From stablecoins to biotech: Why YZi Labs is betting on things that haven't happened yet

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email From stablecoins to biotech: Why YZi Labs is betting on things that haven't happened yet Ella Zhang of YZi Labs says her firm invests in founders building what doesn’t yet exist, guided by first principles and long-term conviction across AI, biotech and Web3. By Jamie Crawley , AI Boost | Edited by Stephen Alpher Feb 12, 2026, 1:26 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs, at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 (CoinDesk) What to know : YZi Labs backs AI, biotech and Web3 under a thesis of supporting founders building what doesn’t yet exist. Real user demand and product-market fit outweigh trend chasing. Zhang sees stablecoins as crypto’s first true mainstream application, with further infrastructure work still needed. In a market where crypto cycles rise and fall while AI feels inevitable and biotech plays out over decades, YZi Labs is deliberately positioning itself across multiple technological frontiers. The unifying thesis is “to focus on the things haven’t happened yet, and to focus on the people who are there to dream them up and to make it happen,” head of YZi Labs Ella Zhang said at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 on Thursday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . YZi, formerly Binance Labs, invests across AI, biotech and Web3, balancing time horizons, particularly as crypto “feels very cyclical at the moment,” while AI adoption accelerates, Zhang said. “Focus on user demand. Is there real demand happen or the demand is imagined?” she said. Instead of chasing narratives, the firm pressures founders on product fundamentals: what pain point is being solved, how distribution works, and whether there are early signals that the problem truly matters. That philosophy also shapes capital deployment. “We’re not obligated to deploy all the capital we have,” Zhang said, emphasizing that checks follow conviction, not the other way around. YZi aims to be an early backer but continues supporting companies across multiple rounds, offering mentorship and strategic resources alongside funding. On infrastructure, Zhang pointed to 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. At the same time, YZi is “very, very open for the founders to fail and welcome them to come back,” she said, framing failure as part of long-term founder development. As for product trends, Zhang called stablecoins the first true mass-market application beyond trading. “Stablecoins are currently a very good application for crypto to go to mass adoption,” she said, citing improving compliance frameworks globally . Still, she sees further work ahead in custody, exchange infrastructure and on-chain FX before stablecoins fully mature. Binance Labs Consensus Hong Kong 2026 AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Recapping day 2 of Consensus Hong Kong By Nikhilesh De | Edited by Sheldon Reback 34 minutes ago The conference's second day focused more on developers after day 1 concentrated on institutional providers and traders. What to know : Consensus Hong Kong concluded with more than 11,000 attendees and a second day focused on developers and scaling challenges. World Liberty Financial, a crypto project linked to President Donald Trump, plans a foreign-exchange platform using the USD1 stablecoin to offer cheaper cross-border transfers than traditional remittance services. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson announced that LayerZero will port to Cardano and that the privacy-focused Midnight mainnet will debut next month. ZkME won the Consensus PitchFest and FoundrAI took top spot a the Easy A x Consensus Hackathon. 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