CZ's Family Office Deepens Stake in Ethena Labs as USDe Stablecoin Supply Tops $13B

YZi Labs, the family office founded by Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao and Yi He, which was rebranded from Binance Labs, has expanded its position in Ethena Labs, the protocol behind USDe, which has become the third-largest U.S. dollar-denominated crypto asset with more than $13 billion in circulation. The investment comes as Ethena enters a new stage of growth, which includes extending its footprint on BNB Chain. This includes rolling out products designed to bridge crypto and traditional finance, such as USDtb, a fiat-backed stablecoin in development, and Converge, an institutional settlement layer being built with Securitize and partners connected to BlackRock. USDe, marketed as a "synthetic dollar," uses bitcoin BTC, ether (ETH) and Solana's SOL (SOL)as backing assets, pairing them with an equal value of short perpetual futures positions on exchanges to maintain a $1 peg. Launched less than two years ago, the synthetic dollar crossed the $10 billion supply milestone faster than any other dollar-pegged crypto asset. “Since our investment team first met Guy [Young] in late 2023, Ethena has become the category definer for yield-bearing synthetic dollars,”…