The despised Binance listing team, even CZ can't stand it anymore
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
The despised Binance listing team, even CZ can't stand it anymore
CZ's Return, Binance's Anxiety, and BNB Chain That Can't Rise?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
Recently, the overall market has been volatile and continuously declining. The meme coin craze appears to be fading as well, yet TST, a meme coin on BNB Chain, has suddenly surged in popularity.
On February 6, TST's market cap was only $500,000. On February 9, after Binance announced its listing, TST skyrocketed past a $500 million market cap—surging over 100x in just three days. Currently, TST has dropped from its peak of $0.52 to around $0.17, representing a decline of more than 60%.
Originated from an Educational Video
Recently, the BNB Chain team produced a tutorial video on creating memes on the Four.meme platform. In the video, they used the token TST as an example. This detail was quickly spotted and heavily promoted by savvy Chinese community KOLs, leading to a significant price surge.
After learning about the speculation, the BNB Chain team promptly removed the private key of the creator address (which held 0.13% of the total supply). Neither the team nor Binance itself holds any of this token. CZ also repeatedly clarified on Twitter that he and his team have no involvement with it. Perhaps due to its "decentralized" nature, the statement did not cause TST’s price to fall; instead, heightened attention and buzz triggered another wave of speculation.
However, shortly after officially listing on Binance, TST failed to break the so-called curse of “listing equals falling,” and began to drop rapidly. Another BNB Chain ecosystem meme coin, CHEEMS, which listed alongside it, suffered the same fate, plunging from a high of $0.001884 to $0.0007.
After TST’s Binance listing, smart whales chose to take profits. As newly listed tokens on Binance again experienced sharp declines, the crypto community once more questioned Binance’s listing quality and whether the BNB Chain ecosystem could truly gain momentum.
Wealth Effect Deteriorates, Community Refuses to Back BSC
As the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance enjoyed widespread acclaim in previous cycles thanks to its powerful wealth effect and listing effect. But times have changed. VC-backed tokens on exchanges are now out of favor and facing existential crises, while on-chain meme coins have become the new promised land for user-driven wealth creation.
This trend has caused altcoins on exchanges to struggle to gain upward momentum, while suffering severe drops when prices fall. Aside from major cryptocurrencies, most altcoins have seen substantial corrections over the past two months. Meme coins also cooled down after the Trump-themed coin phase.
Binance finds itself in a dilemma with its spot listing strategy: launching higher-market-cap tokens often yields low returns, while listing very low-market-cap tokens carries excessive risk, potentially causing heavy losses for investors due to extreme volatility. Additionally, following global expansion, Binance has faced ongoing compliance challenges that hinder various business initiatives.
He Yi once stated that Binance has a complex token listing review process. However, TST was listed on Binance just days after its creation, raising skepticism among some community members: Does Binance truly have thorough vetting procedures? Or did it use an express lane to support the BNB Chain ecosystem?
BNB Chain Fails to Rise
Since CZ’s release from prison last year, legal restrictions have barred him from participating in Binance’s day-to-day operations. Nevertheless, as an influential industry figure, his sphere of influence remains broad. For instance, he continues to engage in investment activities and public chain ecosystem development. Recently, Binance Labs officially rebranded to YZi Labs, transforming into a large family office. Its investment scope has expanded from cryptocurrencies to AI and biotechnology. According to its official announcement, CZ will continue to play a key role in investment activities, directly engaging with entrepreneurs and offering guidance.
In addition, CZ closely follows developments within the BNB Chain ecosystem. Recently, Binance Labs invested in Kernel, a restaking project, and DEX project THENA, both part of the BNB Chain ecosystem. However, the restaking trend has not reignited enthusiasm. THE’s price performance shows the community is unimpressed, dropping from a high of $4.18 to $0.47. Another ecosystem project, CAKE, recently fell to around $1.6, nearing its all-time low of $1.05.
Beneath these crises, BNB Chain launched an AI agent solution this year and brought meme launch platform Four.meme onto GMGN, attempting to ride the waves of meme and AI agent trends. Unfortunately, its response was sluggish, coinciding poorly with a broader market downturn.
During the previous cycle, BNB Chain performed notably well. In contrast, its performance in this cycle has been lackluster—arguably far behind competitors. Ecosystem projects have underperformed, and the meme ecosystem has shown little vitality. Compared to Solana and Base, the downward trend is evident. As of January 30 this year, Solana’s daily active addresses were six times that of BNB Chain. Even L2 newcomer Base has surpassed BNB Chain in daily active addresses. Roughly one year ago, BNB Chain’s daily active addresses were twice those of Solana.
With a stagnant ecosystem and weak wealth effect, even CZ—the face of the ecosystem—can no longer stay silent.
On February 7, CZ initiated a poll asking, “Should BNB Chain attempt to eliminate or actively reduce MEV issues?” He commented, “I hate any form of front-running, and MEV feels like that to me. In a decentralized world, no one can completely stop it. But there are ways to reduce it.”
Subsequently, CZ repeatedly responded to and reshared tweets about TST, briefly spiking its popularity. Some early buyers at smart money addresses reaped substantial profits.
Following the meme discussion, CZ also addressed the community’s concerns regarding listings: “As an observer, I think Binance’s listing process has some issues. The platform makes an announcement, then lists the token four hours later. While advance notice is necessary, during those four hours, the token price gets pumped on DEXs, and then someone sells on CEXs.”
In response, community members suggested that CEXs could optimize the listing process by providing initial liquidity simultaneously, launching liquidity incentive programs, and integrating with DEX liquidity pools. CZ replied to one suggestion: “I think CEXs should automatically list (almost) all tokens just like DEXs do—but I’m no longer in charge of operating the CEX.”
Summary
If CEXs truly auto-list nearly all tokens like DEXs, questions would arise about their product positioning, listing effects, and more. CZ’s recent flurry of tweets addressing BNB Chain and listing issues are clearly aimed at responding to community concerns. Yet judging from current representative projects, the impact has been minimal.
Possibly, the root problem goes beyond Binance alone, touching deeper systemic issues across the entire crypto industry: crypto nihilism, endless meme coin blood-sucking, lack of innovation, and token sales becoming the primary business model for projects...
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
Foresight News
