TLDR:
- Binance Labs, Binance’s venture arm, has been spun off as an independent entity with assets valued at over $10 billion.
- Over 200 crypto projects have been invested in by Binance Labs since 2018.
Article Summary:
Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange, has quietly spun off its venture capital and incubation arm, Binance Labs. The newly independent entity has invested in over 200 crypto projects with assets valued at over $10 billion. Staff contracts at Binance Labs are now separate from employees of the crypto exchange, and the change was made earlier this year. Binance Labs, headed by co-founder Yi He, has ramped up its investment activity recently, backing projects in the Bitcoin staking and Ethereum restaking space. Last year, it accepted external capital by closing a $500 million fund, but later started sending undeployed capital back to Limited Partners.
The spin-off comes after Binance agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines to U.S. agencies and saw its co-founder Changpeng Zhao leave his position. The new Binance Labs structure aims to operate independently from the wider Binance Group. Overall, Binance Labs’ investment activity continues to grow, with its latest season 6 program investing in seven startups, including synthetic dollar protocol developers and decentralized derivatives exchanges. Season 7 is set to launch soon, continuing its support for early-stage crypto projects.
