cryptoslate.com
$BNB, the native token of Binance’s $BNB Chain, has reclaimed the spotlight after soaring to a new all-time high, cementing its position as the world’s third-largest crypto by market capitalization.
Data from CryptoSlate shows that $BNB reached a record high of $1,335 on Oct. 7, before slightly retracing to around $1,306 as of press time.
The token has remained up more than 6% in the past 24 hours, making it one of the market’s top performers during the day. Over the past week, $BNB has gained nearly 30%, extending its monthly rally to roughly 50%.
That surge allowed $BNB to overtake $XRP in total market value. As of press time, $BNB’s capitalization stands at $182.6 billion, surpassing $XRP’s $178 billion.
The token now trails only Bitcoin and Ethereum in global rankings, representing about 32% of ETH’s $568 billion market cap.
$BNB’s growing utility
$BNB’s latest rally reflects more than market enthusiasm as it mirrors the digital asset’s expanding utility and network activity across the $BNB Chain ecosystem.
Decentralized exchanges such as Aster have seen sharp increases in trading volumes, boosting demand for $BNB as the chain’s core gas and governance token.
According to DefiLlama data, $BNB Chain’s total value locked (TVL) has grown more than 7% in the past 24 hours, reaching roughly $4.5 billion. During the same period, network fees totaled $4.51 million, while protocol revenue climbed to $2.23 million.
Moreover, the active addresses on $BNB Chain have also surged, with over 73 million recorded in September and 15 million already logged this month.
Venture capital firm YZi Labs noted that $BNB’s fundamentals remain “built for mass adoption,” pointing to several key catalysts behind its post-ATH performance.
According to the firm, this includes expanding on-chain momentum, broad staking utility, deflationary tokenomics through dual burn mechanisms, and low transaction costs following the Maxwell hard fork.
It added that institutional players have also begun integrating $BNB for treasury and liquidity management, signaling a deeper layer of adoption.
Memecoin momentum
$BNB’s rally has coincided with a renewed wave of speculative trading on the blockchain network.
Blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps reported a sharp uptick in memecoin activity, describing the ongoing “$BNB memecoin season” as one of the most profitable in recent cycles.
According to the firm, over 100,000 on-chain traders participated in new token launches, with about 70% posting profits.
Some of the top-performing projects include the $4 memecoin, Binance Life, and PALU, which saw dozens of early traders earn between $100,000 and $1 million in gains.
This influx of retail speculation and capital movement to the network has created a perfect storm for $BNB’s momentum — reinforcing its role as both a utility token and a bellwether for broader activity on Binance’s blockchain.