Binance Review, Month 39: BNB Smart Chain Growth in Full Swing

During Binance’s Month 39 (September 15 to October 15, 2020): We spearheaded several initiatives to help fuel the growth of BNB Smart Chain, while burning a record amount of BNB in light of the overall growth of the BNB ecosystem.

The Big Story: All In on BNB Smart Chain

Between September 15 and October 15, the total market cap for crypto fell from $347 billion to as low as $319 billion, before an up-and-down cycle later in the month that saw it rise to as much as $369 billion this week. Bitcoin (BTC) price fell slightly to $10,200 in late September, before rising to as much as $11,700 in mid-October and staying near that range.

Ethereum (ETH) continued to have a sideways market over the past 30 days, with lows in the $320 range and highs at around $390. During this period BNB traded at between $23 and $32, with the higher end of the range being reached around mid-October.

For Binance, Month 39 was mostly about continuing to support the growth of the BNB Smart Chain network, as more crypto protocols and projects build solutions on top of the Binance-branded smart contract blockchain. We worked with the BSC community to launch several initiatives that aim to further fuel this growth. 

• We have recently revealed the first six projects that we’re supporting through the $100 million USD BSC Accelerator Fund, with many more to come. Fill up this form to apply and become one of the projects who are up next for this privilege.

• We introduced the Token Canal Project, a new initiative where we support the issuance and binding of more token assets on BNB Chain and Binance Smart Chain, has supported the flow of $250 million worth of tokens just weeks after launch.

• We built the Panama Project, a new solution that lets users bridge their cross-chain assets from centralized or decentralized wallets to BSC. Right now, there are 16 tokens, including many major cryptocurrencies, that you can use on this solution.

• The BSC Accelerator Fund recently set aside $10,000,000 in liquidity support for the launch of projects based on the BSC ecosystem.

• We committed $5 million to the Binance Smart Chain BUIDL Reward Program to reward developers who deploy usable dApps onto BSC.

• The Pioneer Burn Program, an initiative we made to aid pioneer BSC users who made honest mistakes in transferring tokens, has already saved tokens worth several hundreds of thousands in USD for users. 

In just over a month after the launch of BNB Smart Chain, people in the crypto industry were able to see compelling value in what BSC is offering. According to recent statistics BSC already handles about 21% of Ethereum’s transaction size, but with 0.6% of the gas fees. This translates to 35x savings when it comes to the costs of running the many emerging crypto protocols and solutions, including DeFi, that have launched in recent months. Here’s a more detailed explanation of BSC’s benefits. 

Meanwhile, Binance Launchpool continues its mission of giving Binance users the opportunity to stake their crypto to earn tokens from new projects. This month, Launchpool hosted the token offerings of Flamingo, Venus, and Alpha Finance Lab, the latter of which is also offered on Binance Launchpad.

To close this month, Binance completed its 13th quarterly BNB burn. For this event, we were able to burn 2,253,888 BNB worth $68 million, which is a record high in fiat terms. “Seeing the growth of BNB makes me really proud of our team, including our community developers, Binance Angels, KOLs, and everyone who is supportive of the BNB ecosystem, whether it’s on social media or elsewhere,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said about the recent burn.

Let’s also look into more of the latest updates from the past month. 

In Other News

Week 1 Highlights

- Binance Futures First Year Review.  2020 has been a breakthrough for derivatives markets, leading to the meteoric rise of Binance Futures.

- Binance Visa Cards Are Now Available in Europe. For every purchase that you make with the Binance Visa Card, we are offering up to 8% cashback.

Week 2 Highlights

- Binance Innovation Zone. This new feature allows users to trade newer token offerings from the comfort of their Binance account, while at the same time protecting less suited users from being exposed to the “risk” that comes with trading them.

- Binance.US celebrates its first anniversary. Binance.US now offers more than 50 cryptocurrencies and 100 trading pairs, as well as features such as staking services, recurring buys, easy withdrawals to USD, an OTC portal for large trades, etc.

- Binance launches Arabic language and more for MENA. This is part of our ongoing effort to provide better service to the Middle East and North Africa region.

- BUSD Reward Program launches. This is a new monthly rewards program for BUSD users who use their holdings on DeFi and other blockchain applications on BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum. 

Week 3 Highlights 

- Real Crypto Stories From Binance Users Around The World - Highlights from #MyCryptoLife. Got a crypto success story of your own, like the ones featured here? Tag us on Twitter and share your crypto story using the hashtag #MyCryptoLife.  

- Panama Project: Making One-Click Cross-Chain Connection Possible. We are leveraging the bridging services of BNB Smart Chain (BSC) for cross-chain asset circulation and to truly realize a connected blockchain world.

Week 4 Highlights 

- Introducing Binance Earn: A One-stop Earning Experience. The Binance Earn page shows product offerings from the following four products: Flexible Savings, Locked Savings, Launchpool, and Asset Management (Binance Liquid Swap & Dual Savings).

- Binance Liquid Swap offers up to 45% APY. One month since its launch, Binance Liquid Swap is giving its users a more rewarding experience.

Week 5 Highlights 

- Binance Pool charges zero pool fees for three months. All users can participate in the 0% Pool Fee exclusive offer as long as they connect their computing power to Binance Pool.

- Binance Academy revamps for a customized learning experience with updates such as a Start Here primer and custom display options.

- Binance Labs leads $5 million investment round in DeFi startup DODO. Continuing our commitment to supporting blockchain solutions that advance the freedom of money, Binance Labs recently provided financial backing for liquidity provider platform DODO.

- We Helped Someone Track And Recover Nearly $30,000 in Stolen Funds. Read this recent testimony of a user who was able to get back his funds with our help. Just another day in the office. 

Exchange Updates

New spot listings (23): Uniswap, Cream Finance*, Wing*, Venus*, Flamingo* BakeryToken*, Burger Swap*, Helium, Avalanche, Orchid, SUN*, UTRUST, Orion Protocol, PancakeSwap*, Sparta Protocol*, VIDT Datalink*, Alpha Finance Lab*, Filecoin, NEAR Protocol, plus Binance Leveraged Tokens SXPUP, SXPDOWN, LTCUP, and LTCDOWN

* indicates Innovation Zone listings

New futures listings (17):

- Coin-margined quarterly contracts BTCUSD Quarterly 0326, ETHUSD Quarterly 0326, ADAUSD Quarterly 0326, and LINKUSD Quarterly 0326

- USDT-margined perpetual contracts FTM/USDT, AVAX/USDT, ENJ/USDT, FLM/USDT, HNT/USDT, FIL/USDT, NEAR/USDT, KSM/USDT, REN/USDT, TOMO/USDT, STORJ/USDT, BLZ/USDT, UNI/USDT