The crypto world is changing, and the narrative of memecoins and AI has slowly taken over utility tokens in the last couple of months. As of December 2024, the memecoin narrative accounts for nearly 40% of the market, making it the undisputed leader.
This insane popularity, coupled with the recent rally of Bitcoin and other large-market cap coins, gave birth to a lot of new billion-dollar memecoins like Brett and Peanut the Squirrel. But these tokens could’ve never reached the highs they are at now without some top-tier CEXs listing them.
Now, tier 1 exchanges like Coinbase have always been VERY strict with their listing policies. Usually, these exchanges list valuable and established tokens with a large community and product behind them. However, the last couple of months have been strange for Binance, as many CT users have started noticing some irregularities in their listing policies.
In this article, you’ll find the top 5 low cap memecoins listed on Binance and why this is a problem for the exchange. Enjoy!
Top 5 Low Cap Memecoins
Here are the most bizarre Binance listings in the last months:
Comedian $BAN
Inspired by the iconic “Comedian” artwork—a banana taped to a wall—BAN is just another memecoin that pretends to create something new. The artwork it was inspired from, originally sold for $120,000 in 2019, has become a cultural symbol, with its value now reaching $6 million as Justin Sun bought it two weeks ago.
Launched in 2024, the token peaked at a ~$300 million market cap right after its Binance listing but has since lost more than half of its value, hovering around $117 million in market cap.
The crypto token has recently crossed 1000 followers on its X page and only has 4500 subs on its Telegram channel. The community is barely existent, as our attempts of finding posts with the BAN hashtag on various social medias didn’t result in any success.
Lord Cheems $CHEEMS
Cheems, another memecoin inspired by Shiba Inu, was launched on Binance Futures on 25 November 2024. The token lost half of its market capitalization after going live on Binance, going from $245 million to $117 million.
Some say the exchange listed the wrong token. The OG CHEEMS token is still sitting at a $2 million market capitalization and was created in May 2021. The token listed on Binance was created in September 2023 and quickly gained momentum.
WHY? An Elephant $WHY
Another pointless memecoin with little to no community. After the listing on Binance, the token went from a $150 million market capitalization to $80 million, probably due to high selling pressure and a lot of top holders selling their bags.
What’s interesting about this project is the fact that 10% of the token supply is supposedly allocated to CZ and Yi He, the co-founders of Binance.
With little to no community and sub-par quality, the memecoin should've never been present on Binance, even if it's on Binance Futures.
The AI Prophecy $ACT
Before the Binance listing, ACT was a normal $20 million market cap token. However, after the exchange listed the token on SPOT, the token rallied to almost $1 billion market capitalization and over $3 billion daily volume.
Now, the token is 60% down from its peak, trading at ~$300 million market capitalization. There’s no utility, no background and no product tied to this token. It is a simple memecoin launched on Solana. A memecoin that Binance decided to pump to $1 billion for some reason.
Neiro On Ethereum $NEIRO
Binance has also sparked a lot of controversy with its handling of NEIRO. Initially, it listed NEIRO (@NeiroOnEthereum) for Futures trading, capitalizing on its high volume from Bybit and OKX.
During this period, NEIRO’s market cap rose from $100 million to $300 million. However, Binance later listed a different NEIRO (neiroethcto) on the Spot market, a low-volume token with a $15 million market cap.
This move allegedly allowed insiders to profit by shorting Futures NEIRO buying the Spot NEIRO the announcement, raising concerns about market manipulation on X.
Why is Binance Doing This?
Binance has faced criticism for listing low-cap memecoins, which some claim harm retail investors while benefiting insiders. Recently, tokens like ACT and PNUT were added despite minimal prior activity, causing sharp value increases post-listing.
Critics on X argue Binance prioritizes memecoins with poor distribution, often controlled by insiders, because these projects can drive high trading volumes and supply more trading fee revenue for the platform. This strategy allegedly benefits centralized players like venture capitalists, market makers, and key opinion leaders through pump-and-dump schemes.
Some speculate that Binance lists such coins to compete with decentralised exchanges, attracting users with high-risk, high-reward assets. Over the past year, Binance has relaxed its listing standards, coinciding with significant price surges for memecoins after listing.
That can also be influenced by the fierce competition in the market. In October 2024, Binance saw its worst month in the last four years, controlling only 36.6% of overall spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges.
The platform's derivatives trading registered the biggest decline, showing a drop of almost 25% in the last 4 years. That’s probably why most of the memes above have been listed on Futures, to boost the trading volume and rack in some more trading fees to keep the empire running.
One of the beneficiaries of Binance's decline was Crypto.com, which grew its spot and derivatives trading volume by more than 40% on a month-to-month basis
On-chain analysis shows most memecoins listed in 2024 were built on Solana or Ethereum, with community support and popularity outweighing market value in Binance’s selection process. While this strategy boosts engagement, it raises concerns about market fairness and retail investor protection.
Now, the big question arises. Would have this happened if CZ was still the CEO of Binance?
#BinanceListingImpact #BinanceListings #Binancelisting
