Exclusive: Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao is weighing opening his family office to external investors as YZi Labs expands from crypto into biotech and AI

YZi Labs, the $10 billion investment vehicle tied to Binance co‑founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, is considering opening its portfolio to external investors in the future, according to people familiar with the firm’s thinking and public comments from its leadership. The move would mark a shift for one of the largest and most active investors in crypto and adjacent frontier technologies, and could test how a crypto‑native family office adapts to institutional expectations.

The San Francisco–based firm was formally spun out of Binance in early 2025 and today manages Zhao’s fortune alongside capital from a small circle of early Binance executives, including co‑founder Yi He. While YZi Labs briefly accepted roughly $300 million from outside backers in 2022—before later returning part of it—the shop has since operated like a private family office, writing checks into web3 infrastructure, digital‑asset platforms, and, increasingly, artificial intelligence, robotics and biotech start‑ups. Head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang has said the team could convert into a public‑facing fund once it is satisfied it has the depth to shoulder fiduciary responsibilities in non‑crypto domains.

“There’s always a lot of external interest,” Zhang said recently, framing any decision to open the doors as a question of timing and readiness rather than appetite. The firm’s near‑term focus, she noted, is building specialist benches in AI and life sciences so that when YZi raises outside money it can underwrite opportunities beyond its home turf of digital assets with the same conviction.

For now, crypto remains the anchor. People close to the firm say around two‑thirds to seventy percent of the portfolio is still tied to digital‑asset bets, including token positions, equity in exchanges and custody providers, and stakes in on‑chain data, payments and infrastructure projects. In recent months, YZi has backed high‑profile efforts that signal its preference for scale: supporting a plan to transform a U.S.‑listed vehicle into a BNB‑focused treasury company and increasing exposure to the synthetic‑dollar stablecoin ecosystem.

A potential pivot to external capital would come as Zhao continues a personal reset following his 2023 guilty plea in the United States to a charge related to anti‑money‑laundering failures at Binance. He served four months in prison and stepped down from an executive role at the exchange, which agreed to more than $4.3 billion in penalties. Zhao remains Binance’s largest shareholder and a vocal supporter of its BNB token, but his investing is now largely siloed through YZi Labs.

Opening the books would subject the firm to a different level of scrutiny. If YZi solicits U.S. investors, it will likely face closer oversight from securities regulators and—depending on structure—be required to register investment advisers, implement more formal compliance and custody regimes, and build investor‑relations infrastructure. That would be no small shift for a deal team built for speed in the permissionless world of web3.

Inside YZi, the case for expansion rests on two arguments. First, the firm says it sees a surge of high‑quality deal flow at the intersection of crypto, AI and biotech: AI agents that can transact natively on‑chain; zero‑knowledge cryptography to secure model weights and research data; and tokenized IP markets for drug discovery and clinical research. Second, leadership believes the post‑2024 regulatory climate has grown more predictable for digital‑asset ventures in core markets, potentially making a dedicated multi‑strategy vehicle more attractive to pensions, endowments and sovereigns that sat out the last cycle.

Critics point out that the brand carries baggage. Binance remains under monitorship and is still working through a slate of remedial commitments. Detractors argue that a public YZi vehicle could invite renewed questions about conflicts, given Zhao’s enduring economic interest in the exchange and the firm’s practice of backing projects that align with the BNB Chain ecosystem. Supporters counter that sunlight is a feature, not a bug: transparency around mandates, walls, and portfolio reporting could reassure institutions that CZ’s second act is a clean separation from the exchange’s past mistakes.

Deal‑wise, the firm has sought to demonstrate discipline and breadth. Beyond core web3 infrastructure, YZi has quietly built positions in data‑center robotics, AI‑assisted developer tooling, and middleware that connects bioscience compute to on‑chain marketplaces. People familiar with the pipeline say a dedicated biotech team is hiring senior talent with translational research and venture‑creation experience to stand up company‑building efforts around cryptography‑enabled clinical trials and privacy‑preserving genomics.

Still, the fund’s north star is scale. “We are not tourists,” one person familiar with the strategy said. “The goal is to back category‑defining platforms—whether that’s an on‑chain liquidity primitive, a stablecoin with real‑economy usage, or an AI‑native robotics stack tied to token incentives.” That preference is visible in YZi’s willingness to anchor large rounds and to support projects that could become strategic for BNB Chain’s developer base.

If YZi does go external, the mechanics will matter. One option would be a traditional closed‑end venture fund focused on early‑stage web3 and AI, complemented by an opportunity fund for growth‑stage deals and token purchases. Another would be a multi‑strategy structure with sleeves for liquid markets, private equity in crypto infrastructure, and venture bets in AI and biotech. Either would require building out risk, compliance and LP reporting functions that exceed the demands placed on a family office.

There is also the question of geography. YZi sources globally but has concentrated personnel in the United States and Asia. Expanding into Europe would align with a more rules‑based regime as the EU’s MiCA framework comes fully online, and could give the firm more options for domiciling vehicles and serving institutional LPs that prefer EU fund governance standards.

The opportunity set is not purely cyclical. Cross‑currents between AI, crypto and biotech have deep technical roots: cryptographic proofs to trace data provenance and model lineage; smart‑contract rails for micropayments between AI agents; and tokenized scientific collaboration networks that align incentives across labs, CROs and patient communities. If YZi can marshal specialists who speak both languages—biology and cryptography, distributed systems and clinical protocols—it could carve out a durable edge.

Skeptics warn that convergence can be buzzword‑heavy and execution‑light. Crypto‑AI projects that promised autonomous agents with wallets in the last cycle often struggled to find customers. Biotech timelines rarely map to the cadence of web3. And liquid‑token exposure introduces volatility that many institutions still shun. For YZi, proving that its model can compound across domains will require patient capital—and risk frameworks capable of handling tokens, equity and hybrids under one roof.

Zhao’s personal brand remains a double‑edged sword: a magnet for founders and a lightning rod for critics. Since stepping back from Binance, he has cast himself as a builder‑investor, promoting education initiatives and open‑source tooling while boosting BNB‑aligned ecosystems. The question now is whether institutions are ready to underwrite that story with real commitments—and whether YZi is prepared to meet them where they are with the governance, reporting and controls they expect.

What happens next? In the near term, insiders expect YZi to keep doing what it already does: lead large web3 rounds, align select projects with BNB Chain growth priorities, and selectively plant flags in AI and biotech where the team has conviction. The door to outside money will stay ajar—but it won’t swing open until the firm believes its new benches in AI and life sciences are strong enough to carry an institutional mandate.

If and when that threshold is crossed, YZi would instantly become one of the most closely watched cross‑sector funds in the market: a bellwether for whether crypto‑native capital can institutionalize without losing speed, and a test case for how to knit together liquid tokens, private equity, and science‑heavy venture under a single brand. For now, the message from inside the lab is clear: build first, then broadcast.

Reporting based on public statements by YZi Labs executives and recent coverage from reputable financial media as of September 23, 2025.