In the first quarter of 2025, although BNB's market cap fell by 14.8% against the backdrop of an overall correction in the crypto market, BNB Chain delivered an impressive growth report: on-chain revenue surged by 58.1% month-on-month, reaching $70.8 million. This strong contrast sufficiently demonstrates that the 'muscle' of the BNB ecosystem is much more robust than what market sentiment reflects.


Wallet transactions surge: the true engine driving revenue growth.


According to Messari's Q1 on-chain report, the surge in BNB Chain's revenue was driven not by the familiar DeFi, but by a previously underappreciated growth engine—wallet-to-wallet transaction fees. This segment surged by 122.6% this quarter, not only surpassing DeFi for the first time as the dominant source of income but also indicating that BNB Chain is quietly transforming into a 'main battlefield' for high-frequency trading activities.


This change reflects the evolution of on-chain user structure and diversification of applications. Mlion.ai also captures this trend in its 【On-chain Activity Analysis Dashboard】, showing that since February, the proportion of non-contract transactions (i.e., direct wallet interactions) on the BNB chain has continuously risen, surpassing user activity of some mainstream DeFi protocols.


TST meme coin ignites a peak in user activity.


In early February, the TST meme coin unexpectedly gained popularity, pushing the number of on-chain active users to a historical high. On February 11 alone, the number of independent on-chain users on the BNB Chain exceeded 517 million, setting a record. The surge in traffic is directly reflected in on-chain revenue: this quarter, BNB chain revenue skyrocketed from 69,500 BNB in Q4 last year to 109,800 BNB.


This is precisely the area where Mlion.ai's 【AI News Deep Analysis】 module excels—combining trending tokens, on-chain behavior, and revenue models to help users identify traffic hotspots and fund migration trends in advance, avoiding missing critical windows in short-term market movements.


Market cap retreats, yet still firmly holds the fourth position.


Despite the price adjustment, BNB still maintains a market capitalization of over $60 billion, ranking fourth in the cryptocurrency market cap leaderboard, only behind BTC, ETH, and XRP. In the same quarter, ETH fell by 45.2%, and SOL dropped by 29.6%, showcasing BNB's resilience.


Supporting this stability is not only BNB's own deflationary mechanism—this quarter saw the 30th burn of 1.6 million BNB (worth approximately $1.2 billion), maintaining an annual deflation rate of 4.6%—but also the substantial on-chain transactions and stable infrastructure.


Stablecoins, DEX, and DeFi drive three wheels: BNB ecosystem remains vibrant.


On-chain transaction activity on the BNB Smart Chain has grown comprehensively.


  • Daily average trading volume grew by 20.9%, reaching 4.9 million transactions;


  • Daily active addresses grew by 26.4%, reaching 1.2 million;


  • Stablecoin transactions grew by 28%, reaching 1.2 million transactions daily;


  • Wallet transfers grew by 50.9%, reaching 835,000 transactions daily.



Although DeFi TVL in USD has slightly declined to $5.3 billion, it has increased by 14.7% when priced in BNB. This conversion data indicates that the on-chain demand for BNB remains strong, providing solid support for its price.


In the DEX field, PancakeSwap stands out, controlling 91.8% of the market share, with trading volume increasing by 95.2% month-on-month, averaging $2.3 billion daily. In lending and synthetic assets, Venus remains the TVL king, while Kernal saw a dramatic 655.6% increase in TVL after the incentive mechanism was restarted, surpassing $500 million.


The contribution of the stablecoin ecosystem should not be overlooked: Q1 generated a total of 5,745.1 BNB, although its share of overall revenue dropped to 5.2%, it still increased by 23.4% year-on-year. The continuous growth of these on-chain 'essential' businesses indicates that BNB is building a highly active ecosystem compatible with a wide user base.


Mlion.ai's 【On-chain Fund Flow Dashboard】 helps users track such trends and visualize the flow path of on-chain funds from stablecoins, DEX to lending protocols, assisting users in identifying funding congestion and arbitrage opportunities.


Upgrade drives future scalability: the Pascal hard fork is just the beginning.


The operational vitality of BNB Chain is supported by substantial technological advancements. This quarter, the BNB Smart Chain completed the 'Pascal' hard fork, introducing several key features compatible with Ethereum.


  • Supports EIP-7702 smart contract wallets;


  • Introduces BLS12-381 cryptography for batch signatures and Gas abstraction;


  • Increases Gas limit to 140 million units, enhancing concurrent performance.



These technologies not only enhance network performance but also lay the foundation for supporting more complex DeFi and GameFi scenarios. Pascal is just the first step in the three major upgrades planned for 2025, with the other two set to be launched in the middle and end of the year.


Mlion.ai will soon add a tracking module for key chain upgrades in the 【Technical Upgrade Event Library】, allowing users to automatically receive alerts for chain-level changes like 'BNB hard fork completed' and 'new protocol launched', enabling quick assessments based on their impact on transaction fees, activity, and token inflation.


Where is the price of BNB headed? Key technical points overview.


Currently, the BNB price fluctuates around the support level of $595, and is consolidating in the range of $600-$610 in the short term.


  • Key resistance levels: $606, $610;


  • After breaking through, targets: $620, and further towards $635/$650;


  • If it drops below the support level of $592, it may face the risk of a pullback to $585 or even $580.



The RSI indicator remains above 50, indicating that market sentiment is leaning bullish. Mlion.ai's 【Token Trend Prediction】 model shows that if on-chain activity continues to grow, BNB is likely to test above $620 in the short term.


Summary: Finding growth in a recession cycle, BNB Chain provides a model.


While the entire market is shrouded in macro adjustments and regulatory shadows, BNB Chain has given a strong counterattack through real trading activity, continuous on-chain revenue, and robust technological evolution.


As crypto investors increasingly value 'real users' and 'sustainable growth', networks like BNB that perform counter-cyclically are key references for discovering potential assets. Mlion.ai provides users with this 'visible growth' through multi-dimensional analysis such as on-chain behavioral data mining, fund flow tracking, and event correlation.


If you're still wondering: how to choose coins during market consolidation? You might want to use Mlion.ai to look at those public chain ecosystems that are truly 'building', rather than just those names that are 'hyped'.
#bnb

Disclaimer: The above content is for informational sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice. Investment carries risks; please proceed with caution.