BNB's new high may not be driven by emotions. Is the $1,000 market trend too small under mainstream investment?

By Felix, PANews

"From $0.1 to $1,000, we've come a long way, but this is just the beginning," Binance founder CZ wrote on social media. Following CZ's quiet change of his account profile from "ex-@binance" back to "@binance," the community erupted in excitement, with some chanting "CZ is back" and others excited by BNB's impressive performance.

Just yesterday, BNB surged past $1,000, reaching a new all-time high. Its market capitalization surpassed $150 billion, surpassing traditional industry giants like Accenture and BYD, and leaping to 143rd place in global asset rankings. This surge in market sentiment is driven not only by an explosion of market sentiment but also by a reshaping of value, fueled by easing regulatory pressure, the entry of traditional institutions, a growing ecosystem, and its own deflationary mechanism.

 Image source: 8marketcap

BNB’s ability to “take the lead” in this cycle is not due to a single factor, but the result of the superposition and resonance of multiple favorable factors.

The regulatory environment has improved significantly. Could CZ "return" to Binance?

Since taking office, US President Trump has adopted more crypto-friendly policies, leading to a more positive regulatory environment and creating a more favorable external environment for the development of many cryptocurrencies, including Binance and BNB. Globally, Binance currently holds regulatory approvals in 21 countries and regions and is actively collaborating with regulators in these regions.

Amidst this macro tailwind, the US further relaxed its regulatory requirements for Binance, easing long-standing market uncertainty. According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that Binance is in talks with the US Department of Justice regarding a potential agreement that could bring forward the compliance monitoring period that began in 2023. This development has significantly boosted market confidence in Binance's future development.

Shortly after this news broke, Binance founder CZ re-linked his social media profile to Binance, updating his account profile from "ex-@binance" to "@binance." This move sparked speculation that he might be returning to Binance under a new identity. Although no official announcement has been made, the market interpreted this as a positive signal, boosting investor sentiment and becoming one of the catalysts driving BNB's price higher.

In this regard, CZ also tweeted this morning, "The new US government that supports cryptocurrency may be the biggest driving force for BNB to break through $1,000. Its stance has not only affected the United States, but also most countries in the world. Now most countries have taken a pro-cryptocurrency stance. This is a huge boost for the industry."

It is worth noting that the support behind this round of BNB's rise is not only the recovery of market sentiment, but also a series of solid fundamental factors, which provide a more lasting foundation for its price performance.

Expanding the financial landscape and gaining support from traditional institutions

On September 10, Binance and Franklin Templeton announced a strategic partnership. The two parties will jointly develop digital asset-related products, aiming to promote the deep integration of traditional finance and blockchain technology.

According to the statement, the core of the partnership is to combine Franklin Templeton’s expertise in compliant securities tokenization with Binance’s global trading network and user base.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange serving over 280 million users, boasts unparalleled trading infrastructure and a global investor network. Franklin Templeton, a traditional financial giant with over $1.6 trillion in assets under management, has been actively and diversified in recent years in the blockchain space, including through tokenizing traditional financial products, offering regulated digital asset investment vehicles (such as ETFs), and exploring the application of blockchain in financial infrastructure.

The partnership between Binance and Franklin Templeton is viewed not only as complementary products but also as an accelerated convergence of new and traditional finance, with one providing speed and market reach, while the other offers compliance and institutional support. Both parties are committed to enhancing the efficiency, transparency, and accessibility of capital markets, as well as providing competitive returns and settlement efficiency, to meet the evolving needs of investors.

It's worth noting that Binance's recent moves also signal expansion. Recently, it announced a new partnership with Zapper, a South African payment service provider. Starting September 9th, over 31,000 merchants in South Africa will begin accepting Binance payments, bringing its global merchant network to over 63,000. Whether partnering with Wall Street institutions or establishing payment services in the African market, Binance is increasingly embedding its business into broader mainstream financial and consumer scenarios.

DAT leads the BNB hoarding trend, supporting strong companies

Since the beginning of this year, crypto treasury strategies, particularly by listed companies, have become a significant driver of cryptocurrency price increases. Driven by this strategy, tokens like BTC, ETH, and SOL have gradually been incorporated into the balance sheets of numerous companies, including BNB. Numerous listed companies, investment institutions, and even sovereign nations have added BNB to their strategic reserves, creating another driving force behind BNB's price appreciation.

At the sovereign economic level, the newly established Special Administrative Region of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), has included BNB in its strategic reserve. In January of this year, the SEZ announced the inclusion of BTC, ETH, and BNB in its official strategic reserve assets. The reasoning was that BNB has a high market capitalization, good liquidity, and the BNB Chain, which is a long-tested and mature security network. Although this was a move by the SEZ and not the entire Kingdom of Bhutan, it has greatly boosted market confidence in BNB. Furthermore, there are reports that Binance founder CZ proposed to the Kyrgyz government to consider BNB in its planned national cryptocurrency reserve, but no public progress has been made.

In contrast, listed companies are the main force in purchasing BNB. Currently, many US-listed companies have announced that they will use BNB as a strategic reserve asset, and some companies have even made it a core business direction. For example:

BNB Network Company (BNC, formerly CEA Industries): Currently a major BNB fan, BNC secured support from YZi Labs and completed a $500 million private placement, aiming to become the world's largest publicly listed company holding BNB reserves. The company was renamed BNB Network Company and its stock ticker changed to "BNC." As of September 10th, BNC held 418,888 BNB.
Web3 infrastructure company Nano Labs (NA) plans to invest $1 billion in BNB over three years, aiming to hold 5%-10% of all BNB in circulation. According to the company's first-half financial report , it holds a total of 128,000 BNB.
Windtree Therapeutics (WINT), a biopharmaceutical company, announced it has signed a common stock purchase agreement for up to $500 million to establish an equity line of credit (ELOC) and strengthen its BNB cryptocurrency funding strategy. The company also signed a stock purchase agreement with Build and Build Corp for an additional $20 million. 99% of the proceeds from the ELOC and Build and Build Corp will be used to acquire BNB.
Biopharmaceutical company Liminatus Pharma (LIMN): The company plans to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary called "American BNB Strategy" and aims to raise $500 million through this entity to make long-term strategic investments in BNB.
Huaxing Capital: The company signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with YZi Labs, and will invest approximately US$100 million in the special allocation of BNB assets, and promote the listing of BNB on a licensed virtual asset exchange in Hong Kong, becoming the first Hong Kong-listed company to include BNB in its digital asset allocation.

In addition, some investment institutions have also launched funds or investment vehicles focused on BNB:

B Strategy: A digital asset investment firm that plans to raise $1 billion to establish a US-listed BNB reserve company. The plan has received strategic support from YZi Labs, which will not only hold BNB but also invest in and support the development of the BNB ecosystem.
Hash Global BNB Income Fund: Hash Global launched a compliant BNB income fund, which plans to expand its management scale to US$3 billion within three years.

Regarding the BNB Treasury (DAT), CZ said in a video conversation that he has contacted about 50 potential teams, but cannot provide support to all BNB DAT companies and will only support a few strong companies.

In addition to BNB DAT, the BNB ETF also offers potential support for BNB's price increase. Two institutions have submitted applications to the US SEC for BNB ETFs: VanEck, REX Shares, and Osprey Funds. These applications aim to provide investors with access to BNB through traditional stock exchanges and may include staking rewards.

If approved, the BNB ETF will provide traditional investors with a regulated and familiar investment channel, which is expected to bring new capital inflows to BNB and enhance BNB's market recognition and liquidity.

Technological upgrading and deflation mechanism

BNB's value is supported not only by increased holdings from external institutions and companies, but also by the technological progress of its own ecosystem and the optimization of its economic model.

As the native token of BNB Chain, BNB's record-breaking performance is inseparable from the outstanding performance of BNB Chain. BNB Chain completed the Maxwell hard fork upgrade on June 30th, significantly improving network performance by increasing block speed and validator collaboration. Following the upgrade, BNB Chain's block time was reduced to 0.75 seconds, and transaction finality time was accelerated to 1.875 seconds, significantly improving user experience. Gas fees on BNB Chain were also reduced by 10x, making it one of the lowest-fee blockchains.

Furthermore, unlike the sandwich attacks and front-running common on EVM chains like Ethereum, or the large-scale arbitrage and spam attacks faced by blockchains like Solana, BNB Chain has demonstrated exceptional resilience against MEV (Miner Extractable Value) attacks. BNB Chain developers, nodes, block builders, wallets, decentralized exchanges, and other participants have dedicated significant effort to mitigating MEV attacks.

In terms of products, WLF issued the first native stablecoin USD1 on BNB Chain, further improving the liquidity of stablecoins on the chain; multiple RWA issuers were deployed on BNB Chain, which not only enriched the assets of BNB Chain, but also enhanced BNB Chain's popularity in traditional fields.

BNB's deflationary mechanism continues to fuel its price growth. Binance's ongoing token burn program has gradually reduced BNB's circulating supply, benefiting long-term holders. On July 10th, the BNB Foundation completed its 32nd quarterly burn, destroying a total of 1,595,599.78 BNB. Following this burn, the total remaining supply of BNB is 139,289,513.94. The dual support of deflation and network upgrades provides a solid foundation for BNB's price.

With so many favorable factors, OSL HK also opened BNB trading services to professional investors on September 3, becoming the first exchange in Hong Kong to support BNB.

Conclusion

In summary, BNB's recent price surge is no accident. Recent favorable factors, including easing regulatory pressure, deepening collaboration with traditional institutions, increased institutional investment, and its inherent deflationary mechanism, have provided multiple supports for its value. BNB's price exceeding $1,000 is more likely a market affirmation of BNB's fundamentals and ecosystem potential, and it may be far from reaching its true limit.

However, the crypto market is volatile, so investors should remain cautious in the short term. Long-term, BNB is closely tied to Binance's operations, and future regulatory guidance remains uncertain. Furthermore, both BNB Chain and its CEX business will face intense competition from other public chains and exchanges (CEXs and DEXs).

As CZ recently said, "This is just the beginning." Therefore, although BNB is the "hottest new thing" in the crypto market today, PANews recommends that users look at the market rationally, avoid chasing high prices and falling into FOMO, and focus on long-term value and ecological development.