After months of anticipation, Binance has finally launched the public testnet for its decentralized cryptocurrency exchange – Binance DEX.

Leading global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched the public testnet for its new decentralized exchange, Binance DEX.

According to a press release shared with BitcoinerX earlier today, the exchange is being powered by Binance Chain – a new blockchain and p2p distributed system developed that focuses on performance, ease-of-use, and liquidity.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of Binance, spoke about how the new exchange will enable traders have more control over their private keys and digital assets:

Binance DEX is a decentralized exchange with a decentralized network of nodes, where you hold your own private keys and manage your own wallet. […] With Binance DEX, we provide a different balance of security, freedom, and ease-of-use, where you take more responsibility and are in more control of personal assets.

Users on the Binance DEX testnet will be able to create wallets and begin exchanging tokens on the platform. Currently, both the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet and Binance’s own Trust Wallet are fully integrated with Binance DEX and more wallets are expected to be supported over time.

Goodbye Ethereum Network, Hello Binance Chain

Like most blockchain companies that issued tokens through an ICO, Binance’s own token – Binance Coin (BNB) – still uses Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard. That will soon change, however, as the Binance team is preparing to migrate BNB to Binance Chain, making it the network’s native asset.

Citing Binance Chain’s speed and scalability, Zhou notes:

Binance Chain has near-instant transaction finality, with one-second block times. This is faster than other blockchains today.

In comparison, Ethereum has an average block time of around 20 seconds, while Bitcoin’s block time is closer to 10 minutes.

Zhou goes on to add:

With the core Binance Chain technology, Binance DEX can handle the same trading volume as Binance.com is handling today. This solves the issues many other decentralized exchanges face with speed and power.

In a recent livestream Q&A session, Zhou noted that the DEX – by virtue of Binance Chain – is capable of handling “a couple thousand” transactions per second (TPS) and that it can be scaled up if needed. By contrast, Ethereum can currently handle around 15 TPS, while Bitcoin reports in at just seven.

Binance Coin (BNB) Price Reacts, Climbs Nearly 13%

Binance Coin (BNB) has been on a fairly steady upward trajectory since the end of January, climbing from roughly $6.14 to $9.74 yesterday morning. Then, fueled at least in part by the anticipation of the DEX testnet launch, BNB prices surged to $11.11 and continued to climb to a high of $11.32 before declining slightly to its current price at press time of $10.99 – a 24-hour gain of nearly 13%.

Binance Coin (BNB) is currently #10 on CoinMarketCap’s Top 100 Cryptocurrencies list, with a market cap of more than $1.5 billion and a 24-hour trade volume of $159 million.

What are your thoughts on the launch of the Binance DEX testnet? Do you plan on taking it for a spin? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of AdobeStock, CoinMarketCap, Binance