• YZi Labs has launched a $1 billion fund to support builders on the BNB chain.
• The fund will provide capital to projects in areas like DeFi, AI, RWA, DeSci, payments, and wallets.
• The announcement comes as BNB surged to an all-time high of $1,330, flipping XRP to become the third-largest crypto asset.
YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) announced the launch of a $1 billion builders fund aimed at supporting founders and startups on the BNB chain that focus on trading, AI, DeSci, DeFi, payments, and wallet generation.
YZi Labs Launches Builders Fund on BNB Chain
YZi Labs announced in an X post on Wednesday the launch of a $1 billion Builder Fund aimed at deepening its commitment to founders within the BNB Ecosystem, particularly those building on BNB Chain. The initiative aims to attract long-term founders developing BNB-based innovations across various sectors, including trading, real-world assets (RWA), AI, decentralized science (DeSci), DeFi, payments, and wallets.
The firm said it envisions the BNB ecosystem as “the backbone for humanity’s new scaling laws”, combining Web3 for democratized access and ownership, AI for human potential enhancement, and biotech for quality of life improvement. Through targeted incubation, strategic investments, and partnerships, YZi Labs aims to empower founders to turn these principles into impactful, real-world outcomes.
The fund will leverage BNB Chain’s high-performance and low-cost infrastructure, alongside its enhanced developer tools, funding opportunities, integrations, and large user ecosystem, to accelerate growth and adoption.
“Through this $1B BNB Builder Fund, YZi Labs is committed to supporting BNB builders across sectors such as DeFi, AI, RWA, DeSci, and more — those building the next generation of open systems that connect technology back to human progress”, said Ella Zhang, Head of YZi Labs.
YZi Labs’ Broader Investment Initiative
Since its founding in 2017, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) has supported several projects on the BNB Chain. The team previously supported several prominent projects within the BNB ecosystem, including PancakeSwap, ListaDAO, and, more recently, Aster.
It also helped advance institutional participation through initiatives such as the BNB Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) by BNC, the RWA Fund by China Renaissance, and the BNB Yield Fund by Hash Global.
YZi Labs is leveraging this momentum to merge BNB Chain’s flagship accelerator, Most Valuable Builder (MVB), with YZi Labs’ EASY Residency as a dedicated track for BNB-focused founders. The unified program will offer participants up to $500,000 in funding, along with direct access to the YZi Labs and BNB Chain core teams.
BNB Extends Rally as On-chain Momentum Fuels New All-time High
The move comes as BNB has shown a strong rally over the past week, adding to its strong uptrend since September. BNB soared to a new milestone of $1,330 on Tuesday as on-chain momentum shot up.
BNB is now up nearly 30% in the past week, outperforming the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. As a result, BNB has flipped XRP in valuation, rising to become the third-largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinGecko data.
The rally comes amid a boost in meme coin activity on the BNB chain, fueling speculation of a Binance Super Cycle. It also follows a surge in Aster’s DEX volume, reaching a high of $2.4 billion, according to DeFiLlama.
