Binance founder’s family office backs BNB treasury firm eyeing IPO

Update (July 10, 2:35 am UTC): This article has been updated to add information on the BNB token and examples of companies buying crypto.

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao’s family office is set to back a new treasury firm that will offer investors exposure to BNB with the aim of going public in the US.

YZi Labs said on Wednesday it will support the investment firm 10X Capital in spinning up a BNB (BNB) treasury company that will pursue a listing on “a major US exchange,” according to a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

Mentioned only as the “BNB Treasury Company,” the firm will appoint David Namdar as CEO. He’s a senior partner at 10X Capital and a co-founder of Galaxy Digital, where he was formerly co-head of trading.

10X Capital will serve as the asset manager of the planned BNB buying company.

The planned company is the latest in a trend of firms buying up large amounts of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), providing Wall Street a vehicle for exposure to digital assets.

BNB, formerly called Binance Coin, is a token created by the crypto exchange Binance, the world’s largest by volume, which gives holders discounts on the platform and is used in products on the BNB Chain blockchain that Binance created in 2019.

“BNB Chain is one of the most widely adopted blockchain ecosystems,” said Ella Zhang, head of YZi Labs. “We believe expanding its institutional access can deliver meaningful benefits to the broader public.”

10X Capital founder and CEO Hans Thomas added that the BNB Chain “is one of the largest, highest performing digital assets ecosystems globally, powering hundreds of millions of users, however, institutional and retail investors in the US have limited exposure to the growth of BNB.”

The planned company expects to announce the closing of its related financing “in the coming weeks,” according to the statement.

BNB tied up with CZ, Binance

Exchange-tied tokens are typically seen as a way to allow traders to support a crypto exchange and can be a major funding source for such platforms.

While Binance launched the BNB token and BNB Chain and offers perks for BNB holders on its platform, the exchange isn’t involved in developing the token or the blockchain.

However, Zhao revealed in February that 98.5% of his crypto portfolio was BNB, without specifying the total value of his holdings.

Forbes reported in June 2024 that Zhao and Binance together control nearly 96% of the BNB tokens in circulation.

The report said Zhao owns 94 million BNB tokens, currently worth nearly $63 billion and accounts for over 64% of BNB’s circulating supply, while Binance controlled 31.5% of the supply.

Zhao is banned from managing Binance as part of a deal with the US to plead guilty to money laundering violations, but he is still the exchange’s biggest shareholder.

BNB is up 1.3% in the past 24 hours to trade above $670, according to CoinGecko.

Crypto-buying firms a growing trend

Many public companies have taken to stockpiling Bitcoin, but others have looked to buy and hold so-called altcoins such as BNB.

The Nasdaq-listed Chinese chip designer Nano Labs said late last month that it plans to buy up to $1 billion worth of BNB and made its first buy of $50 million earlier this month.

Others, including the Singapore Web3 firm Trident Digital and the Chinese auto firm Webus, have said they’ll spend hundreds of millions buying up and holding XRP (XRP).

Zhao wrote to X on Wednesday that “there are over 30+ teams” that want to do a BNB treasury public company.

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