- BNB Chain's developers have announced an airdrop.
- Those who traded memecoins on the blockchain will receive the windfall.
BNB Chain has a surprise for memecoin traders.
The developers behind the blockchain announced on Monday that they will give out $45 million worth of the network’s BNB token to those who traded memecoins over the past week after a record-breaking crypto crash crushed the asset group.
“Recent market conditions have created turbulence across the broader crypto landscape, yet the BNB community continues to build, create and stay engaged through it all,” a post from the official BNB Chain X account said.
“This initiative represents a collective effort across the BNB ecosystem to show appreciation for our users and builders, especially the memecoin community.”
Over 160,000 addresses are eligible for the windfall, according to the post.
The first batch of airdrops will be distributed this week, and all airdrops will be completed by early November 2025, the post said.
It’s not clear how the $45 million will be allocated. If all eligible addresses receive an equal split they will get just over $281 worth of BNB tokens each.
On Friday, the crypto market experienced its biggest ever liquidation cascade as $19 billion worth of leveraged trades were wiped out. The crash was triggered by President Donald Trump announcing a 100% tariff on Chinese imports.
Memecoins, tokens often based on jokes, celebrities, or cute animals that trade mostly on sentiment, were among the worst hit.
BNB, the native token of BNB Chain, has already recovered from the rout, however. It’s up 3.7% on the week to trade at $1,271.
BNB Chain memecoins
Memecoin trading has been lucrative for blockchains that have managed to harness it.
In early 2024, memecoin trading exploded on the Solana blockchain, generating millions of dollars in fees for exchanges and memecoin launchpads like Pump.fun.
BNB Chain appears to be attempting to replicate Solana’s previous success through its own memecoin platform, Four.meme.
Even Binance’s founders are getting in on the action.
Last week, a Mandarin-named memecoin called Binance Life rocketed to a $524 million market value after X posts from Changpeng Zhao and his fellow Binance co-founder Yi He were interpreted as promoting the token.
After the initial hype, Binance Life plummeted, and currently trades down 64% from its all-time high.
Several other memecoins, some also referencing Zhao, soared to multi-million dollar market values before crashing.
Binance and BNB Chain have strong ties. The exchange developed and launched BNB Chain in 2020, and Binance’s infrastructure, like its wallet services and bridges, promotes the adoption of BNB Chain-based projects.
The blockchain operates as a decentralised network with its own validators and governance. However, critics argue it remains somewhat centralised due to Binance’s influence over validators and ecosystem development.
Zhao also owns a large portion of BNB tokens. While the Binance founder has not publicly disclosed how many he owns, a 2024 investigation by Forbes estimated he holds approximately 94 million BNB, roughly 64% of the token’s circulating supply.
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.
