Since the beginning of this year , the Solana meme coin craze has completely died down, and the cryptocurrency market has recently fallen into pessimism about the end of the bull market due to overall economic uncertainty. However, Binance, the leading crypto exchage, which was entangled in litigation with the US government last year and saw its momentum decline, has regained community attention and confidence this year, becoming a recent market hotspot against the trend.
The starting point of this rebound seems to be that Binance founder CZ(CZ) has become more actively involved in community activities after his release from prison . His " calling orders " has made a series of meme coins such as $TST , $Broccoli , and the recent $Mubarak popular, which in turn has attracted a large amount of market heat and funds to BNB Chain.
Binance launched the Alpha 2.0 innovation without warning, which ignited a trading boom in the Binance and BNB Chain ecosystem.The chain strategy between Binance and BNB Chain has aroused heated discussions in the community, and some even said that Alpha 2.0 will usher in a new era of CeDeFi (CeFi+DeFi).
Therefore, the following article will review the key strategies of Binance (CEX), wallets , and BNB Chain that drove last week’s craze, the data performance of the Binance and BNB Chain ecosystem, and finally explore the important impacts that Alpha 2.0 may have on the on-chain ecosystem and the entire industry.
Binance, BNB Chain and CZ community collaboration
After the BNB Chain meme coin craze ignited by $TST and $Broccoli cooled down this month, a combination of punches jointly launched by Binance and BNB Chain successfully raised the heat again.
On March 12, Binance announced that it had received a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi investment institution MGX. CZ retweeted and commented on "Mubarak" (Arabic for blessing), giving birth to the meme coin of the same name Mubarak. Later, he bought 1 BNB of $TST and $Mubarak through the BSC donation address " for testing ." CZ’s orders pushed the market value of $Mubarak to over 200 million USD. Binance took the opportunity to launch perpetual contracts , which also led to a rise in the BNB Chain ecosystem Meme sector and the frequent appearance of Golden Dogs.
On the 17th, a major event occurred in the on-chain ecosystem. It was reported that OKX urgently stopped the Web3 wallet DEX aggregator due to the EU MiCA compliance pressure . All decentralized exchanges (DEX) and wallets wanted to take the opportunity to absorb a large number of on-chain players who were looking for alternatives. On the same day, Binance Wallet announced the launch of a 6-month transaction fee-free event .
Binance Alpha 2.0 connects CEX and DEX
Immediately afterwards, Binance Exchange launched its killer move on the 18th, launching the " Alpha 2.0 " upgrade, expanding the integration of centralized exchanges (CEX) and DEX, allowing users to directly purchase tokens on the Binance Exchange that were originally only available in the Alpha area of the Binance wallet.
Binance Wallet launched Binance Alpha in December last year as an "observation selection pool" before Binance listing coins. It showcases tokens that are selected based on Binance's professional insights, have strong community attention, high sustained growth attention, and are consistent with key trends shaping the crypto field. It aims to increase the transparency of Binance's listing inspection process.
Specifically, Alpha 2.0 makes the on-chain trading experience of Alpha zone tokens more convenient through the following core functions, while further improving liquidity and capital efficiency.
- You can seamlessly purchase on-chain tokens on the Binance exchange site : users do not need to withdraw assets to an external wallet, nor do they need to set up an additional on-chain wallet. They can complete on-chain token transactions directly on the Binance exchange in one stop, eliminating the complicated on-chain transfer operations such as copying addresses.
- Users can directly use funds on the trading platform to trade Alpha tokens with funds in Binance’s spot account and fund account, greatly improving the flexibility of fund use. (Currently , USDT and USDC stablecoins are supported for transactions. BNB Chain and Ethereum tokens are purchased with USDT, and Solana and Base coins are purchased with USDC . More assets will be gradually supported in the future.)
Binance Wallet transaction volume surged 24 times, market share approaching 50%
After the launch of Alpha 2.0, the transaction volume between Binance Wallet and BNB Chain increased significantly last week.
According to DUNE data, Binance Wallet's daily transaction volume exceeded US$93 million on the 18th, accounting for more than 45% of the total cryptocurrency wallet transaction volume on that day. Compared with the daily transaction volume of less than 4 million in early March, it has grown more than 24 times. In terms of the number of active users, it reached a peak of over 71,000 on the 20th, accounting for more than 43% of the total active users of crypto wallets. After OKX suspended DEX, it became the most popular Web3 wallet among users last week.
BNB Chain tops DEX trading volume champion
At the same time, the BNB Chain ecosystem has seen explosive growth in data over the past week, attracting a lot of market attention. According to DeFiLlama, Dune data and Binance Research’s weekly report released on the 21st, the key data are as follows:
- Ranked first in public chain DEX transaction volume : BNB Chain's DEX transaction volume surpassed Ethereum and Solana between March 15 and 21, reaching a record high of US$14.68 billion.
- DEX dominance rises : BNB Chain DEX leader PancakeSwap meme coin activity is active, with trading volume soaring nearly 42% in the past seven days, exceeding US$14 billion, accounting for more than 41% of DEX's total trading volume last week, far exceeding other public chains.
- On-chain fees surge : Since March 17, the average daily fees on BNB Chain have exceeded US$1.6 million, reflecting a significant increase in network usage; PancakeSwap's revenue in the past seven days has reached US$32.6 million, ranking third in the total crypto protocol revenue ranking, second only to Tether and Circle.
- four.meme launcher is catching up with Pump.fun: four.meme, the main meme coin launcher on the BNB Chain, has a transaction volume of US$343 million in the past seven days, a 631% increase in a single week, ranking second among all launchers in the entire network, accounting for 76% of the weekly transaction volume of Pump.fun in the Solana ecosystem; the transaction fee income in the past seven days reached US$3.25 million, which is 53% of Pump.fun. The cumulative number of users has exceeded 200,000, a surge of more than 137,000 since the 18th.
BNB meme coin ecosystem explodes
In the BNB Chain ecosystem, the meme section that has been listed on Binance Alpha, as well as large-cap ecosystem infrastructure tokens, have seen strong gains recently (Web3 tokens on the chain are more volatile and risky, so please proceed with caution):
Meme section:
- $Mubarak : It soared as much as 407,344%, hitting a historical high of 0.225 on the 18th. At the time of writing, it was reported at 0.1577 US dollars, up more than 20% in the past 24 hours, with a market value of 160 million US dollars.
- $Mubarakah : The maximum increase was 59,270%, and it hit a historical high of 0.03758 on the 18th. At the time of writing, it was reported at 0.0080 US dollars, an increase of more than 42% in the past 24 hours, with a market value of 8.09 million US dollars.
- $BNB Card : It soared as much as 57,096%, hitting an all-time high of 0.0217 on the 21st. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.0067, up more than 9% in the past 24 hours, with a market value of $6.71 million.
- $TUT : It soared as high as 9,640%, hitting an all-time high of 0.06179 on the 20th. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.0244, up more than 17% in the past 24 hours, with a market value of $23.25 million.
- $TAT : The highest increase was 86,126%, and it hit a historical high of 0.02239 on the 21st. At the time of writing, it was reported at 0.0063 US dollars, up more than 29% in the past 24 hours, with a market value of 3.76 million US dollars.
Large market value ecological infrastructure tokens:
- $Cake : Over 66% increase in the past 14 days, at $2.59 at the time of writing (PancakeSwap token, already listed on Binance)
- $Form : Doubled from $1.27 at the opening to $2.6 on the 19th, and is now trading at $1.9 at the time of writing (Four.meme ecosystem token, already listed on Binance Futures)
How does Binance Alpha 2.0 affect the on-chain ecosystem?
The recent explosion of the BNB meme ecosystem, in addition to CZ and He Yi recent large-scale efforts in the meme sector in the community, we believe that Binance Alpha 2.0 plays a crucial role, and its influence may be more significant and far-reaching than you and I can imagine. While further promoting Binance’s CeDeFi vision, the Alpha 2.0 innovation may have great potential to change the entire on-chain ecosystem in the future.
1. Introducing hundreds of millions of CEX users into the on-chain ecosystem
As Binance Alpha 2.0 breaks down the barriers between CEX and DEX, allowing users to easily and seamlessly purchase on-chain tokens, it will be easier for Binance's more than 260 million registered users worldwide to enter the Web3 chain world in the future. According to a16z's estimate in October last year, the actual number of monthly active trading users on the chain is approximately between 30 million and 60 million, and the number of Binance users is 4 to 8 times that. This means that the number of on-chain users and liquidity are expected to increase by more than 4 to 8 times, injecting new vitality into the on-chain ecosystem.
2. Improve liquidity fragmentation and promote CeDeFi construction
Binance Alpha 2.0 eliminates the need for users to frequently transfer funds manually between CEX and DEX. While improving transaction security and success rate, it also significantly reduces liquidity fragmentation and loss problems and significantly improves capital efficiency.
It can be expected that other exchanges will follow Binance's example and launch similar functions, further blurring the boundaries between CEX and DEX and lowering the technical threshold for users to participate in on-chain transactions. This trend will drive on-chain transactions from a niche market to a popular market and expand the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.
3. Rewrite the competition landscape on the chain
Since the beginning of this year, Binance's strategy has clearly moved towards actively getting closer to the community and embracing on-chain assets, and through Alpha 2.0, it has taken a different path to winning. Originally, in the field of DEX on-chain transactions, OKX Wallet and GMGN consolidated most of the market share with their first-mover advantage and high-quality user experience, making it difficult for Binance Web Wallet to find a breakthrough. The emergence of Binance Alpha 2.0 has changed the competitive landscape. It not only differentiates itself from its competitors through the selection of tokens, but more importantly, it integrates CEX's huge user base and directly brings on-chain transactions into the mainstream market. This innovative CeDeFi strategy gives Binance the possibility of overtaking in the on-chain ecosystem.
4. BNB Chain Ecosystem Booster, Will the Meme Coin Craze Rekindle?
The launch of Alpha 2.0 will also further strengthen the ecological development of BNB Chain. As a public chain backed by Binance, BNB Chain can attract more projects to issue tokens on the chain through Alpha 2.0, and achieve "value discovery" with the help of Binance's user traffic. This positive cycle of fish helping water and water helping fish is also expected to bring more wealth effects to Binance and BNB Chain, and become a long-term catalyst for the rise in BNB prices.
In addition, as the Solana meme coin craze has completely died down, Binance has made a series of major moves to deploy memes. Alpha 2.0 will bring CEX's $100 billion level of liquidity to the chain. A new round of meme coin craze may start on BNB Chain this year.
5. Ignite the trend of on-chain coin issuance, which is beneficial to retail investors
Binance also announced this month that it would upgrade its coin listing mechanism:
- Launch “Vote for Listing” and “Vote for Delisting” mechanisms to increase community participation and give users a greater say in the listing process.
- Provides direct access to the Binance Alpha Observer zone for TGE (Token Generation Event) projects, exclusive to Binance Wallet.
For project owners, Binance provides a new, more transparent and achievable path to the Binance user base and main site. Project owners can issue tokens (TGE) on the chain, gain the favor of Alpha 2.0 through good community operations, and finally land on the Binance main site. This model provides an upward channel for small and medium-sized high-quality projects, and is expected to attract more project parties to choose on-chain issuance, while also providing retail investors with more opportunities to buy low-priced tokens in the early stages.
in conclusion
The launch of Binance Alpha 2.0 is not only a strategic upgrade for Binance, but also an important milestone in the field of cryptocurrency. It simplifies the on-chain transaction process, brings hundreds of millions of users into the on-chain ecosystem, and opens up new opportunities for project parties and retail investors, creating a win-win situation. For Binance, this is a key step in consolidating its market leadership, and for the entire industry, this could be the starting point for on-chain trading to become mainstream.
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References Sources:
1. https://x.com/riyuexiaochu/status/1902310254907699457
