Binance Labs Rebrands and Embraces AI as CZ Steps Back in as Mentor
Binance Labs, the technology incubator of Binance, has rebranded itself as YZi Labs to broaden its investment focus to include artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology. This strategic move is accompanied by the return of former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who will actively mentor and coach startups within the incubator.
Ella Zhang, co-founder of Binance Labs, is also resuming her role as the head of the newly rebranded YZi Labs. The incubator plans to reintroduce a 12-week in-person residency program designed for project founders, aiming to foster innovation at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and biotech.
Prior to its rebranding, Binance Labs had already been exploring investments in decentralized science (DeSci) and AI startups. In August 2024, the firm invested in Sahara AI, a platform that enables users to maintain intellectual property rights through on-chain attribution and rewards contributions to its decentralized AI infrastructure. Additionally, Binance Labs invested in MyShell, an AI startup that allows users to build and share AI-powered applications.
Decentralized science is an emerging approach to financing life-saving medicine that might otherwise face challenges in raising capital due to regulatory issues or insufficient profits for traditional medical giants. Tokenized incentives, smart contracts, and DAOs provide researchers with tools for proper capital formation, attribution, on-chain peer review, and borderless collaboration.
Although DeSci is a nascent sector, projects within this space are starting to gain recognition beyond the crypto community. For instance, ResearchHub, a platform that pays researchers in crypto to peer-review papers, was featured in Nature, one of the world’s leading scientific journals, in December 2024.
The rebranding of Binance Labs to YZi Labs signifies a strategic expansion into AI and biotechnology, with a commitment to fostering innovation through mentorship and targeted investment in emerging technologies.
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