The evolution of BNB: from exchange token to crypto industry leader
The first steps of BNB: moving beyond an exchange token
In its early years, the BNB (BNB) token was merely a tool for users of the Binance crypto exchange to receive discounts on trading fees.
The BNB token was issued through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Initially, 200 million BNB were released, but the issuer implemented a mechanism of quarterly token burns in the protocol, gradually reducing the available supply of the altcoin on the market.
This became one of BNB's main features. As of August 2025, only 139 million BNB are in circulation. In other words, over 30% of all BNB tokens have already been burned. The burning process will continue until the maximum token supply is reduced to 100 million.
In 2019, Binance, the company behind BNB, changed its strategy, significantly expanding the token's functionality. That year, the company launched its first blockchain called Binance Chain and the decentralized exchange Binance DEX.
In 2020, the project team announced the launch of a new blockchain platform, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and supporting smart contracts.
This allowed developers to launch their decentralized applications (DApps) for the Binance ecosystem and integrate Binance Smart Chain into existing Ethereum-based protocols.
By 2021, BSC had surpassed Ethereum in daily transactions. According to the BSCScan block explorer, at its peak in July of that year, the BSC network processed 18 million transactions per day compared to Ethereum's 1.2 million.
The BSC network became a haven for retail investors who found Ethereum too expensive. This ecosystem allows yield farming with a fee of just $0.02, compared to several dollars on Ethereum.
According to CoinGecko analysts, Binance Smart Chain became the first EVM-compatible blockchain to offer low fees and high speed in the DeFi market. In these metrics, BNB Chain significantly outperformed the most popular DeFi ecosystems at the time: Ethereum and Tron.
Note: In 2023, Binance merged Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain into a single ecosystem called BNB Chain.
In the same year, Binance announced another platform called BNB Greenfield — a new decentralized blockchain for data storage with DAO governance, enabling users to control their personal information fully.
Thus, the Binance ecosystem went far beyond being just an exchange, becoming a bridge between centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The key aspects of Binance's new strategy included:
- Providing developers with a faster and cheaper alternative to Ethereum;
- A decentralized ecosystem for the BNB token to attract new liquidity;
- Integration of CEX and DEX through cross-chain solutions.
The BNB token itself acquired a wide range of functions:
- "Fuel" for transactions in BNB Chain DeFi protocols;
- Staking;
- Access to DApps;
- Providing liquidity in DeFi protocols;
- Use for participating in launchpads (initial token launches) and lending (as collateral);
- Participation in governance (DAO);
- Payments in Binance services and with partners (e.g., Travala and CryptoCloud);
- Loyalty and reward programs.
In 2025, BNB became one of the few tokens to reach a new all-time high (ATH), something even leading altcoins, ETH and XRP, have not achieved yet. BNB reached its new ATH in July 2025 at $859, and as of August, its price stands at $820.
Evolution of BNB Chain: from small DEX to DeFi giant
According to the DeFi Llama monitoring service, as of August 2025, BNB Chain ranks among the top three DeFi ecosystems by Total Value Locked (TVL), which exceeds $7.1 billion, second only to Ethereum and Solana. BNB Smart Chain's share of the DeFi ecosystem is 4.7%.
In just 7 years, BNB Chain has become the platform for over 3,500 decentralized applications (DApps). At least three of these DeFi applications each have a TVL of over $1 billion. In terms of the number of decentralized applications, the BNB Chain DeFi ecosystem is second only to Ethereum.
The leader of the BSC ecosystem became the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap, whose TVL exceeds $1.9 billion. By this metric, PancakeSwap ranks 24th among all DeFi protocols.
In addition, BNB Chain became one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the crypto industry amid the popularity of memecoins and the launch of hype-driven platforms for creating user tokens, such as Four.meme.
All this led to BNB Chain maintaining a leading position in network activity since 2024. According to the Token Terminal analytics platform, as of August 2025, BNB Chain holds the top spot in daily active users, reaching 3.6 million, significantly surpassing NEAR Protocol (3.0 million) and Solana (2.6 million).
Moreover, the BNB Chain ecosystem became a leader in the GameFi (gaming finance) and MetaFi (metaverse finance) segments. According to DappRadar, 37% of all decentralized gaming projects are built on BNB Chain.
In 2024, Binance also launched an incubator focused on the following segments:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI);
- Interoperability (blockchain compatibility);
- Real-World Assets (RWA);
- Privacy-focused DeFi solutions.
According to analysts' forecasts, if current growth rates and the adoption of BNB Greenfield continue, Binance's DeFi ecosystem TVL could reach $18–22 billion by 2027, especially with integration into enterprise solutions and RWA (real-world assets).