BNB

BNB is the native token of the BNB Chain ecosystem and the utility token of Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. It is used to pay transaction fees on BNB Chain, to deploy and interact with smart contracts, and to receive tiered fee discounts when trading on the Binance platform.

BNB launched in July 2017 through an initial coin offering as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, with 50% of the 200 million token supply sold to the public, 40% allocated to the founding team, and 10% to angel investors. It later migrated to its own network, which today combines an EVM-compatible smart contract chain with additional scaling and data-availability components.

How BNB Chain works

BNB Chain uses a Proof of Staked Authority consensus mechanism. A rotating set of 21 active validators, elected daily based on the amount of BNB staked or delegated to them, produces blocks roughly every 3 seconds. The design favors high throughput and fast finality, with slashing penalties to discourage validator misbehavior. BNB's supply is deliberately shrinking: a dual-burn system permanently removes tokens through real-time destruction of a portion of gas fees and through quarterly burns, working down from the original 200 million toward a lower long-term target.

Role in the ecosystem

BNB sits at the center of one of the larger smart contract ecosystems, hosting DeFi protocols, games, and consumer applications that benefit from low fees and EVM compatibility. Its tight integration with the Binance exchange — fee discounts, launch platforms, and ecosystem programs — gives the token utility that spans both centralized and decentralized crypto services.