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

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao’s family office, YZi Labs, is set to back a new treasury firm that will offer investors exposure to BNB with aims 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.

Called “The BNB Treasury Company,” the company 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 that are buying up large amounts of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), to give 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.

“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,” said 10X Capital founder and CEO Hans Thomas.

“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.”

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

Such exchange-tied tokens are typically seen as a proxy to allow traders to invest in a crypto exchange, and the planned BNB-buying company could open the US market to Binance.