In the crypto world, seven years can transform a young participant in a Binance Labs incubator group photo into a formidable competitor that Binance must acknowledge as a serious threat.

On Oct.10, this long-forgotten photograph resurfaced, sparking intense discussions across social media platforms.

https://x.com/yzilabs/status/1070539594590969858

At first glance, the image appears to be a standard group photo from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) released in 2018, documenting when they invited Garry Tan, head of the prestigious venture capital incubator Y Combinator, to mentor founders of emerging projects in the BUIDLers incubation program.

While Garry, dressed in black, occupies the center position, attention has shifted to the figure behind him: a young man wearing glasses and a light-colored sweater, whose youthful expression bears striking resemblance to Jeff Yan, current founder of Hyperliquid. Enlarged comparisons with Jeff's recent public photographs reveal remarkably similar facial features.

Given Hyperliquid's current dominance in the perpetual DEX sector, with daily trading volumes frequently exceeding billions of dollars, it has effectively become a direct competitor to Binance's futures operations. This context elevates the photograph's significance far beyond mere historical curiosity.

The revelation ignited widespread commentary, with numerous users tagging Jeff's account @chameleon_jeff to confirm whether they are indeed the same person, while others noted the irony that Binance may have inadvertently nurtured its own competitor.

If authentic, this photograph documents a remarkable seven-year journey from incubator participant to industry challenger, a transformation worthy of detailed examination.

Early Prediction Market Work: Jeff Was Ahead by Multiple Versions

The speculation surrounding Jeff's presence in that photograph gains credibility from official Binance Labs documentation. Their published Medium article lists Deaux among the Season 1 incubation projects from 2019, with Jeff Yan identified as founder.

https://medium.com/binance-labs/season-1-binance-labs-incubation-program-buidlers-season-1-ec34b601ccd

Deaux represented an ambitious attempt to create a decentralized prediction market platform. The project's vision encompassed allowing anyone to establish prediction events on-chain, enabling users to wager on outcomes with market-driven pricing. Its hybrid architecture featured off-chain order matching coupled with on-chain final settlement.

This design philosophy was remarkably advanced for 2018, successfully balancing performance requirements with decentralization principles while establishing crypto infrastructure for prediction markets.

This strategic framework precisely mirrors the operational model that platforms such as Polymarket deploy today, underscoring Jeff's prescient grasp of market dynamics and structural evolution.

This assessment cannot be dismissed as retrospective bias. Contemporary documentation demonstrates that Deaux's foundational architecture—encompassing hybrid on-chain/off-chain infrastructure, high-performance order matching engines, and decentralized settlement protocols—bears striking resemblance to Hyperliquid's current technical framework.

Jeff correctly identified the market trajectory and engineered robust technical solutions, yet Deaux ultimately failed to secure meaningful market adoption. The project's digital presence deteriorated progressively, with its website becoming defunct and social media activity ceasing entirely by 2019.

Excessive foresight frequently carries the penalty of mistimed execution.

The 2018 crypto market had recently plummeted from speculative peaks into an extended bear cycle. Market participants prioritised capital preservation and price recovery over experimental on-chain prediction market innovations. More fundamentally, the era's underlying infrastructure—encompassing blockchain throughput, wallet accessibility, and user sophistication—remained inadequately developed to support such ambitious applications.

Products demanding high-frequency transactions and minimal latency could scarcely deliver acceptable user experiences within those technical limitations.

Project failure, however, does not constitute personal failure. Circa 2020, Jeff established Chameleon Trading, which subsequently evolved into Hyperliquid. Both prediction markets and derivatives trading operate on fundamentally identical principles: sophisticated order matching coupled with comprehensive risk management frameworks.

This iteration targeted perpetual futures trading, a more established market characterised by clearer demand signals and well-defined user demographics.

The timing proved fortuitous. FTX's spectacular 2022 collapse shattered confidence in centralised exchange infrastructure, generating unprecedented appetite for decentralised trading alternatives.

Rather than replicating established protocols such as Uniswap or dYdX, Jeff pursued a more ambitious yet comprehensive strategy: developing a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain architecture.

Instead of relying upon external liquidity provision, the platform implements the HLP (Hyperliquid Liquidity Provider) mechanism, facilitating direct user participation in market-making activities. More audaciously, it operates under a zero-fee structure, depending upon token economics and ecosystem expansion for long-term viability.

The evolution from Deaux to Hyperliquid reveals consistent architectural philosophy: hybrid on-chain/off-chain systems, high-performance order book technology, and decentralised settlement mechanisms. This iteration, however, benefited from Jeff's selection of the appropriate market vertical and optimal market timing.

The Enigmatic Founder

Despite escalating discussions about the photograph on X, Jeff has maintained complete silence on the matter.

Hyperliquid's Twitter account (@chameleon_jeff) contains virtually no personal content from Jeff (no photographs, lifestyle content, or personal anecdotes), only product updates, technical documentation, and occasional memes.

Jeff's personal account similarly avoids personal branding, focusing instead on product development, optimization strategies, and market analysis. His most recent tweet dates to September 23rd.

This understated approach contrasts sharply with the crypto industry's emphasis on aggressive marketing and attention cultivation. Most founders actively pursue AMAs, podcast appearances, and conference speaking opportunities, integrating personal branding into their project narratives.

Jeff appears to follow an alternative strategy, operating behind code and products, allowing trading volumes and user adoption to address skepticism. This focus on substance over spectacle may explain his progression from Binance Labs participant to current market position, prioritizing consistent product development over external validation.

From Student to Competitor

The journey from 2018 incubator participant to 2025 perpetual contract DEX leader has generated discussion not merely due to Jeff's persistence, but also the irony that a Binance Labs-incubated project now competes directly with its former sponsor.

https://x.com/AnonVee_/status/1976543936152850633

From an external vantage point, this raises the question of whether Binance inadvertently cultivated a formidable competitor.

The crypto sector has historically embraced disruptive innovation and open-source development principles. Binance Labs traditionally operated as an inclusive incubator, emphasising accessibility over strategic control.

A martial arts academy provides an apt analogy for this dynamic: masters transmit knowledge without expecting lifelong fealty. Students may subsequently establish independent schools or even surpass their instructors. This evolution represents natural progression rather than institutional betrayal.

Should Binance Labs constrain investments exclusively to "non-competitive" ventures or harbour concerns about incubated founders achieving superior outcomes, it would fundamentally undermine its legitimacy as an incubator.

Consequently, incubators cannot reasonably impose loyalty constraints upon their portfolio companies.

Alternatively, Binance Labs may have successfully executed its core mandate: identifying exceptional entrepreneurial talent—founders possessing genuine capability, irrespective of whether their future enterprises compete with the parent organisation.

From a strategic standpoint, Binance's industry leadership derives value beyond immediate revenue generation, encompassing broader ecosystem cultivation. Abandoning incubation activities due to concerns over "competitor development" would constitute profound strategic myopia.

More critically, competitive dynamics benefit the entire sector and its stakeholders.

Hyperliquid's emergence compels incumbent exchanges to continuously refine user experiences, optimise fee structures, enhance transparency protocols, and strengthen value propositions.

Market participants gain expanded choice and can articulate preferences through platform selection decisions.

Jeff's current endeavours mirror Binance's original disruption of legacy exchange infrastructure: leveraging superior product architecture to establish new industry benchmarks. The principal distinction lies in the competitive target, shifting from Coinbase and Bitfinex to Binance itself.

Lessons from This Evolution

The genuine insight from this narrative transcends the superficial drama of competitive dynamics. It demonstrates that knowledge disseminates, talent circulates, competition emerges, and ideally, all participants benefit from ecosystem growth.

This story exemplifies the crypto industry's fundamental principle: innovation thrives through open competition rather than protective gatekeeping.

Connect with us:
Fast News: t.me/blockflownews
Insights & Trends: x.com/BlockFlow_News