It has been four months since I last interviewed my peers; back then it was a review of the four years of the Binance Girls, and I talked to Si Si: (Review of the Binance Girls, four-year career, to become a better self).
Today, the market is much calmer than before; many altcoins have hit new lows, and on-chain activity has significantly decreased. This may be the best time to focus on building, as the market FOMO has subsided considerably.
Since CZ's return earlier this year, discussions about BNB Chain have increased significantly. Therefore, while the market is in a calm period, I had an online dialogue with Sarah, the new business head of BNB Chain.
1. When did you join BNB Chain?
Sarah: In 2023, I joined the BD team of BNB Chain. I entered the crypto industry in 2018. Initially, I was inspired by reading the Bitcoin white paper and wanted to join this emerging industry.
The choice of public chain is because this is infrastructure that allows for a deeper understanding of how this underlying technology operates, and it also provides opportunities to engage with various projects, builders, and developers, facilitating the observation and support of cutting-edge technologies and applications in this industry.
As an established public chain, BNB Chain has always been quite active in its ecosystem and can provide substantial support to projects (ecosystem building, grants, MVB, demo days, LP support, etc.); moreover, the most important goal pursued by BNB Chain, 'onboard next billion web3 users', matches my personal beliefs quite well.
Over the years, watching projects land and mature, and accompanying some founders/developers as they grow, I feel quite a sense of achievement.
2. How many people are currently involved in construction support internally?
Sarah: BNB Chain is a relatively small team, and we advocate moving fast. The entire team is quite lightweight. My BD department has less than 10 employees globally, with a relatively balanced distribution across major markets.
The entire BNB Chain team, including market, product, and technology, consists of about thirty to forty people spread across major continents and time zones.
3. There were rumors in the market that the team within BNB Chain changes every so often. Is this true?
Sarah: The crypto industry has strong cyclicality; when the market changes, employee turnover is naturally expected. I think this is very normal, and some employees have been here since the beginning, with departments spread across the board.
Of course, the entire pace of BNB Chain is relatively fast, with high demands on people. If you are a hardcore employee, you are welcome to join us.
Currently, the personnel have relatively stabilized, with some old employees who have been with the team since its inception, having longer tenure at BNB Chain than I do. Now everyone's relationship feels more like comrades-in-arms, having experienced several rounds of bull and bear markets together.
4. Recently, Sister @heyibinance stated that recruitment does not look at educational background, so what are the backgrounds of your team members?
Sarah: The talent density in the entire crypto industry has increased several magnitudes compared to early days. I actually don't know much about the educational backgrounds of some of my colleagues in other departments; we don't specifically inquire about this information at work, so only HR might know. Among the colleagues I am familiar with, most have decent educational backgrounds and possess cross-cultural international work experience.
I have also heard that some colleagues who did not attend university are doing well in their jobs. In fact, the main focus is on ability, attitude, and teamwork. Remote work is essentially result-oriented, and other factors are not as important.
As for my location, I am in Singapore, where I have a few colleagues. There are also a few in Dubai, London, etc.
5. Recently, CZ has been closely interacting with BNB Chain. Does he now directly command the work?
Sarah: It is well known that CZ is an important community partner of BNB Chain and also an intern at BNB Chain. Recently, he has spent some time researching and learning about on-chain projects and memes, bringing a lot of attention to BNB Chain.
CZ currently has many things to focus on, including his own giggle academy, interning at YZI Labs, writing his own book, etc. @cz_binance
6. There were plans to expand the selection of MVB projects and funding scale. What is the current situation?
Sarah: We previously released a new MVB program every quarter, and we have already launched nine seasons. In the eighth season, we expanded the number of selected projects to over 30. The shift announced a few days ago is from a quarterly application system to a rolling application system, where project parties can submit applications to join the incubation program at any time through a link. Projects that pass the review will be announced immediately and connected to key resource support.
In the first nine seasons, 147 projects have been incubated, among which 75 projects in the first eight seasons have received top venture capital investment, and 163 projects have successfully issued tokens, most of which are listed on mainstream exchanges.
7. Many people in the community complain that projects on BNB have a low market cap ceiling, and the meme on the same theme is far lower than that of Solana. What do you think is the reason for this?
Sarah: First, when a question is raised, we determine if it is a question and then answer why. If we analyze the possible reasons, we have to say that the huge market momentum brought by SOL's price surge from the bottom created a wealth effect and active user base on-chain.
BNB Chain has also produced many vibrant meme projects that have their advantages. For example, the continuous liquidity incentive program and the solid on-chain liquidity foundation, the overall DeFi infrastructure is relatively mature, and we have established close cooperation with multiple wallets to ensure smooth transaction experiences. Additionally, support on CEX channels is also one of our advantages.
8. After CZ's release from prison, he repeatedly stated that his primary goal was education. Now that several months have passed, will there be any connections to BNB Chain in this area?
Sarah: There may be relevant information:
Developer education and construction will have synergy, especially related to developer tutorials.
The deployment of DeSci projects on the BNB Chain will depend on the specific development of the project.
9. Currently, there has been a lot of progress with the Binance wallet, and many new wallet projects are being launched through Pancakeswap on the BNB Chain. Will there be more collaborations or actions in the future?
Sarah: I believe it will continue, and this aligns with our goal: to build the BNB Chain into a highly liquid asset layer. However, specific project details should be directed to the partners at the wallet and Pancakeswap.
10. Although Solana next door has stated that it will mainly focus on L1, which is the SOL chain itself, what do you think about projects that want to create side chains or expand on the BNB Chain?
Sarah: Although we see other ecosystems, such as Solana, focusing more on the development of the main chain (L1), BNB Chain's overall strategy is more modular and scalable. We support various expansion paths, including sidechains, L2 Rollups, and AppChains, to meet the needs of different developers and applications.
We understand that different projects have varying requirements in terms of performance, security, and customization. Therefore, we are building a multi-layered, multi-chain ecosystem through BNB Smart Chain (BSC), opBNB, BNB Greenfield, and the accompanying technical toolchain. We also warmly welcome developers to establish their own side chains or customized expansion solutions within this system.
The goal of BNB Chain is not just to build a single L1 but to create a superchain ecosystem that can connect multiple L1s and L2s while maintaining high performance and low costs, ensuring openness and flexibility in the ecosystem.
11. As the business head, what do you think about the previous departure of Li Wei?
Sarah: Personnel flow is very common in this industry, so people may be paying too much attention to this matter. We have not worked together for long and are in different time zones, so I wish her all the best in the future.
12. Is empowering the use and price of BNB one of your performance metrics?
Sarah: Yes, in terms of broadening the application scenarios of BNB. However, our responsibility is to add long-term value to the BNB Chain through technological evolution, collaborative expansion, developer support, and other means, rather than manipulating market sentiment or price fluctuations.
The core goal of BNB Chain is to build a decentralized, high-performance, developer-friendly blockchain ecosystem. The performance of our team is measured more around actual indicators like ecosystem growth, user activity, developer satisfaction, and on-chain application prosperity, rather than directly linked to the short-term price of the BNB token.
However, based on industry experience, when the on-chain ecosystem becomes increasingly prosperous and active, the Tokens in the public chain ecosystem usually perform well in price.
13. At the current stage, how do you view PayFi, DeFi, and GameFi respectively?
Sarah: Stablecoins and payments have always been among the most important blockchain applications. BNB Chain currently has over 7 billion in circulating stablecoins; at the same time, BNB Chain itself is strong in performance and has low gas fees. This year, the goal for L1 is to reduce block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds and then to 0.75 seconds, which further enhances L1's performance, making it more suitable for high-frequency DeFi, micropayments, and extending payment scenarios.
We are seeing more and more payment projects integrating stablecoins, bank card channels, and other solutions to truly realize on-chain payments. We have also been encouraging and developing payment scenarios on BNB Chain through various support measures, such as our ongoing 0 gas fee stablecoin transfer activity with major exchanges/wallets/cross-chain bridges, allowing users to transfer stablecoins on BNB Chain at 0 fees, and we welcome more payment-related projects/developers to develop on BNB Chain.
DeFi is the most important core of blockchain applications. In the early days, BNB Chain gathered a large number of DeFi projects, including PancakeSwap, Venus, etc., and the liquidity on our chain is also abundant. We now:
Further enhance the performance of L1/L2 to better support DeFi, especially in trading scenarios. Allow users to experience more abundant liquidity, faster transaction confirmations, and lower fees on-chain, while further addressing the issue of sandwich attacks on-chain to protect the rights and interests of transaction users.
Focus on DeFi projects that can help users earn organic returns or improve the efficiency of capital flow on-chain. For example, some protocols can package different earning methods into a single product for users to participate with one click; some projects act as 'on-chain capital dispatch centers', allowing assets to be utilized more efficiently instead of lying idle.
More 'foolproof' DeFi products are also crucial to lower the barriers for users and help Web3 further onboard more Web2 users.
I believe DeFi will soon introduce more assets and more interesting gameplay, provided that asset security and contract security are ensured. BNB Chain's AvangeDao aims to remind users of potential contract risks and help on-chain users avoid asset losses.
Overall, GameFi has not produced particularly breakout applications from last year to this year. Some people even believe that fun games do not need to be on-chain. However, we have seen that GameFi projects on BNB Chain are still very active, especially in Asia, where some professional gaming companies were quite active last year.
GameFi can quickly bring in user volume and boost on-chain activity, especially GameFi projects that combine AI, UGC (user-generated content), and virtual idols. We are willing to provide multi-faceted support such as grants, MVB, ecosystem support, and social media.
16. What plans does BNB Chain have next?
Sarah: On the technical side, we will continue to strengthen the performance and development experience of BNB Smart Chain and opBNB while promoting the implementation of BNB Greenfield in AI, content storage, and other scenarios.
In the ecosystem, we will focus on supporting stablecoins, PayFi, AI, RWA, and other tracks, providing resources, funds, and traffic support. This year we will also hold a series of Demo Day events offline, giving potential projects more exposure in front of VCs.
In the market, we will deeply cultivate Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and promote community building in North and South America. At the same time, we will integrate more compliant-friendly infrastructure and maintain good relationships with more professional institutions.
