YZi Labs invests tens of millions of dollars, CZ serves as an advisor, Genius still lacks followers

By: rootdata|2026/04/14 18:10:02

0

Share

copy

Author: Chloe, ChainCatcher

On April 13, the Perp DEX trading terminal Genius, supported by YZi Labs, disclosed information about its first quarter airdrop event, which will allocate a total of 70 million GENIUS tokens and will simultaneously launch on Binance Alpha. However, this launch, which should have been a moment of celebration, triggered a crisis of trust within the community due to the significant gap between official rules and community expectations.

CZ Endorsement, Billions in Trading Volume, Are the Yield Farmers All In?

Genius is an on-chain perpetual contract trading terminal backed by tens of millions of dollars from YZi Labs, with CZ personally serving as an advisor, and has been under the spotlight since its inception. The platform aggregates over 10 public chains and more than 150 DEXs, boasting CEX-level execution speed and on-chain privacy trading. In January of this year, it recorded a weekly trading volume exceeding $2 billion, with a cumulative total trading volume surpassing $15 billion.

According to cryptocurrency data platform RootData, Genius completed a $6 million seed round financing in October 2024, led by CMCC Global, with participation from institutions like AVA Labs, Arca, and Flow Traders. Additionally, Genius co-founder Armaan Kalsi revealed that YZi Labs joined the financing this year, investing "tens of millions of dollars" into Genius Trading, and CZ also joined the company as an advisor.

According to a previous official announcement, 21% of the total supply of Genius tokens is allocated for community airdrops, executed in three Seasons, with each season accounting for 7%. Users can accumulate Genius Points (GP) through spot trading volume, with points directly corresponding to token distribution. The platform indeed returned real cash to the market during the distribution process, with over $7 million in cash back and $1.3 million in referral rewards distributed weekly in the form of USDC.

This mechanism operated smoothly in the early stages, and the expectations for many yield farmers were quite clear. However, when the rules were suddenly rewritten on the eve of the TGE, these investments instantly turned into sunk costs.

70% of User Allocation Burned, Just Because the Official Wanted to Filter

-- Price

You may also like

The payment moment of AI agents: Who will become the Stripe of the machine economy?

The payment moment of AI agents: Who will become the Stripe of the machine economy?

Cryptographic infrastructure and card organizations are not mutually exclusive; the winner is the unified gateway that connects both tracks simultaneously.

Rented Tracks: What is this wave of stablecoin FX hot money really paying for?

Rented Tracks: What is this wave of stablecoin FX hot money really paying for?

What is truly being repriced in the market is the layer between stablecoin issuers and the real economy - the transaction layer.

Strategy should have said that selling coins is not ruled out

Strategy should have said that selling coins is not ruled out

If Saylor sells his coins, will the cryptocurrency market plummet?

How MegaETH Achieved a TVL of 700m Within a Week of TGE? Analyzing the Packaging Strategy

How MegaETH Achieved a TVL of 700m Within a Week of TGE? Analyzing the Packaging Strategy

MegaETH created a flywheel with USDm, aiming to attract a large number of users and funds in the short term.

Futures Trading Hours: Trade Cryptocurrency 24/7 and Earn Back Up to 45% in Trading Fees

Futures Trading Hours: Trade Cryptocurrency 24/7 and Earn Back Up to 45% in Trading Fees

Learn futures trading hours and the best time to trade crypto futures. Discover 24/7 market insights, peak trading sessions, and how to earn back up to 45% in fees.

Why is a16z Crypto raising another $2.2 billion to heavily invest in Web3?

Why is a16z Crypto raising another $2.2 billion to heavily invest in Web3?

This round of funding bets on the transition of cryptocurrency from the infrastructure development phase to the phase of real user adoption. Whether focusing on cryptocurrency or crossing over to AI, this real money will only flow to those places that can turn technology into products.

Polymarket Underlying Algorithm Explained

Polymarket Underlying Algorithm Explained

It may be the only article on Twitter that clearly explains all the underlying design of Polymarket in plain language.

What do projects born in the crypto bear market do?

What do projects born in the crypto bear market do?

From January to April, RootData has recorded over 1,070 new projects, a decrease of about 32% compared to the same period last year.

a16z founder's Stanford lecture: Whenever Wall Street and Silicon Valley have different ideas, it's Wall Street that ends up being wrong

a16z founder's Stanford lecture: Whenever Wall Street and Silicon Valley have different ideas, it's Wall Street that ends up being wrong

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of a16z, delivered a powerful talk: The two traditional moats of software in the AI era have been erased, and entrepreneurs must seek "new barriers" beyond code and UI.

Michael Saylor: After three consecutive quarters of losses, Strategy will sell Bitcoin to pay dividends

Michael Saylor: After three consecutive quarters of losses, Strategy will sell Bitcoin to pay dividends

After MSTR's financial report showed continued net losses, Saylor changed his stance: Bitcoin is no longer "never to be sold" and can be used as a payment tool.

The toll station at Hormuz and the RMB that cannot be bought

The toll station at Hormuz and the RMB that cannot be bought

The disorder of the US dollar is giving rise to a new situation in global settlement: gold is being redefined as a "bridge," the CIPS system is expanding rapidly, and global funds are quietly opening up a new channel for the renminbi, which is "hard to obtain."

Interview with Coinbase Institutional's Strategic Head: The Institutionalization of Crypto Reaches a Critical Point

Interview with Coinbase Institutional's Strategic Head: The Institutionalization of Crypto Reaches a Critical Point

Coinbase executives provide an in-depth analysis: Unfazed by short-term market panic, institutions are accelerating their entry, and tokenization along with the "exchange of everything" is about to completely reconstruct the global financial infrastructure.

Dialogue with Agora CEO Nick: The battle for stablecoin licenses has just begun

Dialogue with Agora CEO Nick: The battle for stablecoin licenses has just begun

Agora strikes: officially applies for a federal trust bank license in the United States, elevating from a stablecoin issuer to "underlying financial infrastructure," targeting the trillion-dollar enterprise payment and B2B settlement market.

Morning Report | a16z Crypto completes $2.2 billion fundraising for its fifth fund; Bullish invests $4.2 billion to acquire share transfer agency Equiniti; PayPal's Q1 performance exceeds expectations

Morning Report | a16z Crypto completes $2.2 billion fundraising for its fifth fund; Bullish invests $4.2 billion to acquire share transfer agency Equiniti; PayPal's Q1 performance exceeds expectations

Overview of Important Market Events on May 5th

a16z Crypto: What We See Behind the $2.2 Billion New Fund

a16z Crypto: What We See Behind the $2.2 Billion New Fund

After the noise subsides, what remains is often more useful than it appeared at its peak and more enduring than it seemed at its lowest point.

Web3 is dead, Web2+3 should rise

Web3 is dead, Web2+3 should rise

We are not aiming to hold a self-indulgent party for Web3 practitioners, but rather to build a bridge for rational connection between Web2 and Web3.

Stablecoins and Latin American Remittances: The Misunderstood $174 Billion Market

Stablecoins and Latin American Remittances: The Misunderstood $174 Billion Market

In the Latin American remittance market, the real protagonists have never been the young people speculating on cryptocurrencies, but rather the 50-year-old workers who send money to their mothers every month. They don't care about blockchain; they only care about whether the money has arrived.

The arrival of the Web 3.0 era: A review of Hong Kong court rulings on digital assets

The arrival of the Web 3.0 era: A review of Hong Kong court rulings on digital assets

Hong Kong judiciary landmark: The court officially recognizes cryptocurrency as legal property and introduces the "tokenized injunction" to track and freeze involved funds, comprehensively upgrading the protection of digital asset investors.

The payment moment of AI agents: Who will become the Stripe of the machine economy?

Cryptographic infrastructure and card organizations are not mutually exclusive; the winner is the unified gateway that connects both tracks simultaneously.

Rented Tracks: What is this wave of stablecoin FX hot money really paying for?

What is truly being repriced in the market is the layer between stablecoin issuers and the real economy - the transaction layer.

Strategy should have said that selling coins is not ruled out

If Saylor sells his coins, will the cryptocurrency market plummet?

How MegaETH Achieved a TVL of 700m Within a Week of TGE? Analyzing the Packaging Strategy

MegaETH created a flywheel with USDm, aiming to attract a large number of users and funds in the short term.

Futures Trading Hours: Trade Cryptocurrency 24/7 and Earn Back Up to 45% in Trading Fees

Learn futures trading hours and the best time to trade crypto futures. Discover 24/7 market insights, peak trading sessions, and how to earn back up to 45% in fees.

Why is a16z Crypto raising another $2.2 billion to heavily invest in Web3?

This round of funding bets on the transition of cryptocurrency from the infrastructure development phase to the phase of real user adoption. Whether focusing on cryptocurrency or crossing over to AI, this real money will only flow to those places that can turn technology into products.

Contents

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

06:42

The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in June is 93.5%, and the probability of a rate cut in July is 13%

According to Jinshi News, CME's "Fed Watch" shows that the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged until June is 93.5%, and the probability of a cumulative rate cut of 25 basis points is 6.5%. By July, the probability of keeping interest rates unchanged is 86.5%, the prob...

05:42

VanEck: Bitcoin could reach 1 million dollars within 5 years

Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, stated that the price of Bitcoin is expected to reach $1 million in the next 5 years.He likened the adoption path of Bitcoin to video games: gradually moving from early niche groups to widespread popularity, especially optimistic about the con...

05:42

The US dollar index fell by 0.43%, closing at 98.017

According to Jinshi reports, the dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major currencies, fell by 0.43% on May 6, closing at 98.017 in the foreign exchange market. 1 euro exchanged for 1.1748 dollars, up from 1.17 dollars the previous trading day; 1 pound exchanged for 1.3593 dollars, u...

05:42

Meta-supported Scale AI won a $500 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense

The Pentagon has awarded a $500 million contract to Scale AI, supported by Meta Platforms, to help process data and assist decision-making, marking the latest move by the U.S. military to further rely on artificial intelligence.The amount of this agreement is five times the $100 million contract the...

04:42

Data: In the past 24 hours, the total liquidation across the network reached 586 million USD, with long positions liquidated at 190 million USD and short positions liquidated at 397 million USD

According to Coinglass data, in the past 24 hours, the total liquidation across the network was $586 million, with long liquidations at $190 million and short liquidations at $397 million. Among them, Bitcoin long liquidations amounted to $29.4575 million, Bitcoin short liquidations to $159 million,...