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- YZi Labs revealed a new fund that will provide builders on the BNB Chain with both capital and hands-on technical support.
- The initiative will work with the EASY Residency accelerator and introduce a track under the chain’s Most Valuable Builder program.
YZi Labs, formerly known as Binance Labs, is an investment vehicle focused on backing ventures across Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), and biotechnology.
It operates more like a family office for Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and close partners, rather than a typical VC fund, although it still retains many of the capabilities of a traditional investor in tech and crypto.
Innovation on BNB Chain
Today, YZi Labs announced a $1 billion Builder Fund on X. The initiative is designed to supercharge innovation on the BNB Chain, which already has a 460 million-user ecosystem. Developers can tap into its fast, low-cost infrastructure to support projects in decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence (AI), real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, Web3 biotech, and decentralized science (DeSci).
Ella Zhang, Head of YZi Labs, stated:
BNB Ecosystem represents the next phase of digital infrastructure, where decentralization, on-chain scalability, converges with security and real distribution. It’s a living network with global reach and on-chain depth, giving builders the foundation to create products that have real usage and last,
The Builder Fund is structured to provide both capital and strategic support. Founders entering the program may receive up to $500,000 in direct funding, along with access to mentorship, technical integrations, and YZi Labs’ broader developer networks.
To further foster innovation, YZi is expanding its EASY Residency program across global hubs in New York, San Francisco, Dubai, and Singapore, offering immersive support tracks for select projects. So far, its portfolio already spans more than 300 projects across 25+ countries on six continents.
In their statement, YZi Labs highlighted their track record of actively fueling growth across the BNB Chain ecosystem. The team has already supported major projects like PancakeSwap, one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEXs) built on BNB Chain, ListaDAO, a decentralized lending protocol, Aster, and Aspecta through the MVB program.
Beyond that, they’ve helped drive deeper institutional involvement through efforts such as the BNB Digital Asset Treasury by BNC, the RWA fund led by China Renaissance, and the BNB Yield Fund by Hash Global, which provides yield-generating opportunities for institutional investors.
BNB’s Record-Breaking
YZi Labs has also been instrumental in hosting major events in Seoul and Singapore to connect traditional institutions, conglomerates, and family offices with Web3 investors and partners, all with the goal of expanding BNB’s global reach and real-world utility. This strategy is clearly paying off.
BNB has now become the third-largest token by market capitalization, sitting at around $183 billion, after surpassing Ripple(XRP) and Tether (USDT). Over the past week alone, its value surged by 28%, with a 1.98% jump in just the past day, and it’s now up an impressive 129% in the past year.
Trading volume has followed suit, climbing 75% to reach $11 billion. Just yesterday, BNB hit a new all-time high of $1,336 before slightly pulling back to $1,314.
