Changpeng Zhao’s return to the crypto conversation in 2025 is not loud or theatrical. Instead, it is measured, builder-focused, and firmly forward-looking. The pardoned Binance founder is spending his time on education, early-stage investing, and ecosystem development, rather than trading desks or public sparring. In his own words, this period is about moving forward “unburdened again.”
At the center of Zhao’s current work are four priorities: Giggle Academy, YZi Labs, the BNB Chain ecosystem, and direct advisory engagement with governments. Together, they form a clear picture of a founder shifting from operator to mentor, while still shaping the direction of the industry he helped build.
Giggle Academy, a free education platform, has quietly grown into a large-scale project. With more than 90,000 children using the app and a team of roughly 60 people, Zhao describes it as a long-term commitment rather than a side project. The product is updated weekly, reflecting a startup-style pace despite its non-profit mission.
YZi Labs serves as Zhao’s main investment and mentoring vehicle. In 2025 alone, the firm reviewed more than 1,000 projects and invested in close to 70, many of them building on BNB Chain. Zhao positions himself less as a financier and more as a coach, working closely with founders and developers. This approach also feeds into the BNB Chain’s EASY Residency program and a newly announced $1 billion Builder Fund focused on decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, real-world assets, and biotech.
That funding push comes as BNB Chain sheds its long-standing reputation as undervalued or overlooked. On-chain activity has surged, with daily active addresses hovering around 2 million and transaction volumes rising sharply year over year. The network is now among the busiest settlement layers in the industry, supported by technical improvements aimed at near “CEX-like” confirmation speeds.
Market performance has followed. After a broad crypto sell-off erased billions in leveraged positions, BNB proved relatively resilient, dropping less than many peers before rebounding into a volatile but higher trading range. Liquidity has thickened, and traders are watching key price levels closely, though Zhao himself appears far more interested in infrastructure than short-term price movements.
His strongest conviction lies in what he calls “stablecoin 2.0.” Zhao argues that most widely used stablecoins still follow a basic model: dollars in a bank, tokens on-chain. While this approach benefits from scale and familiarity, it offers little yield to users. That gap, he believes, opens the door for new designs that embed sustainable returns directly into their structure. YZi Labs has already backed projects experimenting with this approach.
On BNB Chain, Zhao describes stablecoin development as an open field rather than a single race. Wrapped versions of existing tokens coexist with newer, native options that use different collateral models. Past efforts have struggled with usability, but Zhao maintains that the goal is clear: a stablecoin that is easy to trade, widely accepted, and capable of offering consistent yield without compromising stability.
Prediction markets are another area where Zhao sees long-term potential. Platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket gained mainstream attention during recent election cycles, with large volumes and, in some cases, more accurate forecasting than traditional polls. Zhao attributes this to incentives: participants risk real money, not just opinions. YZi Labs has backed several early-stage projects in this space, including some built on BNB Chain, while emphasizing that multiple platforms can succeed simultaneously.
When it comes to AI agents and automated trading strategies, Zhao is more cautious. He questions the sustainability of subscription-based models, arguing that shared profitable strategies tend to decay quickly. In contrast, platforms that earn from fees and infrastructure, such as exchanges or prediction markets, can scale more reliably over time.
Across all these themes, patience is the constant. Zhao compares building in crypto to a long-distance race punctuated by sudden hits, rewarding founders who stay focused rather than chasing short-lived trends. His bet for 2025 is not on hype cycles, but on steady execution and mission-driven teams that can still be standing years from now.
