YZi Labs has announced a strategic investment in USD.AI, a stablecoin protocol designed to bring infrastructure finance (InfraFi) on-chain by providing hardware-backed credit to AI operators.
The move indicates YZi Labs’ growing commitment to supporting foundational infrastructure that addresses the massive capital needs of the artificial intelligence sector.
USD.AI Secures $62.7M TVL as Stablecoin Protocol Targets AI Financing Gap
USD.AI, built by Permian Labs, is a yield-bearing synthetic dollar protocol that allows infrastructure providers and AI companies to access non-dilutive loans backed by physical compute hardware.
According to the announcement, depositors, in turn, will receive a sustainable asset-backed yield. The protocol has already secured backing from top-tier investors, including Framework, Dragonfly, Digital Currency Group, Delphi, and Fintech Collective.
Unlike traditional financing, which often hinges on long cash flow projections and lengthy approvals, USD.AI offers loans secured 1:1 by AI hardware. This allows loans to close in under a week, compared to the 60–90 days typical of traditional funds. For capital-intensive sectors, that speed could mean the difference between scaling and stagnation.
The protocol’s adoption curve has been steep. Since June, USD.AI has grown from virtually zero to more than $62.7 million in total value locked (TVL).
According to data from DeFiLlama, deposits surged past $10 million by mid-June, climbed steadily into the $30–40 million range in July, and accelerated again in August to reach their current all-time high.
Source: DeFiLlama
Borrowing activity, while still modest at $1.25 million, reflects an early phase of adoption, with most users currently utilizing USD.AI as a savings and yield platform.
Partnerships have also played a central role in its rise. USD.AI has teamed up with K3 Capital, Concrete, Euler, and Pendle to launch its innovative “AutoVaults,” which allows depositors to earn optimized yields across DeFi markets.
Pendle, in particular, has been a key supporter, recently launching Boost USDai and sUSDai vaults that integrate with USD.AI’s ecosystem and offer enhanced incentives for liquidity providers.
On August 14, USD.AI raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures. With $50 million already in deposits during private beta, USD.AI plans a public launch featuring an ICO and a game-based allocation model.
YZi Labs, which manages over $10 billion in assets globally and has backed more than 300 projects across 25 countries, said its decision to support USD.AI reflects a belief that new financial primitives are needed to scale AI infrastructure.
David Choi, co-founder of USD.AI, framed the project as a lifeline for a new class of builders who have hardware but lack traditional financing channels.
“Not everyone has a CFO or a Wall Street connection. But they do have machines and a future to build,” Choi said. “This is a dollar that scales for the outsiders, and we’re excited to have YZi Labs’ support in that mission.”
The backdrop for this innovation is a rapidly escalating capital crunch in the AI industry. Analysts estimate that over $6.7 trillion will be required for compute infrastructure in the next five years, yet much of that financing remains out of reach for all but the largest firms.
Reports of OpenAI’s Sam Altman exploring new financing instruments to raise trillions for infrastructure show just how acute the funding gap has become.
USD.AI seeks to address that gap by giving smaller players the same financial access, without diluting equity or waiting months for approvals.
YZi Labs Emerges as Force Behind Institutional Push Into BTC and BNB Ecosystems
YZi Labs, the rebranded investment arm formerly known as Binance Labs, has accelerated its shift toward institutional adoption and ecosystem expansion.
Since its relaunch in January, the firm has widened its scope to include artificial intelligence and biotechnology while reinforcing its commitment to blockchain.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s former CEO, has taken an active role as a mentor to startups within the program, while co-founder Ella Zhang has returned to lead operations.
In May, the firm made a major bet on Bitcoin’s DeFi ecosystem through an investment in Avalon Labs, a BTC-based platform developing capital markets around BTC-collateralized lending, stablecoin USDa, and credit services.
At the time, Avalon held more than $500 million in total value locked, with over 20,000 BTC under management, making USDa the second-largest CDP project on DeFiLlama.
YZi Labs’ reach has since extended into treasury management. In July, it backed the creation of the BNB Treasury Company by 10X Capital.
The U.S.-based entity focuses exclusively on BNB Chain investments and is targeting a listing on a major American exchange to give institutional investors direct exposure to BNB, Binance’s $92 billion native asset.
Momentum continued in August when China Renaissance (CR), a Hong Kong–listed financial group, partnered with YZi Labs to acquire $100 million worth of BNB. CR will act as a champion for broader institutional adoption, becoming the first HK-listed firm to hold BNB as a proprietary asset.
Yesterday, a new milestone followed. B Strategy, a digital asset investment firm led by former Bitmain executives, launched a $1 billion BNB-focused treasury vehicle, with backing from YZi Labs.
The company, which aims to model itself as the “Berkshire Hathaway of the BNB ecosystem,” plans a U.S. listing while reinvesting in core BNB projects and community initiatives.
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