YZi Labs, the family office of Binance co-founders Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Yi He, has made a multi-eight-figure investment in decentralised trading platform Genius Trading.
The investment was completed last month and is understood to be well above $10 million, according to the company.
Changpeng Zhao will join Genius Trading as an advisor following the funding round.
Genius Trading is developing a privacy-focused, self-custodial trading terminal designed as an onchain alternative to centralised exchanges.
The platform supports spot trading, perpetual futures, and copy trading through a single cross-chain interface.
Genius aims to allow users to trade across more than 10 blockchains without bridging assets or switching wallets.
Supported networks include BNB Chain (CRYPTO:BNB), Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH), Solana (CRYPTO:SOL), Hyperliquid, Base, Avalanche (CRYPTO:AVAX), and Sui (CRYPTO:SUI).
If you were rebuilding Binance today, you wouldn’t do it as a centralised exchange — you’d build it onchain.
Ryan Myher said.
Genius is our answer to what that looks like: one terminal, full custody, no compromises.
Myher added.
Co-founder and chief executive Armaan Kalsi declined to disclose the exact structure of the investment.
Kalsi also declined to comment on whether the company plans to issue a native token.
Genius is positioning itself as a unified trading terminal with a strong emphasis on onchain privacy.
We’re building a privacy-specific trading suite that is still in beta.
Kalsi said.
Our view is that speculation brings users in, but privacy is what will keep them building long-term financial activity onchain.
Kalsi added.
Since its soft launch in October, Genius has processed more than $60 million in trading volume.
The platform’s early usage has been concentrated among onchain traders managing millions of dollars per month.
Genius uses a custom multi-party computation wallet and proprietary cross-chain routing technology.
The company integrates directly with decentralised exchanges rather than operating its own blockchain.
A key part of the roadmap is a privacy layer designed to obscure large trading strategies onchain.
The system allows trades to be split across hundreds of wallets while remaining fully onchain.
Genius said the approach avoids offchain components and zero-knowledge systems that may slow execution.
A public beta of the privacy protocol is planned for the second quarter of 2026.
Kalsi said competition among trading terminals has intensified as platforms battle for user acquisition.
He cited rivals such as Axiom, GMGN, Photon, and Padre as part of the current “terminal wars”.
Before the YZi Labs investment, Genius had raised $7 million in prior funding.
A $6 million round in 2024 was led by CMCC with participation from Balaji Srinivasan, Anthony Scaramucci, and Flow Traders.
Genius was built by Shuttle Labs and founded in 2022 while the core team was studying at Yale University.
The project initially started as a blockchain data and explorer tool before evolving into a trading platform.
Genius is headquartered in New York City and operates with a globally distributed team of 11 employees.
The company plans to hire cautiously, with two to four additional roles potentially added in the near term.