CZ says YZi Labs’ crypto winter bets may outperform

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said on Sept. 4 that YZi Labs’ recent investments could become some of the firm’s best performers because it deployed capital during a broad crypto market downturn. Summary CZ says YZi Labs investments made during recent market weakness could become top performers eventually. YZi Labs manages more than $10 billion and invests across Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology ventures. RoboForce secured $52 million while AEON raised $8 million in separate rounds led by YZi Labs recently. Predict.fun received follow-on funding alongside Susquehanna Crypto after reporting $1.8 billion in cumulative trading volume. TermMax received an undisclosed investment after joining EASY Residency, taking total funding above $8 million overall. “I strongly believe the YZi Labs investments over the last few months will be some of the best performing because those investments were done during the depth of the crypto winter,” Zhao wrote. The statement is Zhao’s opinion, not a verified performance result. Neither Zhao nor YZi Labs published acquisition prices, current valuations or investment returns supporting the prediction. Publicly verified YZi Labs investments during 2026 include robotics company RoboForce, digital asset custodian BitGo, prediction market Predict.fun, artificial intelligence payments protocol AEON and fixed-rate lending platform TermMax. Several deal values remain undisclosed. You might also like: YZi Labs welds creators to Web3, AI and frontier tech deal flow YZi Labs expanded beyond conventional crypto investments YZi Labs describes itself as an investment vehicle focused on Web3, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. The organization emerged from the rebranding of Binance Labs and says it manages more than $10 billion in assets. The firm operates independently from Binance and manages capital associated with Zhao and Binance co-founder Yi He. It invests across multiple business stages and also runs the EASY Residency incubation program for early-stage founders. Zhao previously said Web3 still represented roughly 70% to 80% of YZi Labs’ portfolio. However, the firm has increased its exposure to technologies connecting blockchain systems with artificial intelligence, robotics and institutional finance. In May, Zhao said YZi Labs preferred investing in infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence rather than competing directly with heavily funded AI model developers. That approach was reflected in the firm’s robotics and autonomous-payment investments. His latest comments connect the investment strategy to market timing. Crypto valuations came under pressure during the first half of 2026 as Bitcoin and other digital assets traded well below their previous peaks. Bitcoin was trading near $79,945 on Sept. 6, based on current market data. It had recovered from lower levels recorded earlier in 2026, but remained below its prior record. That recovery alone does not establish whether YZi Labs’ private investments have appreciated. RoboForce received the largest disclosed 2026 round YZi Labs led RoboForce’s $52 million financing round in March.