CZ Says YZi Labs’ Crypto Winter Bets Could Deliver Its Best Returns

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) believes YZi Labs’ recent investments could become some of the firm’s strongest performers, pointing to favorable timing during the crypto market downturn.

The Binance founder linked his confidence to investments made when cryptocurrency prices were trading near their lows. YZi Labs, which evolved from Binance Labs, manages more than $10 billion for Zhao and Binance co-founder Yi He and now operates as an independent investment firm.

During an August 28 book club session in Hong Kong, Zhao argued that the surge of capital flowing into artificial intelligence has helped filter out short-term crypto projects. He has also suggested that some AI investment capital is beginning to rotate back into digital assets.

His bullish outlook comes after a difficult period for the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin had fallen about 47% from its peak by early June, fueling debate over whether the industry was experiencing one of its harshest crypto winters. Although BTC has since recovered some losses, it remains well below its October high.

YZi Labs has used the downturn to invest across crypto, artificial intelligence, robotics, payments and digital asset infrastructure. One of its largest disclosed investments came in March, when it led a $52 million funding round for physical AI company RoboForce.

The firm also invested in crypto custodian BitGo ahead of its January New York Stock Exchange listing. In April, YZi Labs increased its exposure to prediction market Predict.fun alongside Susquehanna Crypto.

Its investment activity continued in May with an $8 million pre-seed round for AEON, a payments protocol focused on the agentic economy. YZi Labs also backed fixed-rate lending protocol TermMax in August as part of its push into on-chain financial infrastructure.

However, Zhao has not disclosed performance or returns for these investments, meaning his prediction that they will become top performers remains unproven.

YZi Labs has also faced challenges this year, including a dispute involving BNB treasury company CEA Industries that ended in a June settlement.

Ultimately, the performance of CZ’s crypto winter investments may depend heavily on the next phase of the digital asset market. Zhao remains strongly bullish on Bitcoin, previously predicting that BTC could reach $1 million sooner than many investors expect.