BNB BNB

BNB is the native coin of BNB Chain, a blockchain ecosystem created by the team behind Binance, the crypto exchange. It started in 2017 as a token that gave discounts on Binance trading fees and has become the fuel of a network used for payments, decentralised applications and tokens. BNB is closely tied to Binance, which is both its main strength and its main risk.

What is BNB?

BNB was launched through an initial coin offering held from 26 June to 3 July 2017, just before the Binance exchange opened. The sale offered 100 million tokens, half of the initial supply of 200 million. BNB first existed as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum before moving to Binance’s own chains. The coin was originally called Binance Coin; the ecosystem was renamed BNB Chain in February 2022.

How BNB works

BNB Smart Chain and proof of staked authority

The main network, BNB Smart Chain (BSC), went live on 1 September 2020. It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, so Ethereum wallets and smart contracts work on it with few changes. Consensus relies on proof of staked authority, a mix of delegated proof of stake and proof of authority: according to the BNB Chain documentation, the active set has 45 validators (21 in the main “Cabinet” and 24 candidates), chosen every day according to the BNB staked with them. Successive hard forks have cut the block time from 3 seconds to under half a second.

Every transaction pays gas fees in BNB. The ecosystem also includes opBNB, a layer 2 network built on the OP Stack, and BNB Greenfield, a decentralised storage network.

Supply and burns

BNB has no inflation: validators are paid from transaction fees, not from newly created coins. The supply decreases through two mechanisms. A fixed share of the gas fees collected in each block is burned in real time. On top of that, a quarterly Auto-Burn removes an amount calculated from the number of blocks produced and the average BNB price during the quarter. The stated goal is to reduce the total supply to 100 million BNB. Each burn is published on the BNB Auto-Burn site.

A short history of BNB

• June–July 2017: ICO and launch of BNB as an ERC-20 token.
• April 2019: launch of Binance Chain, later called BNB Beacon Chain.
• 1 September 2020: launch of Binance Smart Chain, with smart contracts.
• February 2022: the ecosystem is renamed BNB Chain.
• 6 October 2022: a bridge exploit on BNB Chain affects about 568 million dollars of tokens.
• 21 November 2023: Binance pleads guilty to US charges and agrees to pay 4.3 billion dollars; founder Changpeng Zhao steps down and Richard Teng becomes CEO.
• November 2023: proposal BEP-333 plans to sunset BNB Beacon Chain and merge its functions into BNB Smart Chain; the sunset has since been completed.
• 23 October 2025: Changpeng Zhao receives a US presidential pardon.

What BNB is used for

• Network fees on BNB Smart Chain, opBNB and Greenfield.
• Staking and governance: delegating BNB to validators to secure the chain and vote on proposals.
• Binance services: discounted trading fees, Binance Pay and access to token launch programmes such as Launchpool.
• DeFi and tokens: trading on decentralised exchanges and issuing BEP-20 tokens on BSC.

What makes BNB different

BNB combines two roles that are usually separate: it is both the gas token of a public blockchain and a utility token of a centralised exchange. This gives it a large built-in user base and fast, low-cost transactions. The trade-off is decentralisation: a small validator set and the influence of a single company make BNB Chain more centralised than networks such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Risks and criticism

BNB’s value is closely linked to the fortunes of Binance. The exchange has a heavy regulatory history, including its 2023 guilty plea in the US, and its status in Europe remains uncertain: in June 2026, Binance withdrew its MiCA licence application in Greece and paused crypto services for EU customers pending authorisation elsewhere, according to press reports. Any new legal setback could weigh on BNB.

Critics also point to the concentration of validators and the past security incidents on BNB Chain bridges and applications. Like any crypto asset, BNB is volatile; the burn programme does not guarantee any increase in value.

How to store BNB

BNB can be held on an exchange or in any wallet that supports BNB Smart Chain, including many Ethereum-compatible wallets and hardware wallets. Check that you send BNB on the right network (BNB Smart Chain, opBNB) and keep a little BNB to pay fees. If you prefer to buy on another platform than Binance, our guide how to choose a crypto exchange lists the criteria to compare.