Changpeng Zhao’s $10 Billion Investment Firm Considers Opening Doors to Outside Capital

CZ's crypto empire eyes expansion as $10B fund weighs external investors

The Investment Shift

Changpeng Zhao's investment vehicle—already sitting on a $10 billion war chest—explores allowing outside funds for the first time. The move signals maturation in crypto capital allocation strategies, moving beyond founder-centric funding models that dominated the space's early years.

Market Implications

Opening to external capital would transform the firm's firepower and investment tempo. While traditional finance veterans might scoff at crypto's volatility, a $10 billion fund accepting outside money could reshape entire blockchain ecosystems overnight—proving once again that in crypto, the house always wins bigger than Wall Street's regulated casinos.

The final decision could trigger domino effects across digital asset markets, potentially creating new institutional-grade entry points while giving traditional finance purists another reason to clutch their pearls over blockchain's relentless expansion.

The firm would face stronger oversight from regulators

CZ launched Binance in 2017, building it into the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and amassing an estimated fortune of more than $80 billion through his majority stake. Later, CZ stepped down as Binance chief and served four months in prison last year. He is now reportedly seeking a presidential pardon.

Under Trump’s administration, US regulators have shown a more favorable stance toward digital assets. Zhang said the Securities and Exchange Commission recently requested a private showcase of companies backed by YZi Labs after its chair was unable to attend a demo day at the NYSE. However, if YZi Labs decides to bring in US-based investors, the firm may face stronger oversight from regulators.

She added that crypto entrepreneurs who had left the US during Joe Biden’s presidency were now coming back to Silicon Valley. “Paul Atkins and other commissioners, they are very open minded,” Zhang said.

Zhang admitted that handling $10 billion in crypto investments is a challenge. “CZ said to me ‘your challenge is to deploy.’ It’s just so hard to find so many good enough assets to meet our criteria,” she said.

Zhao remains the largest Binance shareholder

Although Zhao is barred from managing Binance, he is the biggest shareholder and a vocal supporter, particularly of BNB, the exchange’s native token.

Zhang declined to identify the investors who contributed in 2022 but confirmed some of the money was later returned. “The reason we returned is because the funds we were managing already were massive,” she said. “The demand is very high, a lot of external [investors] want to invest alongside us. For the majority of the projects we invest in we’re not in a rush to exit . . . it’s hard to deliver what they expect.”

YZi has recently backed several crypto treasury companies, which raise money publicly to purchase tokens. It is supporting a $1 billion transaction involving former executives from Chinese Bitcoin miner Bitmain. Furthermore, it led a $500 million fundraising in July to convert a Nasdaq-listed vaping company into a BNB treasury vehicle.

According to Zhang, YZi Labs received more than 50 pitches from teams wanting to raise token-based funds during the summer. Around 70% of its portfolio is in digital assets, though interest in AI and robotics is on the rise.

“CZ’s vision is that robotics will help human beings to do things and their transactions will be [done] through crypto wallets,” she said.

The firm’s 12-person team, she added, takes a “super long-term” view. “We’re not like other VCs calculating multiples on an annual basis.”

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