Binance Coin (BNB), the native token of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has surged to a new all-time high above $260 and is now the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, surpassing Tether’s USDT stable coin and Polkadot’s DOT.
According to TradingView data, BNB has surged over 500% in the last 30 days and is now trading at $265, after suffering a small correction from an all-time high above $280 seen earlier today. The cryptocurrency’s surge is believed to be related to the adoption of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
BNB’s market capitalization is now $40.8 billion, above Tether’s $33.5 billion and far below Ethereum’s $221.19 billion market capitalization. The leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has a market capitalization of $982.5 billion.
It’s believed that Binance Coin is surging as the adoption of the cryptocurrency exploded after the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) became for investors and yield farmers a valid alternative to Ethereum over the latter’s high transaction fees.
PancakeSwap (CAKE), a leading decentralized exchange on the BSC, has seen its trading volume surge to the point it surpassed that of Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange on the Ethereum blockchain, as pointed out by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Twitter.
.@PancakeSwap flipped Uni as the highest volume DeFi Swap. That was so fast. What an achievement. You guys rock! 👏👏👏 https://t.co/YJ0zqhCfIR
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) February 19, 2021
Earlier this month, the Binance Smart Chain flipped Ethereum in the number of transactions being processed per day. Data from BSCScan shows that the Binance Smart Chain has processed over two million transactions per day since February 17, after crossing the one million mark earlier this month.
It currently processes around 40.7 transactions per second. The Binance Smart Chain, it’s worth noting, relies on a new consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Staked Authority (PoSA). BNB is “used for delegated staking on the authority validator, leading to staking rewards for users and validators.”
To some analysts, BNB is going up because of the trending decentralized finance scene on its network. TheBlock’s Larry Cermak has said he believes the chain won’t threaten Ethereum over the long-term, but said profit-seekers were using the network even though it’s “centralized” with “everything built or financed by Binance.”
Messari researcher Ryan Watkins pointed out that the Binance Smart chain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and, as such, it has been attracting users thanks to Binance’s “continued dominance on the user experience.”
