Author: RootData
In March 2026, Dana Hou, Investment Partner at YZi Labs, announced her departure. Over four years, she witnessed the brand transformation of this institution and the complete cycle of the crypto VC industry from frenzy to contraction.
RootData has recorded 229 investment entries for YZi Labs, with 218 unique projects after deduplication. Among these, 154 projects have issued tokens:
- 150 projects are listed on at least one exchange;
- 95 projects are listed on Binance;
- 22 projects have a market cap of less than $500,000;
- 20 projects have ceased operations;
This is not just Dana's story: as platform红利 fades, true investment judgment is the only thing that remains. At this juncture, we conduct a systematic data review of YZi Labs' investment portfolio.
Survival Rate and Transparency
Product-Market Fit Projects
Based on data characteristics (high FDV + high market cap/FDV ratio + broad exchange coverage), relatively healthy projects account for about 45% (69) of the listed projects. Clear success cases include: Ethena (ENA, market cap $920M), Aster (market cap $1.73B), Lombard (market cap $240M), Pendle (market cap $210M), Sui (market cap $3.54B), Celestia (market cap $290M), Aptos (market cap $790M), STEPN, etc. Most of these projects focus on DeFi infrastructure, L1/L2, rather than gaming or social sectors.
Post-Listing Market Cap and FDV Divergence
A significant divergence between market cap and FDV is common among projects with high FDV listings, a共性 phenomenon in this cycle's crypto market. Among the 152 projects tradable on exchanges, 76 (50%) have a current market cap below 50% of FDV, and 26 (17.1%) have a market cap/FDV ratio below 20%.
Projects with Strategic Shifts
Combined with sector characteristics, notable cases of projects that significantly changed their business/product direction after receiving YZi Labs investment:
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STEPN: Transitioned from Move-to-Earn game to lifestyle application platform
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MyShell: Evolved from AI content generation tool to AI Agent infrastructure
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Open Campus (EDU): Expanded from educational NFT platform to education solution ecosystem
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Vana: Shifted from social data project to AI data economy base layer
Zombie Projects
There are 22 projects (14.3% of listed projects) with a market cap of less than $500,000 after listing, which can be considered de facto zombie projects. These include Cellula (market cap only $570), StarSharks ($36K), Pentagon Games ($17K), pSTAKE Finance ($11K), DIN ($441K), etc., all in a state of having tokens but almost no liquidity or community activity.
Ceased Operations Projects
There are 20 projects that have clearly "ceased operations", accounting for 9.2% of YZi Labs' total portfolio. By sector, the ceased operations projects are mostly in gaming (6: BinaryX, SecondLive, Gameta, Meta Apes, Tatsumeeko, Cosmic Guild), followed by DeFi (5), infrastructure (3), CeFi, SocialFi, NFT and other sectors.
Project Transparency
In terms of project information disclosure, the average transparency score for projects invested by YZi Labs is 78. 123 projects achieved an A grade (above 80 points) for transparency, accounting for 56.4%.
Sectors and Cycles —— Win Rate Changes Under Bull-Bear Rhythms
Based on bull-bear rhythms to划分 cycles, YZi Labs' investment performance data is as follows:
YZi Labs tends not to retreat during bear markets in terms of investment pace. The deep bear market of 2022 was反而 the most active cycle, with 49 deals exceeding the 44 deals in the 2021 bull market. However, in lead investment strategy, the lead rate was 36% during the bull market, contracting to 16%–27% during the bear market and recovery period, indicating that the institution is more willing to seize dominance when the market is hot, and more inclined to分散 risk through co-investment networks when it is cold.
In terms of sector selection, the most obvious change is the退潮 of gaming—from 10 deals in the bull market period to 7 deals in 2023–2024, to基本 disappearing in 2025; DeFi has continued to strengthen, becoming YZi Labs' most favored sector for the first time in 2025. Infrastructure is its core logic, never absent regardless of bull or bear markets; Sui, Aptos, Movement, etc., fall into this category.
Additionally, 104 financing rounds did not disclose the amount, accounting for 45.6% of total investments, nearly half—this is a key characteristic of YZi Labs.
The non-disclosure rate has明显攀升 with the cycle:
- Early stage (2018–2021) non-disclosure rate maintained between 11%–35%;
- Rose sharply to 57% in the 2022 bear market;
- Reached 58% again in 2024, the historical high point.
This pattern is intriguing. Being less willing to disclose amounts during bear market investments could be due to valuation sensitivity, with projects not wanting to expose the窘境 of difficult fundraising; while the high non-disclosure rate during the 2024 bull market peak is more about institutions actively suppressing information to prevent competitors from following up.
In terms of round structure, non-disclosures are highly concentrated in two types: rounds with no clear designation (58 deals) and strategic financing (34 deals), together accounting for 88% of non-disclosures. There are only 12 seed轮 and Pre-seed轮. This indicates that most non-disclosures are for non-standard financing—strategic equity investments, OTC,生态合作 investments—these types of transactions naturally不需要对外披露金额.
YZi Labs' lead investment rate for non-disclosed financings is only 11%, whereas the lead rate for disclosed projects is as high as 36%. This suggests that most non-disclosed financing events are likely follow-on investments or生态协作 by YZi Labs, with relatively limited say.
Strategic Shift —— Can the New Narrative Survive the Next Cycle
YZi Labs has long relied on the Binance ecosystem to form channel and liquidity synergy advantages, which is an important part of its investment model. Its historical layout is highly synchronized with market cycles,放大收益 during bull phases, facing portfolio restructuring pressure during cycle shifts, with an overall style leaning towards pro-cyclical configuration.
Dana's departure should be understood more in the context of the industry. The overall contraction of crypto VCs, marginal changes in platform ecosystem influence, and institutions普遍处于战略重估阶段 make personnel flow a normal phenomenon, not equivalent to a negation of the industry.
In terms of strategic direction, YZi Labs has begun to extend into AI, stablecoins, and other fields, but overall is still in the layout and verification stage. The key for the future lies in whether it can complete portfolio重构 and research framework upgrades to achieve stable output across cycles.
