BNB Chain Activity Surges Driven by Binance Airdrop Initiatives

Record-Breaking Metrics for BNB Chain

Recent developments on BNB Chain are showing impressive growth figures. The ecosystem has seen a notable uptick in trader engagement, as many users search for potential airdrop opportunities. Binance’s ongoing campaigns are successfully attracting a wave of new participants.

Binance Airdrops Sparking Increased Trading Volume

BNB Chain has emerged as the leading blockchain for decentralized exchange trading volume since early May. In the last 24 hours alone, the trading volume approached a staggering $10 billion, significantly outpacing Solana’s $2.5 billion.

The recent spike in lending activity is also noteworthy, particularly as traders are keen to borrow BNB tokens. On May 22, the borrowing rate for BNB saw a sharp jump, affecting lending protocols like Aave, where rates soared from around 2% to nearly 6%, and Venus, where rates escalated from about 1.5% to over 10%.

Incentives from Binance’s Campaigns

The surge in BNB Chain’s engagement appears closely tied to two prominent airdrop initiatives led by Binance, aimed at rewarding users who meet specific criteria. Airdrops are typically employed to incentivize early adopters and attract new members by offering free tokens.

Among these initiatives, Binance Launchpool stands out as the company’s long-standing program, which allows users to stake either BNB tokens or stablecoins to earn a share of airdropped tokens. Participants in various Binance Earn products are also eligible for airdrops.

To date, the Launchpool has supported 108 projects, attracting over 6 million unique users. Consequently, these initiatives have raised nearly $200 million, with an impressive amount of over $2.5 billion in BNB tokens currently locked on the exchange.

The recent uptick in lending activity coincided with the much-anticipated Spark airdrop, which was made available through the Binance Launchpad. As the cutoff date of June 10 approached, users actively borrowed BNB tokens to stake on Binance.

Binance Alpha Initiatives and Wallet Performance

With the introduction of Binance Alpha in 2024, users are rewarded for engaging with the Binance Wallet, earning "Alpha Points" based on their transactional volume and frequency. This campaign has proven to be a game changer, propelling Binance Wallet to the forefront of trading volume, accounting for over 94% of the crypto wallet market share and exceeding $6.5 billion in trading volume, along with nearly 200,000 active users.

However, some volume figures may be influenced by wash trading—an artificially inflated trading strategy that repeatedly buys and sells the same asset to create a misleading appearance of high volume. DefiLlama, a sister company of DL News, monitors BNB Chain’s activity and filters out wash trading from its analytics.

In response to concerns over unfair trading practices, Binance addressed these issues in June, taking action to remove points earned from transactions involving unsupported tokens or manipulation strategies.

Concerns Over Airdrop Farming Tactics

Despite the reforms, instances of wash trading persist. Users have reported employing strategies to generate significant trading volume at minimal costs. For example, one user demonstrated the ability to produce over $16,000 in trading volume while incurring less than $2 in fees by executing multiple swaps involving BNB and other low-fee tokens.

In May, participants in the Binance Alpha program received eight different airdrops, with an average estimated value of over $1,000 for each user based on initial closing prices.

Zachary Rampone is a DeFi correspondent at DL News. For inquiries, contact him at [email protected].