CZ’s YZi Backs Genius in Multi-8-Figure Deal to Win the Terminal Wars
Road Town, British Virgin Islands, January 14th, 2026, Chainwire
In a high‑conviction move, YZi Labs, the global investment vehicle of Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has invested a full round in Genius Trading, a cross‑chain terminal built for serious DeFi execution. The multi 8-figure investment marks YZi labs’ first public backing of a Web3 trading terminal and signals its formal entry into the rapidly escalating terminal wars, with CZ himself joining the project as an advisor. It comes at a time when onchain trading remains deeply fragmented, forcing users to bridge assets, switch wallets, and expose trading strategies across an ever-growing number of networks.
Genius aims to unify that chaos. Instead of juggling interfaces, traders use one terminal to access liquidity across 10+ blockchains, including BNB, Solana, Ethereum, Hyperliquid, Base, Avalanche, and Sui–no bridging, no switching wallets, and no public signaling of strategy.
Since its soft launch, Genius has processed over $160 million in trading volume, with growing traction from on‑chain whales managing millions in monthly volume.
“This is a deep vote of confidence from very respected investors – not just in what we’ve built so far but in our ability to define how trading happens onchain moving forward” said Armaan Kalsi, co-founder and CEO of Genius
Genius is live today, supporting spot, perps, and copy trading. Behind the interface is a custom MPC‑based wallet, proprietary cross‑chain routing logic, and direct integrations with major DEXs.
“If you were rebuilding Binance today, you wouldn’t do it as a centralized exchange — you’d build it on‑chain,” added Ryan Myher, COO of Genius. “Genius is our answer to what that looks like: one terminal, full custody, no compromises.”
At the core of Genius’s roadmap is a privacy orchestration layer, currently in beta, that enables users to split large trades across hundreds of wallets, shielding strategy without sacrificing self‑custody or execution speed. Unlike zero‑knowledge systems that rely on off‑chain components or introduce delays, Genius keeps transactions onchain while breaking traceability at scale. The privacy layer will enter public beta in 2026.
While others chase short‑term volume through memecoins or prediction markets, Genius is building for the long game — targeting traders and institutions that demand serious execution, broader market access, and privacy by design.
What’s Ahead
- Q2 2026: Public beta of Genius’s privacy protocol, new chain and DeFi integration
- Continued expansion toward becoming the execution layer for pro DeFi
About Genius Trading
Genius is the on‑chain trading terminal for Pro DeFi. With support for 10+ chains and a privacy layer in development, it unifies decentralized trading into a single self‑custodial interface built for serious execution.
About YZi Labs
YZi Labs manages over $10 billion in assets globally. Our investment philosophy emphasizes impact first—we believe that meaningful returns will naturally follow. We invest in ventures at every stage, prioritizing those with solid fundamentals in Web3, AI, and biotech.