Binance Coin: +1,200% by 2021

The price-performance of Binance Coin (BNB) ended 2021 with an astonishing +1,200%. 

The price of Binance Coin (BNB) in 2021

The native cryptocurrency of the Binance Smart Chain in fact went from a price of just over $40 to over $500 today in the space of just twelve months. 

The record high was reached on 6 May 2021, when it touched $690. 

It is worth noting that from the beginning of the year to the peak on 10 May, the percentage gain was over 1,500%. 

Thanks to this incredible leap, BNB has entered by force into the top 3 of the cryptocurrencies with the largest market capitalization, a position that currently seems unapproachable for all the others, at least in the short term. 

At around $85 billion in market capitalization, it is still a long way behind both Bitcoin’s $870 billion and Ether’s $450 billion, but excluding USDt it is well above Solana’s $50 billion. 

Just a year ago its market capitalization was around $6 billion, compared to, say, XRP’s $10 billion and Cardano’s (ADA) $8 billion, so not only has it moved up two places, but it has now moved well ahead of its old rivals at around $40 billion. 

The reasons for BNB’s boom

BNB’s success, especially in the first few months of the year, is mainly due to the success of DeFi on the Binance Smart Chain. 

Despite the fact that the second-largest blockchain for TVL in DeFi is now Luna, the Binance Smart Chain even seemed to be able to challenge Ethereum’s leadership role in this area at the beginning of 2021. 

As a result of this boom, BNB’s share price rose dramatically, although in the end, the TVL on the Binance Smart Chain stopped at just over $15 billion, with Luna instead exceeding $18 billion, and Ethereum still towering unchallenged at over $150 billion. 

The fact is that behind BNB there is not only Binance Smart Chain but above all the global crypto giant Binance, the most widely used cryptocurrency exchange in the world. 

So it is hardly surprising that behind Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most successful cryptocurrency is currently BNB, although the most widely used token in the world remains USDt, which is not a real cryptocurrency. 

The “war” between DeFi blockchains

It is worth noting that, excluding Solana with +6,800%, BNB was the top crypto with the highest gain acquired in 2021, as BTC recorded +50%, ETH +270%, XRP +250% and ADA +500%. 

Solana, however, is a case in point, because it literally only blossomed in 2021, while BNB had already debuted much earlier, notably in 2019. 

Nor should it come as a surprise that BNB’s price performance has been consistently negative since May, precisely because new, high-performing blockchains have appeared in the DeFi world, including Luna and Avalanche, in addition to the usual Solana. 

In short, the “war” between the blockchains that serve DeFi is still going on, even if Ethereum currently continues to dominate unchallenged, with the Binance Smart Chain that has depopulated in the first months of 2021, then replaced by Luna and Avalanche. 

Ethereum remains the most truly decentralized of the blockchains serving decentralized finance.