Author: momo, ChainCatcher
BNB has broken the important psychological barrier of 1000 USD, and BNB Chain has also seen a resurgence in on-chain activity. On September 21, its daily trading volume hit a nearly 30-day high, exceeding 16.5 million transactions in a single day. Meanwhile, BNB Chain and opBNB have also become the public chains with the highest number of daily active users.
BNB Chain is gradually becoming an amplifier of market sentiment, from Jobless, Aster to Giggle, Sign. With the support of CZ, it has evolved from a “wealth code” to a “wealth code” maker.
In addition, BNB Chain is also reinforcing its fundamentals while the iron is hot, planning to reduce the cost of a single transaction to approximately $0.005 through a network upgrade. Wall Street asset management giant Franklin has also officially announced the expansion of its self-developed tokenization platform Benji to BNB Chain.
However, in the context of high prices and a lively atmosphere, some long-term BNB holders chose not to sell off significantly and exit the market.
does not have many options
Recently, after BNB broke the new high of 1000 dollars, a market maker for the Binance Alpha project named Kun did not sell. He has held BNB since 2021, with 90% of his position in BNB.
Kun basically doesn't participate much in other non-mainstream altcoins, “since I don't know where to go after exiting temporarily, I'll hold BNB to benefit from interest rate cuts.”
However, as the staking lock-up period is lifted, Kun may consider exiting part of his stake, due to the decrease in returns from Launchpool after the launch of Binance Alpha, which has also reduced Kun's passive income.
Another BNB whale, Chen, has sold 20% and has invested some of the funds into other platform tokens, while a small portion is betting on the new hot meme on the BNB Chain.
He started investing 50% of his position in BNB gradually from early 2024 when the BNB price was in the range of 300-500 dollars. After CZ was released from prison, Chen continued to increase his position. Recently, after selling 20% of his BNB, BNB now accounts for 30% of his entire position.
Since May of this year, BNB has almost risen for nearly 5 months from around 500 dollars. For Chen, taking profit at the high point is a regular operation, and the reason for not selling off significantly is that, on one hand, he believes BNB Chain is still on the rise, and on the other hand, there are no better alternatives, “Bitcoin and Ethereum are growing too slowly, and other altcoins and meme coins only dare to test the waters with small positions.”
Crypto KOL BigFang shared on YouTube that $1000 is an important psychological barrier. After a breakthrough, he is optimistic about traditional off-market funds entering.
At the beginning of September, the Hong Kong compliant exchange OSL opened trading services for BNB to professional investors, making BNB the 6th cryptocurrency listed on the exchange. In addition, several listed companies have formed a BNB strategic reserve, and VanEck and REX Shares & Osprey Funds have submitted applications for a BNB ETF to the US SEC.
A prominent crypto KOL revealed on Twitter that since holding BNB from the BNB ICO, they continued to add 1,000 BNB when it reached a new high of $990. After the new high, BNB remains their third largest holding, only behind Ethereum and Bitcoin.
In addition to continuing to hold BNB, he has also invested in the BNB Chain ecosystem, purchasing 1.4 million Aster, and stated, “You should hold Aster like you held BNB eight years ago.”
Why can it hold positions for so long?
Compared to the market sentiment regarding CZ possibly returning to the Binance leadership, the BNB long-term holders interviewed this time may be more concerned about the tokenomics of BNB, the leadership capabilities of the team, and the future growth potential.
1. BNB captures the real income of BNB
“From the perspective of the token economic model, BNB captures the real income of the BNB system,” this is the most critical reason for Kun's position.
In Kun's view, on one hand, BNB undergoes buybacks and burns every quarter, and this deflationary mechanism directly feeds the exchange's profits back into the token's value. Through continuous token burns, the initial supply of BNB has been reduced from 200 million to around 100 million, enhancing its scarcity and value.
Kun mentioned that CZ and his team hold some BNB, and these tokens will not flow into the market, which means that the circulating market value of BNB is lower than what is seen on the surface.
On the other hand, BNB allows project parties to set up funding pools on the BNB Chain through Binance Alpha. These funding pools will use BNB to assemble, thereby locking a large amount of BNB in the funding pools. This mechanism is similar to Solana's split disk principle, which reduces circulation by locking tokens, thereby enhancing the value of the tokens.
Holding BNB allows investors to enjoy additional benefits from Launchpool, HODLer airdrops, MegaDrop, and so on, which are quite attractive. This is also a key reason why BNB whale Chen has held onto it for a long time. Chen also mentioned that BNB, being the core asset of the Binance ecosystem, has strong value capture capability as it can be used for trading fees, staking, and new activities like airdrops, as well as in the BNB Chain ecosystem applications.
2, “Bullish” CZ
The strategic and execution capabilities of CZ and the BNB ecosystem are also an important reason why many people are willing to hold them long-term.
Chen believes that Ethereum is more like a large company that operates at a slow pace and relies on external capital, while BNB Chain resembles a proactive startup, especially after CZ's return, as the team continuously launches new projects and new ways to engage, always finding ways to shift market attention and funds towards the BNB ecosystem.
Starting from February when CZ shouted “test coin” TST, and then from CZ's dog, Mubarak, a CZ who initially claimed not to like memes successfully shifted the community's enthusiasm for trading memecoins from Solana to BNB Chain.
After the meme heat gradually subsided, Binance Alpha once again drove community trading of Binance's new projects; subsequently, there were the platform tokens of Four.meme, and the reserve strategy narrative of BNB, and then last week, after CZ changed the bio of his X account from “ex-@binance” back to “@binance”, he then targeted Perp DEX, followed by Aster soaring dozens of times. The CZ effect has also begun to sweep the community, with projects interacted with by CZ including those invested in by YZi Labs, becoming the new password of the community.
Crypto KOL @yuyue_chris Yuyue also posted on platform X, stating that CZ's official “return” really makes people feel like they can make money with him, “The essence of assets, Binance has indeed figured it out this time.”
For Kun, who has a technical background, after seeing the “Ponzi schemes” in the crypto world being promoted from various angles such as technological innovation, CZ is one of the few who makes him feel that his intentions are good. “CZ is already financially free, and his aim is definitely not money. As a tech guy active on the front line, he focuses on interesting content, and it feels more like a way to solidify the entire Binance's position.”
3. Incremental Space from Traditional Fields
The confidence in holding BNB not only comes from the vibrancy within the community but also from the gradual recognition and adoption in traditional sectors. This “external validation” brings greater application scenarios and substantial new capital to BNB.
In terms of application scenarios, on one hand, Wall Street financial giants are gradually expanding their RWA businesses to BNB Chain. Recently, Franklin Templeton, an asset management giant managing $1.6 trillion, has expanded its tokenized products to BNB Chain. Another asset management giant, VanEck, has also launched a tokenized government bond fund, VBILL, on BNB Chain through a partnership with Securitize, while Ondo Finance and xStock have successively announced plans to bring tokenized government bonds and structured products to BNB Chain.
On the other hand, Binance Pay is also actively promoting its adoption in traditional commerce, recently launching in 30,000 merchants in South Africa through a partnership with Zapper.
In terms of new funds, the BNB strategy treasury of traditional listed companies has also brought structural buying.
BNB Network Company (BNC) is currently the largest BNB reserve listed company in the world, having held over 410,000 BNB as of September 10.
Nano Labs (NA) plans to invest 1 billion USD in purchasing BNB within three years, aiming to hold 5%-10% of the total circulating supply of BNB. The semi-annual financial report shows that it has already held 128,000 BNB.
Windtree Therapeutics (WINT) has signed an agreement to use 99% of the raised funds to acquire BNB, in order to strengthen its cryptocurrency funding strategy;
HUAXING CAPITAL invested approximately $100 million in a special allocation of BNB assets.
……
In addition, the Kingdom of Bhutan's Galleb Mindfulness City (GMC) economic zone has included BNB in its official strategic reserve asset list, which means that the value and security of BNB have gained sovereign-level attention and recognition.
4. The policy risk faced by Binance has decreased
In March of this year, Binance announced that it received a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi state-owned capital MGX, which is a very positive signal for Kun. This means that Binance has found a strong “umbrella”.
As the cryptocurrency environment in the United States becomes increasingly friendly this year, the policy risks faced by Binance are gradually being alleviated.
In May, the SEC filed to dismiss the lawsuits against Binance, Binance US, and CZ. On September 16, according to Bloomberg, Binance is negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice to potentially end the compliance monitoring period that began in 2023 early. This development has alleviated, to some extent, the market's long-standing greatest concerns.
In the context of the global trend towards compliance, Binance has obtained regulatory licenses in about 21 countries or regions, including Dubai, Japan, the European Union, and Southeast Asia, allowing its business to be built on a more compliant foundation.
Conclusion
In the current market environment filled with uncertainty, holding BNB for the long term not only reflects investors' pragmatic tendencies in a limited choice scenario but also represents a vote of confidence in a continuously evolving ecosystem.
The logic behind the rise of BNB comes from various aspects of value support. Its deflationary model feeds the real income of the Binance platform back into the token's value, forming a foundation of intrinsic value. After CZ's return, ecosystem activity and project iteration speed have significantly increased, continuously attracting developers and users to participate, thereby creating a virtuous development cycle. At the same time, traditional financial institutions and listed companies are gradually incorporating BNB into their asset allocation or on-chain layouts, resulting in structural capital inflows. The advancement of global compliance processes also provides a more stable policy environment for long-term holding. Additionally, on the technical level, the continuous optimization of BNB Chain's network performance and the reduction of transaction costs further enhance the on-chain experience.
However, the investment risks of BNB cannot be ignored either. It remains a cryptocurrency with high price volatility, influenced by the performance of specific companies and ecosystems, while being highly sensitive to global macroeconomic sentiments.
Overall, BNB has gradually surpassed the attributes of traditional platform tokens and has transformed into a digital asset with an independent economic model and ecological logic. Whether its future value can be sustained will depend on the team's strategic capabilities and execution, the continuous growth of ecological projects, the effectiveness of technological upgrades, and the adaptability to the ever-changing global regulatory landscape.
Source: Chain Catcher
