In November, Bangkok, the humid air was filled with intense anticipation. The crowds at the Devcon venue reflected the frenzy when BTC's price broke $90,000, and rumors about memecoins breaking the million mark circulated on social media.
Traffic here is stagnant, with ride-hailing apps showing red like blood vessels; the red also appears under nearby overpasses, where local children hold out red transparent plastic cups to passersby, most of them empty. At the other end of the night, the same red is reflected in the eyes of hackathon developers: the high-pressure development in a short time leaves them exhausted yet excited.
At the BNBChain hackathon site in Bangkok, the air conditioning was sufficient, and the venue spacious. A certain type of Tom Yum-flavored chips was the first to be cleared from the snack area, while Coca-Cola was the most popular drink. Within 24 hours, over 100 developers submitted 38 projects, with 8 teams getting the opportunity to showcase, half of which were from India, and 3 teams won prizes to enter the next stage. Teams whispered among themselves, some shaking hands and saying they would return next time. The low-key and quiet competition felt like a small tide, seemingly accumulating strength.
In the past three years, BNBChain has hosted more than 20 hackathons, covering tens of thousands of developers from over 35 countries, with over 1,000 projects submitted, and a total prize pool of about 50 million USD.
"The 'silent three years'"
There was once a voice in the community saying, 'No one is playing with BNBChain anymore.' It was only until recently that Thena (THE) from the BSC system and Memes launched on Binance that drew some attention.
During the past three years of 'silence', BNBChain appeared to be calm on the surface, but the data reveals another dimension.
According to DeFilama data from November 2024, BNBChain still firmly ranks as the second tier after Ethereum. It is reported that the current stablecoin market cap ranks third and TVL (Total Locked Value) ranks fourth with over 8 billion USD, while the weekly transaction volume accounts for one-sixth of the entire on-chain world.
BNBChain currently provides 218 types of developer tools, with over 800 active applications, performing exceptionally well in DeFi, gaming, and AI tracks.
Initiated in 2021, the MVB (Most Valuable Builders) program is an important part of BNBChain's support for early projects. According to publicly disclosed information, among the 131 projects incubated in the past seven phases of MVB, 75 projects have been favored by leading investment institutions including Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Delphi Capital, and ZhenFund, with Binance Labs investing in 39 of them. According to incomplete statistics, over 60 projects have completed TGE, and over 60% are listed on top centralized exchanges, among which Galaxy, Mobox, SpaceID, SleeplessAI, and Altlayer have launched on Binance LaunchPool.
For the high elimination rate characteristic of the Web3 industry, the survival rate of these early projects supported by BNBChain is remarkable. However, this data is often not perceived by the outside world.
While users recently embraced the meme culture wave on Solana, the BNBChain community, like many other public chains, envies this explosive user growth and attention.
From an objective data perspective, the number of Memecoins launched on BNBChain still shows a significant difference compared to Solana. Currently, projects like 1MBABYDOGE, SimonCat (CAT), WHY, and CHEEMS have a longer lifecycle since launching Binance contracts or spot trading. With the improvement of infrastructure such as launching platforms like Four.meme and long-term community support, it is hoped that more vibrant 'Meme Seasons' will be seen in BNB Chain.
"Turning towards the sea"
If Ethereum is like a group of idealistic geniuses, and Solana is a pioneer good at capturing attention, then BNBChain is more like a silent artisan working diligently.
The important role that Binance plays in this ecosystem is undeniable. However, the BNBChain community lacks star figures and dazzling technical geniuses; it is more about a group of relatively low-key, practical individuals. Their constant reflection is: Should we follow the short-term tides? What are the truly valuable things in the long term?
Meme represents public opinion, carries the emotions of the community, and is also a direction supported by BNB Chain, but the industry cannot be solely composed of Memes. Through numerous discussions within the community and the team, BNBChain has gradually formed a clear positioning: Web3 needs to move towards broader and more realistically meaningful application scenarios.
From both temporal and spatial dimensions, BNBChain has built a comprehensive support system for developers and users through patient layouts.
In terms of time, it started with hosting hackathons to discover and support potential developers and projects; the BIA (Incubation Alliance) supports projects in capital matching, and then conducts several weeks of incubation academy projects through MVB, pouring in resources and investment. In the mid-term, incentives are provided based on user activity (DAU), total locked value (TVL), transaction volume, and other dimensions after project deployment, while also providing technical and market support. In the later stage, resource matching for the entire ecosystem includes, but is not limited to, investment and resource matching, as well as the subsequent development of projects.
This mode of advancing the timeline often begins with 1-2 years of accompanying.
From a spatial horizontal perspective, the multi-chain ecosystem centered around BNB includes: smart chain BSC, high-performance layer two opBNB, and storage chain Greenfield, providing a comprehensive 'oneBNB' multi-dimensional infrastructure system for developers and users.
The sea is right there. The ship has been built, but where are the caravans and passengers going?
"The direction of the tide: AI+"
In the ebb and flow of crypto ups and downs, building a solid ecosystem in one's own way.
According to DappBay, 5 out of the top 10 projects with active address numbers on BNB Chain in the past 30 days are AI-related infra and tools, with 3 being Gaming.
Currently on BNBChain, there are more than 30 active projects related to the AI ecosystem, such as AI Agent types: My Shell, HoloWorld AI, Sleepless AI; content creation applications such as NFPromt; and middleware REVOX, Aggregata. With the support of the Greenfield storage chain, the proportion of data-related projects is high, such as data labeling projects (Data Labelling) like DIN, Alaya AI, and JoloWorld. According to DappRadar data from November 20, Din ranks first among all AI applications with nearly 700,000 weekly active addresses.
This trend is not difficult to understand; BNBChain has its own layer-two high-speed opBNB and data storage chain Greenfield infrastructure, providing an efficient, secure, and private data storage platform, which is the core underpinning for deploying decentralized AI applications.
The BNB community's supportive attitude towards AI can be described as 'clear'. Most of the projects mentioned above were incubated by MVB, and Binance Labs invested in seven of them. Support occurred even earlier than MVB and investment stages—such as StoryChain, a project that emerged from last year's BNBChain hackathon, which made it into the selection list of MVB's eighth phase, with the mainnet set to launch next year.
The initial intention of laying out the storage chain may stem from optimism about decentralized social (DeSoc). Interestingly, the infrastructure of the BNB Chain's data storage chain combined with the NFTization of intellectual property, alongside the vigorous development of AI+Data ecology, perfectly aligns with the recently emerged wave of decentralized science (DeSci).
DeSci usually requires strong data storage capabilities and rapid access support, and this data is often sensitive and private. The existing ecosystem of BNBChain can help researchers share data better and more securely, provide lower-cost data computing resources, and ensure fair distribution of scientific results using smart contracts.
This may enable BNB Chain to become a nurturing ground for the wave of DeSci, helping to advance more scientific progress that changes humanity.
"A pragmatic and diverse ocean vision"
In addition to the strong data-related AI field, BNBChain's ecosystem also has layouts in DeFi, GameFi, and stablecoin payment sectors.
In terms of TVL rankings in the BTCFi track, projects such as Solv Protocol, Avalon Labs, Lorenzo, Lombard, and Kinza occupy the top positions. Among them, Solv, Lorenzo (formerly MEP), and Kinza are all projects incubated through the MVB program, receiving investment from Binance Labs. Avalon, on the other hand, is a new member from MVB's eighth phase, and according to Messari's Q3 report, its TVL has grown by over 300% after joining the BIA (Incubation Alliance).
Gaming has always been the stronghold of BNBChain; during the last GameFi summer, over 40% of game projects were built on BSC, gathering a large number of game users and developers. Currently, the most active users and transactions include: Seraph, TG mini-game World of Dypians, Egg Drops, and Gomble Games (which has received investment from Binance Labs) and Elfin Metaverse. Their weekly active users are in the range of 600,000 to 1 million, contributing to the majority of transaction numbers on BNBChain.
Many projects currently emerging on BNBChain are still very young, but if we trace back to the incubation history of BNBChain and Binance Labs, we can discover coincidences that do not seem to belong to the same period.
For example, the leading project in the RWA field, Ondo, is a project incubated in the third phase of MVB; others include: DeFi protocol Impossible Finance; DeFi data tools and wallets Debank; trading platform Woo Network. Recently, the BTCFi protocol Solv Protocol, which has gained attention for a significant increase in TVL ranking second, is one of the outstanding graduates from the fourth phase. Other fourth-phase projects include: security network Goplus Security and the previously hot star in GameFi, StarSharks.
Although these projects belong to different fields and have fluctuated due to narrative changes, they have all survived across time in this fast-paced and brutal industry. Their commonality is that they provide application value for users in their respective fields, and these grown projects have injected more diverse possibilities into the BNBChain ecosystem and the entire crypto industry.
Hotspots in the industry are always emerging, switching rapidly. What BNBChain has been doing for a long time can actually be summarized in one sentence—simply building infrastructure, attracting more developers and applications, and creating value for users.
All along, BNBChain has stated that its vision is to attract the next billion users into Web3—this statement sounds somewhat distant and abstract. However, it seems that this community is proving its development philosophy and aesthetics through actions: pragmatic, long-term, and value-creating.
Through continuous infrastructure improvement, the rise of AI, and exploration in Gaming and DeFi, what BNBChain has been thinking and is currently depicting is a more comprehensive and long-lasting Web3 ocean.
