Binance is one of the world’s most popular decentralized crypto exchanges. Millions of people use Binance to buy and sell crypto, but it isn’t just known for its exchange. The platform has also developed the Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain, two blockchains that offer some great features.
However, these popular chains have recently been rebranded by the company. So, why has Binance done this, and what does it mean for both blockchains? Let’s take a look.
Why Are the Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain Being Rebranded?
Like many other decentralized projects, Binance has its native crypto token, Binance Coin (or BNB). You’ve probably heard of this crypto, as it has been sitting comfortably with the likes of Ethereum and Tether as one of the most popular coins for a while. But Binance wants to build a stronger association between its blockchains and its native token and draw more of a focus on decentralization.
Because of this, the company decided to rebrand the Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain as the BNB Chain. While Binance states this stands for “Build and Build” and isn’t short for Binance Coin, it is very convenient, in any case, that the name reminds you of its native token.
In fact, Binance is now stating that its native token now stands for “Build and Build,” too, so it is no longer “Binance Coin.”
In Binance’s announcement about this change, the company made further comments on its native token, stating that:
BNB has been on its own evolutionary journey towards greater innovation and decentralization, and BNB has transcended Binance in terms of its use cases.
In the same announcement, Binance stated that their decision followed “in the footsteps of many other community-supported projects” and that this is a step in its “evolutionary journey” towards further innovation and decentralization.
Binance also wants to stress that it doesn’t actually own the Binance Smart Chain, so this name change will hopefully weaken the association people make between the company and the blockchain. The Binance Smart Chain has also been criticized for being too centralized, so it makes sense that the company wants to emphasize its decentralized elements.
So, will this rebrand mean that things will change within the Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain?
Will Anything Change Within Binance’s Two Blockchains?
Though Binance’s two blockchains now exist under the “BNB Chain” umbrella, they will continue to have their own names. However, they will not be the same as before.
Through this rebrand, the Binance chain (its first-ever blockchain launched in 2017), where crypto staking and voting takes place, will now be known as the BNB Beacon Chain. Binance’s newer blockchain (launched in 2020), the Binance Smart Chain, will now be known as the BNB Smart Chain. This blockchain is now competing with Ethereum as one of the most popular blockchains for developing decentralized projects.
On top of the name changes, the number of validators will almost double, from 21 to 41, with the additional 20 validators acting as candidate block producers.
Binance has also listed several other benefits that come with this rebrand, including boosting the throughput of the BNB Smart Chain, introducing on-chain governance mechanisms, and scaling from one to multiple chains.
The hype around Web3 and the metaverse also plays a role in this change. Binance itself has stated that the BNB Chain community will now “aim to build the infrastructure that powers the world’s parallel virtual economy.” This will be done using the concept of “MetaFi,” which combines metadata and decentralized finance.