CZ Joins Genius Trading as Advisor After YZi Labs Injects 8-Figure Investment

An eight-figure capital injection just landed in the crypto trading arena—and it brought a heavyweight name along for the ride.

YZi Labs is pouring serious money into Genius Trading, a platform aiming to cut through market noise with algorithmic precision. The move signals institutional-grade confidence in next-generation trading tools.

The CZ Factor

Former Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao isn't just watching from the sidelines. He's stepping into an advisory role at Genius Trading, lending his operational expertise and industry clout to the venture. His involvement often acts as a market catalyst—a pattern traders know all too well.

Why This Matters Now

As regulatory scrutiny tightens and retail sentiment swings, platforms promising an edge through technology are attracting deep pockets. Genius Trading claims to bypass emotional decision-making—the kind that turns rational investors into bag holders during a dip.

The cynical take? Another 'genius' solution enters the fray, promising to outsmart a market that routinely humbles the smartest minds in finance. Yet, when capital of this scale meets a name like CZ, it's rarely just noise.

The bet is clear: in the high-stakes game of crypto trading, the house believes the algorithms are about to get a major upgrade.

Onchain Trading Grows, Putting Execution Infrastructure in the Spotlight

Trading activity is increasingly distributed across blockchains rather than concentrated on a small number of centralized exchanges.

That change has created new challenges around execution, liquidity access, and information leakage, particularly for larger traders.

Against that backdrop, YZi Labs’ investment shows growing interest in infrastructure that focuses less on launching new liquidity venues and more on how trades are executed across them.

Genius Trading is an onchain trading terminal aggregating spot, perpetual, and copy trading across multiple blockchains, unveiled publicly on Tuesday.

Ahead of launch, Genius said it had already processed more than $160 million in trading volume across ten blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and several others.

YZi Labs manages roughly $10 billion in assets and operates as Zhao’s family office, following its evolution from Binance’s former venture arm.

The firm focuses on venture-stage investments spanning Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, and has increasingly emphasized infrastructure plays rather than consumer-facing applications.

In its announcement, YZi Labs framed Genius as part of that strategy, pointing to the growing share of trading volume migrating from centralized exchanges to decentralized venues.

Data from recent years shows that as of early 2021, decentralized exchanges accounted for just 6% of spot trading volume relative to centralized platforms.

By November 2025, that figure had climbed to 21.2%, with a peak of 37.4% reached in June 2025 during a surge in on-chain activity.

Although centralized exchanges still dominate in absolute terms, decentralized venues now command a durable share of both spot and derivatives markets.

YZi Labs Targets On-chain Privacy With Genius Trading Investment

YZi Labs said this transition introduces what it described as a “transparency bug.”

Because trades on public blockchains are visible by default, large orders can signal intent and MOVE markets before execution is complete.

According to the firm, that dynamic makes it difficult for professional traders to deploy size without losing value, even as they benefit from self-custody and on-chain settlement.

YZi Labs said Genius seeks to address that issue by prioritizing execution quality and discretion.

It added that the firm uses a “Ghost Order” system to run complex strategies across multiple wallets discreetly.

The company says the process remains non-custodial and auditable, meaning users retain control of their keys while masking execution patterns from the broader market.

Armaan Kalsi, co-founder and chief executive of Genius, said the partnership with YZi Labs is focused on alignment rather than capital alone, describing the goal as building an on-chain trading experience that matches the speed and privacy traders associate with centralized exchanges.

Genius said the new funding will be used to accelerate development of the platform’s privacy features ahead of a broader open-access rollout planned for late 2026.

The investment also fits within YZi Labs’ broader push to support foundational infrastructure.

The firm has backed more than 300 companies and recently announced a $1 billion fund to support builders on BNB Chain through its Most Valuable Builder and EASY Residency programs.

That model combines capital with mentorship, ecosystem access, and operational support, and Zhao has taken an active advisory role in several portfolio companies.