The $BNB is what powers the Binance #Binance ecosystem and is the native currency of the Binance chain and Binance Smart Chain, with many use cases:
Pay trading fees on the Binance trading platform.
Pay trading fees on the Binance decentralized trading platform.
Pay transaction fees on the Binance chain.
Pay transaction fees on the Binance Smart Chain.
Pay for goods and services for online and in-store purchases (for example, using a Binance card or Binance Pay).
Book hotels and flights and more on Travala.com.
The community service token on the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem (such as games and decentralized applications).
Participate in token sales hosted on the Binance launch platform.
Donate to the Binance Charity Foundation.
Providing liquidity on the Binance platform for liquidity swaps.
What is Binance Coin (BNB)?
BNB was launched through an initial coin offering that took place from June 26 to July 3, 2017 - just 11 days before trading began on the Binance trading platform. The issuance price was 1 ETH for 2,700 BNB or 1 BTC for 20,000 BNB. Although BNB was launched through an initial coin offering, it does not grant users the right to claim profits from Binance nor does it represent an investment in Binance.
BNB was originally issued as an ERC-20 token, running on the Ethereum network, with a total supply of 200 million coins. 100 million BNB coins were offered in the initial coin offering, but the current total supply is lower due to periodic 'burn' operations, in which Binance destroys a portion of the BNB coins in its treasury. If you want to learn more about coin burning, and why BNB coins are permanently destroyed, you can read the article titled 'What is Coin Burning?'.
Although BNB's ERC-20 tokens were initially based on the Ethereum network, they were later swapped for BEP-2 tokens at a 1:1 ratio. The BEP-2 BNB token is the native currency of the Binance chain, and the mainnet was announced to launch on April 18, 2019.
In September 2020, Binance launched the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a blockchain network that runs parallel to the Binance chain. This means you can now find BNB in three different forms:
BNB BEP-2 on the Binance chain.
BNB BEP-20 on the Binance Smart Chain.
BNB ERC-20 on the Ethereum network.
What is BNB used for?
As we explained, there are many use cases for BNB within the Binance ecosystem and elsewhere, so it is up to you to decide how to use your BNB. For example, you can use BNB to pay for your travel expenses, purchase virtual gifts, and much more. According to our estimates, users have utilized millions of BNB to pay for travel expenses, purchase goods, lend, earn rewards, create smart contracts, and other transactions.
Many also use BNB to pay transaction fees. On the trading platform alone, nearly two million users have used BNB to pay trading fees totaling over 40 million BNB across more than 127 billion trades. Let’s take a look at how BNB can help you with trading fees.
When trading cryptocurrencies on the Binance trading platform, each trade incurs a standard fee of 0.1% (the trading fee is determined by your monthly trading volume and your BNB balance). You can either pay the trading fee using the assets you are trading or you can pay using BNB. If you choose to pay with BNB, you will receive a special discount.
So, if you trade frequently on Binance, you should consider obtaining BNB and using it to pay your fees. Also, keep in mind that the discount on trading fees follows a specific schedule, so make sure to check the current fee schedule for the spot trading market. It is also worth noting that the Binance futures platform follows a slightly different fee schedule.
In addition to reduced trading fees, BNB also powers the Binance decentralized exchange (on the Binance chain) and hundreds of applications running on the Binance Smart Chain, meaning you can use BNB outside of the Binance trading platform as well. In fact, over 180 digital assets have been issued on the Binance Smart Chain, and millions of users have used BNB for services related to the Binance Smart Chain.
Where can I get BNB?
Most BNB purchases occur in the secondary market, meaning you can buy and sell BNB on Binance.com and other cryptocurrency platforms.