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Binance co-founder turning VC arm into giant family office
The Straits Times
|January 25, 2025
Mr Zhao "CZ" Chang-peng, a few months out of prison and now worth US$70 billion (S$94 billion) thanks to the relentless Trump-fuelled crypto rally, is turning the former venture capital arm of his Binance Holdings into a family office.
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Binance Labs, which oversees about US$10 billion of crypto-related assets, will be renamed YZi Labs, according to a statement on Jan 23.
Mr Zhao brought back Ms Ella Zhang, who helped set up Binance Labs in 2018 and left two years later, to run the outfit. YZi Labs will also manage the wealth of Binance co-founder Yi He, with whom Mr Zhao has three children.
Mr Zhao, 47, built Binance into the dominant crypto exchange while maintaining that it did not have a global headquarters.
His approach to compliance did not sit well with the US authorities, which in 2023 charged Binance and Mr Zhao with failing to prevent cyber criminals and terrorists from trading on the platform.
Mr Zhao agreed to pay a US$50 million fine, stepped down as chief executive and was sentenced to four months in custody. He was released in September.
YZi Labs, a play on the Binance co-founders' names, is now "purely a family office investment vehicle", Ms Zhang said in an interview. A spokesperson for YZi Labs said the firm does not have a formal headquarters as its staff operate remotely.
This story is from the January 25, 2025 edition of The Straits Times.
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