BNB Chain strengthened its DeFi ecosystem in Q1 2025 with disciplined token burns, builder incentives and stablecoin adoption.

When price charts flatten, prominent networks are the ones still shipping code, funding hackathons and burning their native supply on schedule. The first quarter of 2025 underscored a simple truth: ecosystems that treat bear-market months as a builders’ market tend to emerge stronger.

Blockchain platform BNB Chain spent the first quarter living by that mantra. Rather than slowing down in response to softer market sentiment, the network accelerated growth across four fronts: reinforcing its core asset’s tokenomics, expanding its ecosystem of onchain projects, rolling out builder-friendly liquidity incentives and steadily advancing stablecoin utility in everyday transfers.

A quarter of disciplined tokenomics

Mid-April marked the 31st BNB (BNB) burn, an automated supply reduction that aims to limit token supply and maintain its value. The 31st round removed over 1.5 million BNB from circulation with a value of over $915 million. Now in its fifth year, the program continues to align supply dynamics with long-term network health without sudden policy changes.

On centralized exchanges, BNB held its position among the most-traded assets, while on decentralized exchanges (DEXs), it climbed into the top tier by trading volume on PancakeSwap. The decentralized staking protocol ListaDAO contributed a lot to the TVL.

The protocol’s new Lista Lending platform opened with a $10 million BNB supply cap that was fully borrowed in under an hour. Four days later, total deposits had raced past $189 million, with borrowing amount peaking above $120 million — numbers strong enough to earn a repost from Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.

Builder momentum: programs, prizes and gas relief

Behind the scenes, BNB Chain intensified its builder support:

  • Most Valuable Builder Accelerator Program (MVB), the BNB AI Hack hackathon, and BNB Demo Day (formerly BNB Incubation Alliance – BIA) channelled grants, mentorship and resources to early-stage teams. BNB Chain recently announced that it has expanded MVB access with rolling applications and selections. The next BNB Demo Day will be held in Dubai to coincide with Token 2049, and participants can register here.

  • A 4.4 million liquidity pool fund and a $100 million liquidity incentive program cushioned slippage for new markets without relying on unsustainable farming rewards. Following the feedback from a 3-week pilot, BNB Chain announced an upgrade to the $100 million liquidity incentive program with a new direct token acquisition method to improve the program.

  • The network’s Zero Gas Fee initiative for stablecoins — allowing two free transfers for FDUSD, USDT, USDC, and unlimited transfers for USD1 — reimbursed more than $3 million in user fees, demonstrating that cost barriers can be lowered without altering base-layer economics.

These efforts shared a common goal: to keep developers shipping and users transacting, regardless of the noise — or the lack of it — in the markets.

Stablecoins find daily utility

Stablecoin adoption accelerated notably in Q1, driven primarily by the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial USD (USD1), a fully-backed token pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and secured by short-term treasuries and cash equivalents. According to CoinMarketCap and BscScan data, USD1's circulating supply surpassed 113 million tokens on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) as of April 17, representing nearly 90% of the total.

This substantial growth pushed the stablecoin’s market cap close to $128 million, with daily trading volumes nearing $100 million. On PancakeSwap v3 alone, USD1's total value locked (TVL) exceeded $10.9 million, contributing significantly to the combined liquidity of over $19 million across PancakeSwap.

The stablecoin also benefits from BNB Chain’s Zero Gas Fee initiative, offering cost-free transfers as part of a strategic effort to encourage mass adoption. With a combined TVL surpassing $30 million across BNB Chain and Ethereum, USD1 highlights stablecoins' increasing importance within an ecosystem that holds a $7.2 billion stablecoin market cap, per Dune Analytics.

Based on recent data from Artemis and Visa, BNB Chain ranks 1 in terms of active monthly stablecoin users as of March, with the user count exceeding 15.3 million.

This commitment to practical stablecoin utility complements BNB Chain’s broader strategy: investing in builders, eliminating transaction friction and employing disciplined token economics. As markets await the next bullish cycle, ecosystems like BNB Chain that continuously build during quieter periods will be the ones setting the pace when momentum returns.

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