BNB

Short for “Build and Build,” BNB is the native crypto asset of the Binance ecosystem. Binance essentially began as just a crypto exchange, but it has since branched out in its offerings. It launched Binance Coin in 2017 via an initial coin offering (ICO). In 2022, Binance unveiled a rebranding that included changing the asset’s name from Binance Coin (BNB) to simply BNB, abandoning the name Binance Coin.

BNB serves several roles, including as a method of fee reduction on the Binance exchange and as the currency in which to pay fees for activities on BNB Chain, BNB’s underlying blockchain ecosystem. BNB price can be valued in U.S. dollars (USD). The BNB price USD value is shown live at the top of the page. The BNB price chart above shows the BNB coin price history.

BNB history

Binance got its start in 2017, quickly launching an ICO in which it sold and allocated BNB tokens. Back then, Binance Coin (BNB’s name at the time) was an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain. However, in 2019, Binance launched a mainnet blockchain, Binance Chain (BC), with BNB as its coin. The exchange conducted a token swap to change ERC-20 BNB tokens over to Binance Chain-based BNB coins. In 2020, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) was launched as a separate compatible blockchain alongside Binance Chain. 

In 2022, Binance merged the Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain ecosystems under a single label: BNB Chain. Both chains still run parallel and serve distinct roles but are housed under a single name.

Binance’s regulatory journey

In the years since Binance’s 2017 inception, regulators across the globe have increased their activity in the crypto industry. Crackdowns have occurred on an array of industry players, including Binance. In 2021 the cryptocurrency exchange faced resistance from a number of regulators, including authorities in the United States, Thailand, Canada, South Africa and elsewhere.

However, Binance proceeded to make a number of strides toward regulatory compliance, including gaining approvals in multiple jurisdictions such as France, Dubai, Kazakhstan and New Zealand. 

BNB Chain, explained

Binance Chain was the original blockchain mainnet of the Binance ecosystem, built with on-chain trading in mind. Binance Smart Chain was launched with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality. Both are now classified as components of BNB Chain following the 2022 name changes. Binance Chain was renamed BNB Beacon Chain and takes care of governance for BNB Chain. Binance Smart Chain was renamed BNB Smart Chain, although it retained the BSC acronym. Still EVM-friendly, BNB Smart Chain is responsible for BNB Chain consensus and more. 

Assets built on BNB Beacon Chain are called BEP-2 tokens, while assets built on BNB Smart Chain are known as BEP-20 tokens.

BNB price

BNB’s value fluctuates, as is evident in the BNB price chart above. Several factors may impact the price of BNB, given the asset’s broad range of use cases along with the speculatory nature of the crypto industry. BNB’s list of uses includes functioning as the vehicle for fee payments on BNB Chain and as money via Binance’s payments card. BNB is the governance asset for BNB Chain.

BNB is burned each quarter based on a formula, which is expected to carry on until BNB’s circulating supply reaches less than 100 million, down from its initial count of 200 million. 

For Binance Coin news (BNB news), see Cointelegraph’s Binance Coin tag.