BN to the left, OK to the right: The historical replay of Alibaba and Tencent's ecosystem strategies
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BN to the left, OK to the right: The historical replay of Alibaba and Tencent's ecosystem strategies
One drives scale expansion through strong dominance, the other continuously extends its ecological boundaries through open connectivity.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: YettaS
As an observer across time and space, I see echoes of the Web2 era's Alibaba and Tencent in Binance and OKX's strategic layouts. One drives scale through strong centralization; the other expands its ecosystem through open connectivity. Though operating in different industries and eras, these tech giants follow eerily similar strategic trajectories.
I. Binance: Scaling Through Centralized Control
Binance has always positioned itself as a leader in our industry. Receiving investment from Binance brands you as part of the Binance family; being built on BSC marks you as a native Binance project; Launchpool rewards heavily favor $BNB holders; and when listed projects underperform, users blame Binance before blaming the project itself.
Binance overshadows everything, becoming the dominant brand.
In the last cycle, the rise of the BSC ecosystem was an even clearer example: Pancake and Venus directly captured ETH’s hottest trends and aggressively pushed forward, while other projects rapidly cloned successful models. When Stepn surged on Solana, it quickly migrated to BSC to continue the DeFi momentum—the entire BSC ecosystem achieved rapid scaling under tight centralized control.
II. OKX: Expanding Ecosystems Through Open Connectivity
In contrast, OKX’s ecosystem strategy appears more open and agile. Its wallet serves both as a user acquisition gateway and a bridge connecting diverse ecosystems. After launching support for Ordinals in May last year, OKX propelled the entire niche into the mainstream. This year, it swiftly integrated Ton and recently announced OKX Connect as its top wallet priority—enabling all EVM dApps to enter the Telegram ecosystem at record speed. OKX doesn’t directly control or replicate any single project. Instead, through open-source code and public APIs, it has become the industry’s “invisible infrastructure,” enabling full connectivity between projects and users.
III. Alibaba Has No Allies, Tencent Exerts No Control
This contrast between tight control and open strategy mirrors exactly the old debate about Alibaba and Tencent—summed up most famously as “Alibaba has no allies; Tencent exerts no control.”
Take new retail: Alibaba favors a centralized model, achieving operational dominance through deep equity stakes in invested companies. For instance, its full acquisition of Ele.me, controlling stake in Intime Retail, and significant shareholding in Sanjiang Shopping reflect Alibaba’s intent to vertically integrate the new retail ecosystem using both capital and technology. This centralized approach reveals Alibaba’s strong desire for dominance—seeking full coordination by maintaining managerial and discursive power.
Tencent’s strategy is markedly different—centered on decentralization and positioning itself as a connector. Through mini-programs, payments, big data, and advertising, Tencent offers a comprehensive “toolkit” for new retail, enabling businesses to digitize efficiently and at low cost. Tencent typically holds minority stakes—for example, only 5% in Yonghui Superstores and less than 20% in JD.com—far below Alibaba’s controlling levels.
IV. Different Origins, Different Paths
Why do such divergent strategic mindsets and operational models emerge?
Alibaba originated in e-commerce. Its enduring vision—“making business easier for everyone”—reflects a core belief in reshaping industries through technological and resource integration. This mindset inevitably positions Alibaba as the ecosystem’s dominant force. By deeply transforming B2B merchants, Alibaba aims for holistic synergy, maximizing traffic efficiency and resource utilization. In essence, Alibaba is a “transformer,” restructuring and upgrading industries through ownership and control.
Tencent’s core strength lies in social networking and traffic ecosystems—where connection is inherent. It provides powerful tools and lets users take the lead. This philosophy extends to its ecosystem strategy: Tencent empowers enterprises with traffic, payment, and data tools to drive their own digital transformation. The key is leveraging its role as a “connector” to strengthen and expand its traffic and data gateways.
We can even observe this difference organizationally: Zhang Yong lived in a Hangzhou hotel for over a decade for Alibaba, while Tencent established WeChat’s headquarters in Guangzhou for Zhang Xiaolong—revealing subtle but telling contrasts in corporate culture.
V. Different Industries, Historical Parallels
Like Alibaba, Binance carries the mission of maintaining leadership around its core business. Binance refers to its CEX as the main station—everything must align with the CEX logic, with $BNB serving as the unifying vehicle. For example, allowing $BNB on BNB Chain to participate in Launchpool is a clear directional signal. Binance needs trading traffic, and the most effective way is continuous wealth creation—identifying high-potential areas (like BSC), then incubating, investing, and channeling resources into projects to eventually reap the rewards. The “dream factory” model is the most efficient way to sustain its “traffic + brand” matrix—and dreams require strong control.
OKX faces no pressure to be number one, choosing instead a path focused on technology and compliance. In Star’s recent speech, he outlined OKX’s three core lines: CEX, Web3, and Simple. Unlike Binance, OKX does not tightly couple Web3 with CEX. Instead, it allows Web3 to evolve independently along a technology-driven path—clearly aiming for the fastest, most efficient ecosystem capture. Here, the wallet becomes OKX’s pivotal tool—the central hub for capturing and connecting the entire Web3 ecosystem.
Of course, strategic direction is never perfectly predictable from day one. No company can draw a master plan and march straight to success. The journey is always filled with internal and external pressures and uncertainties—what matters is rapid iteration and trial-and-error.
Tencent was once harshly criticized during the 3Q War with Qihoo 360, when users were forced to choose between the two, leading to government intervention. It also tried building its own B2C platform, Paipai, which it later sold to JD.com in exchange for a 15% stake. Only when Tencent’s social and traffic moat became deep enough did it realize that connecting others was far more effective than doing everything itself. This same ambition exists in crypto: OKX once lost ground due to delayed international expansion under regulatory pressure; OKX Chain initially aimed to build a large internal ecosystem to compete among L1s; Wallet once planned to build its own DEX to monetize traffic—all ultimately failed. Often, companies struggle with but ultimately must submit to their own DNA.
A historical parallel emerges across different times and industries.
Beneath these two models lies how companies respond to different external environments. Both Binance and Alibaba center their strategies on dominance over core operations, relying on tight control and resource integration to scale—using a “full-stack” approach to secure industry influence and rapid growth. OKX and Tencent, by contrast, adopt openness and connectivity as core principles, empowering ecosystems through technical tools and platforms. By minimizing direct control, they position themselves as foundational infrastructure, enabling free interaction between projects and users, thus achieving swift ecosystem capture.
These models are not accidental—they stem from fundamental differences in product DNA and corporate mission. One emphasizes control and integration, seeking industry dominance through scale and monopoly; the other emphasizes decentralization and connectivity, leveraging organic ecosystem growth to expand influence.
Across different industries and time periods, tech giants consistently find the optimal path aligned with their own DNA.
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@YettaSing
