BNB price today saw a 5% increase, reaching $590. In doing so, the cryptocurrency managed to perform better than most of its market competitors, with Bitcoin and Ethereum gaining around 2% and 1.77% respectively during the same period. So what factors have triggered this rise in BNB? We examine with chart analyses and data.
Why Is BNB Rising?
BNB’s price increase on April 4th was triggered by key factors including the ongoing excitement around the launch of blockchain protocol Ethena (ENA) and the rising dominance in the crypto market.
On March 29th, the Binance team announced the inclusion of Ethena in the Binance Launchpool, and users were able to use their BNB and FDUSD to collect ENA tokens from March 30th to April 1st. The crypto exchange listed the ENA token for trading on its exchange protocol on April 2nd. This period coincided with a slight increase in the total value locked (TVL) across the BNB Chain, as shown in the DefiLlama graph below.
In other words, the opportunity to stake BNB and accumulate ENA tokens led to increased buying and holding activities, resulting in price gains. BNB price also showed a similar increase when the cross-chain gaming platform Portal (PORTAL) was launched in the Binance Launchpool in February.
The excitement around Ethena coincides with BNB’s rising dominance in the crypto market, pointing to an increase in capital inflow to its market compared to rival assets. Notably, the BNB Dominance Index (BNB.D) rose by approximately 6.5% from its most recent low levels on April 2nd.
The recent increase in BNB’s market share reflects a notable expansion against other leading altcoins, especially Bitcoin, which holds almost half of the market’s total value. For example, the widely followed BNB/BTC pair saw a 7.6% increase since April 2nd, reaching a two-week high of 0.00887 BTC on April 4th.
Significant Move from BNB Chain Team
BNB’s price increase also hints at BNB Chain’s strategic expansion into the memecoin market; this move seems to be inspired by the rapid network growth observed on the rival Solana network during the same period.
On April 2nd, BNB Chain announced a commitment to reward developers launching memecoin projects on its network with up to $1 million. Since that date, BNB’s price has gained 2% in value. Such strategic investments could potentially increase the use and demand for BNB, considering its central role in transaction fees, governance, and participation in new projects on the BNB Chain network.
