Binance just announced we would burn 986,000 BNB (or just above USD $1.5MM at current market value), equivalent to 20% of Binance's first-quarter profit.

I would like to share a few points to put this number in perspective.

If you work the numbers out, Binance's first-quarter profit was $7.5MM USD, not bad for a project that’s only three months old. Especially considering we "only" raised $15 MM in our own ICO three months ago.

Binance is a platform. For any new platform to turn a profit in their first three months is an achievement in its own right. Most platforms burn through cash initially (or for a long time, some even through IPO) to acquire users. While our user base also grew quickly, we were lucky enough to turn in a profit, a handsome one at that.

From a revenue perspective though, the first three months were not all smooth sailing. In the first month, Binance offered complete zero-fee trading, foregoing our income.

In our second month, we had to deal with one of the most unexpected sharp turns in the regulatory space in China. We had to stop our ICO platform, delist a number of high volume coins, and issue refunds to all ICOs we had just completed. All of which were large money-losing propositions. But we were lucky - we survived.

Through these tough times, we were honored to have our community standing steadfast behind us, giving us support. In our third month, we came out strong. This is a testament to the old saying "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." We finished the quarter with a decent chunk of profit.

There are a few highlights from the first 3 months as well. To keep this short, I will just mention one now.

Our team orders take out daily from a local restaurant. We usually spread the food out on a small meeting room table, and everyone just eats while standing. On July 2nd, when we finished the last session of our ICO, after taking a few pictures to celebrate the fact we just raised $15MM, while I was thinking where should I take the team to some proper food for a change, the person who usually orders food ordered the same take out again. Everyone carried on as usual. We finished the take out in the tiny meeting, with everyone standing. Then went back to work. This was on a Sunday. When people ask me how did we celebrate the successful ICO, I say “we ordered take out.” I remember this vividly. I still have a picture of it. I was deeply moved by the team. I did not mention this to anyone until now. But this is how the team was able to launch the exchange 11 days after the ICO.

After the burn, we will re-invest the rest of our Q1 profits back into growth, making the platform grow even faster, hoping to generate more revenue next quarter.

Looking forward, we have some exciting things brewing. They largely fall into two categories: making the Binance platform better and adding more utility to the BNB token.

We will continue to list high-quality coins as fast as we can while applying our unique and increasingly prudent review standards. We currently have, after initial screening, 240+ different coins that have applied to list on Binance. And the backlog is only increasing, not decreasing. The current bottleneck is in our reviewing manpower. It takes time to read whitepapers, contact advisors, download and play with products, install wallets, check-in with the communities and social channels, check commits on GitHub, and more often than not, reading source code. But not to worry, we are continuously refining our reviewing and selection process. Having a large pool of choices is always good for us in picking crème de la crème offerings, and also good for our users.

We will continue to roll-out features as quickly as we can. I will not disclose too much detail here, but we have some neat things coming, the next few big ones start with R, S, P, M. Stay tuned!

I would like to take this special opportunity to thank all fellow Binancians for your support in Binance. Without you, Binance would likely not have survived. Now with you, we can build a true world-class crypto exchange together.

Thank you, and happy trading!

CZ, Binance CEO