BNB, the native token of the Binance chain, soared to a record on Wednesday as investors showed sustained interest in alternative cryptocurrencies.
Following eight prior days of gains, BNB rose to $804.80 on its "home" Binance exchange before slipping back to $784.10 at 15:07 UTC.
BNB is not only roaring on the back of renewed general appetite for altcoins. It's also benefiting from companies diversifying their corporate crypto holdings beyond Bitcoin (BTC), as well as some more focused treasury strategies.
BNB in the treasury
YZi labs, the investment company formerly known as Binance Labs, announced on 9 July that it's helping 10x Capital to establish a new US vehicle called BNB Treasury Company. They plan to attract more Americans to the coin at a time when the White House is heavily promoting investing in crypto.
More recently, on Tuesday, Nasdaq-listed Nano Labs disclosed that its BNB holdings rose to about 120,000, valued at $90 million, after acquiring an additional almost 45,685 tokens through over-the-counter deals. Nano Labs, a Hong Kong-based Web 3.0 infrastructure provider, also said it would continue to acquire the BNB token, as well as investing in stakes of BNB-focused companies.
Outstripping Bitcoin
Founded by the legendary CZ and his Binance team, BNB is up more than 19% this month alone – that's almost double Bitcoin's advance for July so far.
Fans of BNB had a shock on Tuesday when Solana's native token SOL surged into fifth spot in the global ranking of crypto assets by market capitalization. The glory was short-lived, however, as traders quickly bought into BNB at higher prices, boosting the coin to a value of more than $111 billion.
Emirati investment
Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi-based MGX made the first institutional investment into the Binance exchange, paid through stablecoins. Binance has made the UAE a key hub for operations and employees while the country has positioned itself as a key hub for crypto regulation where companies can set up and grow.
Founder CZ, full name Changpeng Zhao, served four months in a US prison and his company received a record $4.3 billion fine in 2023 as part of a settlement with US authorities over money laundering and sanctions protection. CZ resigned his CEO role as a result, but is still very much involved as founder.
