What Is Binance Coin (BNB)?

BNB was launched through an initial coin offering in 2017, 11 days before the Binance cryptocurrency exchange went online. It was originally issued as an ERC-20 token running on the Ethereum network, with a total supply capped at 200 million coins, and 100 million BNBs offered in the ICO. However, the ERC-20 BNB coins were swapped with BEP2 BNB on a 1:1 ratio in April 2019 with the launch of the Binance Chain mainnet, and are now no longer hosted on Ethereum.

BNB can be used as a payment method, a utility token to pay for fees on the Binance exchange and for participation in token sales on the Binance launchpad. BNB also powers the Binance DEX (decentralized exchange).

Can You Mine BNB?

You cannot mine BNB as you would a proof-of-work cryptocurrency, since the Binance Blockchain uses the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus mechanism. Instead, there are validators that earn from securing the network by validating blocks.

What Is a BNB Burn?

Before BNB migrated to Binance Chain, Binance performed coin burns on the Ethereum network using a smart contract burn function. The amount of coins that Binance burns is based on the number of trades of the exchange over three months. Since the Binance Chain launch, BNB coin burns no longer take place on the Ethereum network and now use a specific command on Binance Chain, as opposed to a smart contract.

How Do You Buy BNB?

You can buy BNB on the Binance crypto exchange with a wire or bank transfer, a credit card or debit card, or any other exchanges that offer the cryptocurrency. For the latest list of exchanges and trading pairs for this cryptocurrency, click on our market pairs tab.