Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has recently addressed rumors surrounding Binance’s alleged ties to the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. CZ clarified that while Hyperliquid’s founder, Jeff Yan, was part of Binance Labs’ incubation program in 2018, there are currently no investment connections between the two entities.
Jeff Yan participated in Binance Labs’ first incubation cohort in 2018 through a startup called YZiLabs. The project focused on a decentralized prediction market called Deaux but unfortunately failed, leading to Binance Labs not recouping its investment. CZ mentioned that he had minimal interaction with Jeff during that time and only learned about their connection earlier this year.
Despite their shared history, CZ emphasized that YZiLabs holds no equity or tokens in Hyperliquid. He reiterated Binance’s support for all builders in the crypto space, regardless of past associations.
Hyperliquid, operating on its own layer-1 blockchain, has quickly risen as one of the most active decentralized perpetuals trading platforms in the DeFi ecosystem. In July 2025, the platform processed approximately $319 billion in trading volume, contributing to a total DeFi perpetuals volume of $487 billion that month.
With a core team of just 11 members, Hyperliquid distinguishes itself from traditional automated market maker models by maintaining on-chain order books and matching systems. The platform’s HotStuff-based HyperBFT consensus enables sub-second trade execution, achieving a median latency of 0.2 seconds, comparable to centralized exchanges.
Founder Jeff Yan has described Hyperliquid as self-funded, rejecting venture capital to maintain independence and community alignment. The team’s swift response to operational issues, like a July outage resulting in $1.99 million in trader reimbursements within a day, underscores their operational discipline.
While CZ clarified Binance’s lack of financial involvement with Hyperliquid, the platform’s rapid growth underscores the rising popularity of decentralized derivatives trading. Hyperliquid’s trading activity now accounts for 13.6% of Binance’s volume, up from 8% at the beginning of the year, signaling a shift towards decentralized alternatives in the derivatives market.
Decentralized perpetual exchanges like Hyperliquid and Aster, another derivatives DEX launched by YZi Labs, are challenging centralized exchanges’ dominance. With combined trading volume across the sector reaching $1.22 trillion in September 2025, analysts note a structural shift towards decentralized, transparent, and non-custodial trading venues.
In conclusion, CZ’s clarification on Binance’s relationship with Hyperliquid sheds light on the shared history between the two entities and highlights the growing prominence of decentralized perpetual exchanges in the crypto space.