YZiLabs (now Binance Labs) did not back Hyperliquid's founder in 2018. Despite being the part of Binance Labs' Season One Incubator, Jeff Yan never received funds from Binance-linked entities, the exchange founder Changpeng Zhao states.
No, Binance Labs did not incubate Hyperliquid: Statement by CZ
Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, comments on the Crypto Twitter theory about Binance Labs having incubated Hyperliquid seven years ago.
As Crypto Twitter users found Jeff Yan, CEO and founder of Hyperliquid perpetuals on-chain exchange, in a 2018 picture on YZiLabs account, rumors started spreading about the Binance's potential involvement in the development of the platform.
Changpeng Zhao admitted that Yan participated in Binance Labs' early activities but never succeeded, and, therefore, was never linked to the Binance (BNB) ecosystem:
Unfortunately, that project failed. YZiLabs did not recoup any of its investment. It happens. I did not interact with Jeff much back then. I forgot about it. I only learned this from Ella early this year.
CZ also admitted that he had agreed to schedule a call with Jeff Yan a few months ago but overslept due to improperly setting his alarm clock.
Aster, Hyperliquid's rival, targets $10 billion in daily trading volume
As such, Binance is not involved in Hyperliquid: the entities of the world's largest exchange hold zero tokens or equity, CZ stated today.
Hyperliquid'd success kickstarted the meta narrative of perpetuals trading on on-chain DEXes. Its rival, Aster, gained traction because of being endorsed by Binance's founder on Twitter.
Currently, Aster DEX processes over $9.3 billion in daily trading volume, while its native token, ASTER is in the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team