CZ's Next Bet: Genius Terminal and Its Upcoming Airdrop

Genius Terminal is the DeFi trading platform that just landed one of crypto's biggest endorsements. Changpeng Zhao, the former Binance CEO, joined as a strategic advisor after his family office YZi Labs poured a major investment into the project in January 2026. The platform has since exploded in volume, a confirmed $GENIUS token is on the way, and an airdrop tied to a points system is already live. If you've been watching the "terminal wars" play out across on-chain trading, this is the one to watch.

What Is Genius Terminal?

Genius Terminal is a non-custodial, chain-agnostic trading platform built for serious DeFi users. It aggregates liquidity from over 300 DEXs across more than 10 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Sui. You get spot trading, perpetuals through Hyperliquid integration, pre-launch tokens, portfolio yield tools, and advanced analytics. All under one roof.

Privacy is the selling point. Genius uses something called "Ghost Orders," which rely on Multi-Party Computation (MPC) to split trades across temporary wallets. That masks your trading activity without moving anything off-chain. A public beta of this privacy layer is expected in Q2 2026.

Co-founder Armaan Kalsi has described it as an "on-chain Binance," focused on the things centralized exchanges still do better than DEXs: speed, privacy, and clean execution. The difference is you keep custody of your funds.

Why Is CZ Backing Genius Terminal?

On January 13, 2026, YZi Labs announced its investment in Genius. YZi Labs is the family office of CZ and Yi He, spun out from Binance Labs. Reports suggest the deal was worth $10 million or more. It's also YZi's first public bet on a Web3 trading terminal.

CZ joining as a strategic advisor isn't just a name drop. He described Genius as "a trading terminal that connects to perp DEXes" and framed it as infrastructure that could genuinely compete with centralized exchanges.

Kalsi put it plainly: "Aligning with YZi Labs means we have the industry's most thorough and well-resourced backer taking a meaningful swing at creating an 'on-chain Binance,' while focusing on what makes CEXs better than DEXs right now: privacy."

Before the YZi deal, Genius had raised $6 million in October 2024 in a round led by CMCC Global, with participation from Balaji Srinivasan, Ava Labs, Flow Traders, and Arca. CZ's involvement takes it to a different level entirely.

How Big Has the Volume Growth Been?

Volume exploded after the announcement. On January 17, 2026, Genius recorded $787 million in single-day trading volume, mostly from EVM chains. That pushed weekly volume past $2 billion, up from $85 million the week before. Average per-wallet activity hit $82,400.

Much of this was driven by airdrop farming, with traders racking up volume to qualify for the upcoming $GENIUS token distribution. Daily trading contests and simple wallet import features helped pull in new users fast.

There were growing pains. Early hype attracted bot farming, which pushed the team to shift toward a retroactive points model. Cumulative volume exceeded $3 billion by late January, though daily figures cooled after fee adjustments. Activity now sits in the tens of millions range, favoring sustainable use over hype-driven farming.

How Does the Genius Points Airdrop Work?

The $GENIUS token launch is confirmed, with a token generation event (TGE) expected before April 12, 2026. The airdrop runs through a Genius Points (GP) system during Season One, which spans January 15 to April 12.

Here's how it breaks down. A total of 200 million GP are allocated for Season One, distributed at 10 million per week. There's a weekly cap per user, which is designed to favor regular traders over whales trying to game the system.

You earn GP through spot trading volume. Perpetuals volume on Hyperliquid doesn't count toward GP. The system includes gamified elements like trader levels ranging from Smart to God, spins earned per $100,000 traded (capped at 50), streaks, and milestones that unlock cashback and fee rebates. Referrals earn fees once those are enabled, but they don't generate GP directly.

When the Genius Points Whitepaper dropped on January 19, the team increased the total airdrop allocation by 50% and boosted point value by 50%. They also shifted to a retroactive system to cut down on bot activity, with 75 million GP already distributed to real users retroactively. Points convert into $GENIUS tokens, rebates, and early access to privacy tools.

There's also a partner airdrop running. Genius has partnered with FIGHT.ID to distribute $FIGHT tokens to users who trade on the platform, regardless of PNL. FIGHT.ID takes a 0.5% fee on all $FIGHT trades.

What's Next for Genius Terminal?

The privacy beta is the big one. Full Ghost Orders rolling out in Q2 2026 would make Genius one of the first terminals to offer real trading privacy at scale. Beyond that, the roadmap includes expansion to more chains, copy trading features, and a longer-term vision of becoming the "execution layer" for DeFi by abstracting away bridges and vaults.

CZ's backing is a bet that DeFi can finally beat CEXs where it counts: privacy, speed, and execution. Delivering on all of that is a different conversation. But with this kind of volume and a live airdrop, Genius has earned the attention.

Start at the official website: tradegenius.com | Follow updates: @GeniusTerminal

Sources:

• CoinDesk — Reporting on Genius Terminal's $787M single-day volume record, airdrop farming dynamics, and GP tier system
• The Block — Original reporting on the multi-8-figure YZi Labs investment, CZ advisory role, and terminal wars context
• Yahoo Finance — Coverage of YZi Labs investment announcement and Armaan Kalsi quotes via Coinspeaker
• Phemex — Post-fee-change volume decline analysis
• CryptoRank — YZi Labs investment context and Ghost Orders technical breakdown
• Odaily — Detailed breakdown of updated GP rules, 200M total supply, and retroactive distribution mechanics
• Genius Terminal Docs — Official spin wheel mechanics and points system details
• Genius Terminal — Official site confirming $FIGHT partner airdrop for Genius traders