Why YZi Labs Bets on Things That Don't Exist Yet

While $400 billion in global venture capital chases the latest AI darling or meme coin, one firm is deliberately zigging where others zag. YZi Labs has a simple thesis: bet on what doesn't exist yet.

From Binance Labs to Building the Future

Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs, laid out her firm's contrarian approach at Consensus Hong Kong 2026. The investment house, formerly known as Binance Labs, now spreads bets across AI, biotech, and Web3 with a unifying principle: "focus on the things that haven't happened yet, and focus on the people who are there to dream them up."

It's a portfolio built for different time horizons. Crypto "feels very cyclical at the moment," while AI adoption accelerates and biotech plays out over decades. Rather than timing markets, Zhang's team pressures founders on fundamentals: what pain point are you solving, how does distribution work, and are there early signals this problem actually matters?

Conviction Over Capital Deployment

The firm's investment criteria cuts through Silicon Valley's narrative obsession. "Focus on user demand. Is there real demand or is the demand imagined?" Zhang asks. Instead of deploying capital to hit fund metrics, YZi follows conviction. "We're not obligated to deploy all the capital we have," she emphasized.

This approach extends to founder relationships. YZi positions itself as an early backer but continues supporting companies across multiple rounds, offering mentorship and strategic resources alongside funding. The firm even welcomes failure as part of long-term founder development—a refreshing stance in an ecosystem often obsessed with unicorn narratives.

Stablecoins: Crypto's First Real Use Case

On product trends, Zhang called stablecoins crypto's first true mass-market application beyond trading. "Stablecoins are currently a very good application for crypto to go to mass adoption," she said, pointing to improving compliance frameworks globally.

Yet infrastructure gaps remain. Zhang sees further work needed in custody, exchange infrastructure, and on-chain foreign exchange before stablecoins fully mature. She highlighted BNB Chain's scale as a natural distribution layer, with "thousands of protocols" and "hundreds of millions of users" forming a ready ecosystem for new applications.