately held investments. Publicly traded shares can be valued continuously, while private holdings depend on financing rounds, secondary sales or company disclosures.

In April, YZi Labs announced a follow-on investment in Predict.fun alongside Susquehanna Crypto. Predict.fun had previously participated in the second season of YZi Labs’ EASY Residency program.

The parties did not disclose the investment amount or Predict.fun’s valuation. YZi Labs said the platform had processed more than four million orders and surpassed $1.8 billion in cumulative volume.

Predict.fun operates a self-custodial prediction market on BNB Chain. Users trade contracts linked to outcomes involving politics, sports, cryptocurrency prices and economic events.

The platform has continued developing its infrastructure since the investment. It introduced a self-service developer dashboard in September for generating application programming interface keys, monitoring usage and managing trading limits.

However, its reported growth beyond $1.8 billion in volume supports YZi Labs’ description of expanding activity. Volume, however, does not establish profitability or the current value of the investor’s position.

AEON and TermMax extend the portfolio into payments and lending

YZi Labs led an $8 million pre-seed financing round for AEON in May. IDG Capital, HashKey Capital, Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund and several other investors participated.

AEON is developing payment infrastructure intended to let artificial intelligence agents execute and settle transactions. The company describes its product as a settlement layer connecting autonomous software with blockchain-based and real-world payment systems.

The $8 million represents the complete round. AEON did not disclose its valuation, YZi Labs’ individual investment or the ownership received by participating investors.

TermMax received a separate strategic investment from YZi Labs in August. The fixed-rate lending protocol previously joined EASY Residency Season 3 and has raised more than $8 million across its financing rounds.

TermMax operates fixed-rate lending markets across several Ethereum-compatible blockchains. It offers lending pools, strategy vaults and products designed to give borrowers and lenders more predictable rates than variable-rate DeFi markets.

The amount supplied by YZi Labs was not disclosed. Recent crypto venture funding disclosures therefore exclude the TermMax transaction from funding totals that require confirmed deal values.

CZ’s performance forecast remains untested

Zhao’s argument rests on the idea that lower market valuations create better entry prices for long-term investors. That can improve future returns when selected companies survive the downturn and grow. It does not ensure that every investment made near a market low will succeed.

Private investment performance also cannot be measured from token prices alone. YZi Labs may hold equity, warrants, tokens or other contractual rights, depending on each transaction. Most of those terms have not been made public.

The five publicly identified investments cover substantially different markets. RoboForce depends on industrial adoption. BitGo competes in custody and financial infrastructure. Predict.fun relies on prediction-market liquidity, while AEON and TermMax target payments and lending.

No common performance benchmark can accurately measure all five businesses. YZi Labs would need to disclose entry valuations, subsequent financing prices, exits or realized distributions before Zhao’s view could be tested.

The firm has not announced when it will publish portfolio performance information. Its next measurable developments will come from financing rounds, public filings, product adoption figures and possible liquidity events involving individual portfolio companies.