Binance Founder 'CZ' Considers Opening YZi Labs to External Investors: FT

YZi Labs, the family office founded by Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, may open up to external investors, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The $10 billion investment company, which was rebranded from Binance Labs, is open to the possibility of converting into an investment fund, head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang said in an interview, according to the report.

"There’s always a lot of external investors interested and we will eventually consider turning it into an external-facing fund," Zhang said.

While YZi naturally has considerable nous in Web3 investments, it is "still early" in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and biotech, Zhang said.

"We're forming our team, when we have that expertise...we'll be open to external investors," she said.

Both Zhang and Zhao subsequently refuted the FT's report in posts on X.

YZi Labs rebranded from being Binance's venture capital arm to Zhao's family office shortly after his release from prison following a four-month prison sentence for failing to set up an adequate know-your-customer program at Binance.

As part of his guilty plea, he stepped down as Binance CEO and has subsequently turned more of his attention to YZi Labs, which manages the money of Zhao and fellow Binance co-founder Yi He, also his longtime partner.

Family offices are not open to external investors as they manage the wealth of a single family, so do not raise money from outside sources.

UPDATE (Sept. 24, 15:40 UTC): Adds that Zhang and Zhao refuted the FT reports and links to the relevant story.