{"id":220019,"date":"2022-02-15T18:30:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=220019"},"modified":"2022-02-15T17:53:44","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T17:53:44","slug":"binance-ditches-the-binance-in-binance-smart-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/binance-ditches-the-binance-in-binance-smart-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Binance ditches the \u201cBinance\u201d in Binance Smart Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Binance, the world\u2019s largest centralized crypto exchange by trading volume, is removing its name from Binance Smart Chain (BSC), in what appears to be an effort to strike a distance between <\/span>Binance<\/span><\/a> the exchange and company, and the blockchain ecosystem it created in September 2020. Going forward, the blockchain is named BNB Chain, which suggests a closer relationship with the Binance token BNB.<\/span><\/p>\n

The BNB token was initially issued in 2017 as an ERC-20 token, running on the Ethereum network. Later in April 2019, it was migrated over to the Ethereum Virtual Machine-based Binance Chain and eventually became the economic fuel for the BSC network.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BNB is now the \u201cBuild N\u2019 Build\u201d token<\/span><\/h2>\n

Though not included in the official <\/span>announcement<\/span><\/a> blog post, Binance CEO Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao has previously tweeted that the BNB token should be named \u201cBuild N\u2019 Build\u201d, not Binance Coin as most people know it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship between the <\/span>BNB<\/span><\/a> token and the now BNB Chain makes the name change somewhat logical. BNB progressed from a native token of the Binance exchange used primarily for trading, into a gas fee token and the main asset of the BSC network \u2013 much in the same way ether, the token (<\/span>ETH<\/span><\/a>) is related to the Ethereum blockchain, a native token primarily used for paying gas fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, BNB is used by hundreds of dApps, listed on several exchanges, and held by millions of users. BNB is currently ranked number four and is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies with over $65 billion in market cap.<\/p>\n

As it says in the blog:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot has changed for BNB since BSC's launch in September 2020, and today, we're pushing the BNB ecosystem even further. From now on, BNB and its networks Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain form the new BNB Chain ecosystem built around this outstanding utility token,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Struggling relationship with jurisdictions<\/span><\/h2>\n

The announcement does not go into any details as to why Binance chooses to change the name of the network, however, the company has had its <\/span>struggles<\/span><\/a> with different jurisdictions, including the U.S., U.K., and China.<\/span><\/p>\n

A qualified guess is that Binance is looking to distance itself from the blockchain network it created, perhaps in an effort to make the network more independent from the company.<\/p>\n

The blog post reads:
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe separation of Binance.com and BNB will provide the BNB Chain with more opportunities and freedom to seek innovations. At the same time, BNB Chain will remain loyal to BSC's mission to deliver the core infrastructure necessary for future public adoption. The BNB Chain will remain a community-first and open-source ecosystem built on a permissionless and decentralized environment,\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Future plans for 2022<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a previous blog <\/span>post<\/span><\/a>, Binance published its plans for 2022, these include<\/span><\/p>\n