YZi Labs' Eight-Figure Investment + CZ as Advisor: Will Genius Cross-Chain Terminal Become the "On-Chain Binance"?

Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News

What is the top-tier endorsement effect in the crypto circle? Undoubtedly, it's Zhao Changpeng (CZ).

On the evening of January 13, YZi Labs announced the completion of an eight-figure investment in on-chain terminal Genius Trading. More crucially, Zhao Changpeng himself serves as an advisor to the project.

As the founder of Binance, Zhao Changpeng rarely directly acts as an "advisor" for external projects. According to public information and Zhao Changpeng's related updates on X, besides Genius Trading, the crypto projects he currently confirms to advise are Vana (a Crypto-AI data ownership and privacy project) and Aster (a Perp DEX).

At the current market juncture, being favored by both Zhao Changpeng and YZi Labs, Genius Trading's strategic potential as a potential "Binance on-chain alternative" is self-evident.

Cross-Chain Terminal from Yale University

Genius is developed by Shuttle Labs. According to a report from The Block, Shuttle Labs is headquartered in New York City, with a globally distributed team of 11 members currently, and may recruit 2-4 more employees in the future.

The story of Genius Terminal began in 2022, when two of the three co-founders were still studying at Yale University. The project initially started as Lore, an AI-powered blockchain data search engine that uses blockchain LLM to make blockchains easier to understand. On the Lore platform, users can choose to translate transactions into concise English.

Today, Genius has evolved into a cross-chain terminal and will accelerate the building of a private cross-chain trading terminal after the latest funding round. The core reasons YZi Labs and Zhao Changpeng favor Genius lie in its ability to unify liquidity and its priority on privacy and high-speed execution.

The backgrounds of the three co-founders of Shuttle Labs are as follows:

• Genius CEO Armaan Kalsi: Yale University background, was still a student when founding Shuttle Labs.
• Genius COO Ryan Myher: The only "dropout entrepreneur" among the three founders. Before co-founding Shuttle Labs, he founded a custom software development agency and a media company No Code No Problem (acquired), and also developed Majestic AI, a Figma generative AI plugin. Ryan Myher says he likes trading Meme coins.
• Genius CTO Brihu Sundararaman: Yale University computer science major background.

According to Armaan Kalsi's disclosure to The Block, Genius has raised a total of $7 million in funding so far, including a $6 million round in 2024 and a $1 million follow-on funding round.

Among them, the lead investor is CMCC Global, and other participating investors include Flow Traders, Arca, Cadenza, Ava Labs, Public Works, as well as Balaji Srinivasan (former Coinbase CTO and angel investor), Anthony Scaramucci (founder of SkyBridge Capital), etc.

What Has Genius Achieved?

Genius is committed to providing a seamless experience close to CEXs on-chain, with key features including:

• Multiple Login Methods: Supports login via Apple, Google, wallet, and identity verification via email, SMS, etc.
• Multi-Chain Aggregation: Supports Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Base, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Sui, HyperEVM and other networks.
• Deposit & Purchase: In addition to direct wallet deposits, Genius supports cryptocurrency purchases through integration with Coinbase and major card providers like Moonpay.
• Full-Category Trading: Supports Launchpool, spot, perpetual contracts, presales and yield:
• Perpetual contract markets aggregate Hyperliquid and Aster markets.
• Launchpads aggregate Four.Meme on BNB Chain, Pump.fun, LaunchLab, BONK.fun, Boop, Jupiter Studio, Believe on Solana, Zora on Base and other launch platforms, supporting browsing, tracking and trading of tokens.
• Spot Trading: Supports single-chain swaps and cross-chain swaps via the intent-based interoperability protocol Genius Bridge Protocol.
• Frictionless Interaction: Unlike regular DEXs that require pop-up signatures for each transaction, Genius achieves a CEX-like experience—no pop-ups, no approvals needed.
• Privacy & MEV Resistance: Through "Ghost Orders" technology, orders are split across hundreds of wallets for execution, hiding users' true intentions and preventing sandwich bot (MEV) attacks.
• Chain Scanning Tool: The Discover page supports viewing trending tokens and integrates DEXScreener data tools.

Notably, the intent-based cross-chain execution layer Genius Bridge Protocol (GBP) used for Genius' cross-chain swaps revolves around Lit-based intent authentication, Orchestrator wallets for deterministic liquidity control, and vault-based modular execution logic. It also provides swap services to users by combining liquidity from usdGG, a USD-backed yield-bearing collateralized stablecoin.

Simply put, the Genius protocol converts user deposits into USDC (or USDT on some chains) and stores them in vaults. When cross-chain swaps occur, the protocol charges fees and automatically distributes 90% of the fees to usdGG holders. That means usdGG liquidity providers can earn most of the protocol's cross-chain swap fees when users trade assets cross-chain.

Regarding the core "Ghost Orders" mechanism, YZi Labs disclosed that the protocol uses multi-party computation (MPC) technology to generate temporary wallet clusters that work collaboratively. This innovation allows high-net-worth users to execute complex trading strategies in parallel across hundreds of addresses while effectively cutting off fund link connections and achieving crypto-grade privacy audit. More importantly, users don't need to manage each wallet individually—they can easily control the splitting and execution of large orders through aggregated management.

On fees: Spot trading fees are calculated based on the user's total trading volume and tier—higher total volume leads to lower fees. Perpetual contract market fees depend on the user's Hyperliquid tier.

How to Interact?

According to Genius' official documentation, Season 1 will be launched on January 15, 2026, and run until March 16, with a total of 200 million GP points allocated. Points are distributed weekly (20 million points per week).

GP acquisition rules include trading and referrals. Among them:

Trading Volume Rewards:

• Spot Trading: Every $100 in trading volume = 1 GP (before multiplier application)
• Perpetual Contracts: Every $1000 in trading volume =1 GP (before multiplier application)
• Get a streak multiplier after 7 consecutive trading days; reset if trading is interrupted for one day.

Tier Multiplier Rewards (Spot)

• Tier 1 (1x): Execute $10,000 total spot trading volume (1000 points) + execute 10 additional trades (200 points).
• Tier 2 (1.2x): Execute $100,000 total spot trading volume + execute 100 additional trades.
• Tier3 (1.4x): Execute $500,000 total spot trading volume + execute 1,000 additional trades.
• Tier4 (1.6x): Execute $1 million total spot trading volume + execute 2500 additional trades. Eligible for 20% cashback.
• Tier5 (1.8x): Reach $5 million total spot trading volume + execute 5000 additional trades. Eligible for30% cashback.
• Tier6 (2x): Reach $20 million total spot trading volume + execute7500 additional trades. Eligible for40% cashback.
• Tier7 (2.1x): Reach $50 million total spot trading volume + execute15,000 additional trades. Eligible for50% cashback.
• Tier8 (2.2x): Reach $100 million total spot trading volume + execute30,000 additional trades. Eligible for60% cashback.

Referral Rewards: Genius offers fee rewards and GP point rewards. Among point rewards: When your invited friend reaches $1000 in trading volume, you get 500 GP directly; when they reach $10,000, you get3000 GP; when they reach $100,000 and $1 million, you get5000 GP and15,000 GP respectively.

Fee rewards are settled weekly in USDC. Invitors can get30% of all trading fees from first-level referrals,10% from second-level referrals,5% from third-level referrals, and1% from fourth-level referrals.

In addition, Genius has set up a daily wheel spin activity. You can unlock the wheel spin activity after reaching Trading Tier2, but you need to complete at least one trade on the day to get one spin chance. For every additional $10,000 in trading volume, you get another spin chance (no upper limit). Rewards include varying amounts of GP and Meme coins of different values.

Currently, Genius has launched a two-week zero-trading-fee promotion: all trades are charged a1 basis point fee, which will be refunded after the promotion ends.