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

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