YZi Labs Backs Genius Trading With Major Investment

YZi Labs, the family investment firm of Binance co-founders Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, has invested heavily in Genius Trading. 

The investment shows rising trust in fully decentralized crypto markets. As part of the deal, Zhao is joining Genius as an advisor, highlighting a strong belief in the project’s long-term vision.

YZi Labs Invests Over $10M in Genius Trading

YZi Labs, which spun out of Binance Labs, completed an investment worth over $10 million in Genius Trading last month. However, the company has not disclosed the exact size or structure of the deal. The investment shows a broader belief that trading is moving away from centralized exchanges. 

Future platforms are expected to run fully onchain instead. Genius Trading aims to become a decentralized alternative to Binance by offering a single, self-custodial trading terminal. The platform supports spot trading, perpetual futures, and copy trading, all through a cross-chain interface.

Before the YZi Labs investment, Genius raised $7 million in earlier funding. This included a $6 million round in 2024 and a $1 million extension. CMCC led the round, with support from Balaji Srinivasan, Anthony Scaramucci, Flow Traders, and other investors. 

Genius does not plan to build its own blockchain. Instead, the team will work with existing blockchains and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.

Genius Trading Connects Liquidity Across Multiple Blockchains

Genius presents itself as a trading platform that brings liquidity from more than 10 blockchains, including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Hyperliquid, Base, Avalanche, and Sui. Users can trade across these networks without moving assets between chains, changing wallets, or revealing their trading strategies onchain.

Since its soft launch in October, the platform has processed over $60 million in trading volume. Most of this activity comes from large onchain traders who manage millions of dollars in monthly trades.

Genius is based in New York City and has a small global team of 11 people. The company plans to grow carefully, with potential hires of two to four additional employees in the near future.

With support from YZi Labs and advice from Changpeng Zhao, Genius Trading is becoming a strong player. This move aligns with Zhao’s vision of taking a hands-on approach to shaping the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency. 

Privacy Drives Genius Trading’s Platform Design

Privacy is a core part of Genius’s product. Genius uses advanced wallet tools and cross-chain tech to keep trades private. Now in beta, it splits large trades into many small onchain actions and plans to launch a public version of its privacy system in Q2 2026. 

The team believes privacy will matter more as people manage real money onchain. Shuttle Labs built Genius Trading, and the company launched in 2022 while the founding team was still in college at Yale University. 

The project began as a blockchain data and explorer tool before evolving into a full trading platform.