BNB emerged from an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2017, eleven days before the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance went live. Originally issued as an ERC-20 token, it operates on the Ethereum network and has a total capitalisation limited to 200 million tokens, of which 100 million are distributed at the end of the ICO. The BNB ERC-20 tokens will nevertheless be exchanged for BNB BEP2 tokens at a 1:1 ratio in April 2019, at the launch of the Binance Chain mainnet. They will no longer be hosted on the Ethereum network.
The BNB can be used as a payment method, a utility token to pay fees on the Binance platform and to participate in Binance launchpad token sales. The BNB also operates the Binance DEX (decentralised exchange platform).
Following the launch of its core network community in April 2019, Beacon Chain has showcased its high-throughput, high-throughput design. Beacon Chain's main objective is to support native, low-latency, high-performance decentralised exchange. Among the most requested features is programmable scalability, in particular the implementation of smart contracts and virtual machine functions. To meet this demand, we offer the BNB Smart Chain, which runs alongside the Beacon Chain to facilitate a user-friendly smart contract environment. BNB Smart Chain (BSC) is an EVM-enabled blockchain designed to bring programmability and interoperability to the BNB Chain ecosystem. As part of the wider BNB Chain, BSC aims to provide a high-speed, low-latency, low-cost environment for decentralised applications (dApps) and digital assets. Initial launch and Beacon Chain. Beacon Chain, launched in April 2019, was designed to support the BNB DEX and exhibited high speed and throughput. However, its lack of programmability and smart contract functionality posed limitations for developers and users.
Introduction of BNB Smart Chain. To address these limitations, BNB Smart Chain was introduced in 2020, leveraging a parallel blockchain architecture to support smart contracts while maintaining high performance for DEX.
BNB Blockchain Merger. In November 2023, the BNB Chain Fusion proposal (BEP-333) marked a significant turning point. This proposal described the decline of the Beacon Chain, merging its functionality with BSC to create a unified, high-performance blockchain network. The aim of the merger was to streamline operations, enhance security and simplify the user experience on BSC.
BSC has evolved considerably from its original dual-chain architecture, where staking, validation and governance were delegated to the Beacon Chain. Following the BC merger, BSC became a fully autonomous chain, undergoing significant architectural changes.