Possible Reasons Behind the Binance Coin (BNB) Price Rally

Binance’s native cryptocurrency, BNB, soared to its highest level since November 2022, climbing to over $380, renewing optimism among investors after legal struggles and CZ stepping down from its CEO position.

BNB remains the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, peaking at $386 —a 7.70% gain over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap data. Most market observers attribute the surge to a sentiment shift towards BNB after Binance settled with US authorities.

Airdrop Frenzy Benefits Crypto Assets

Airdrops are one of the hottest topics in the crypto space, drawing interest and criticism alike. But one thing remains true — airdrops have become one of the best marketing strategies for DeFi protocols, capturing awareness and new traffic and potentially increasing a coin’s value in a blockchain network.

That said, the recent rally in BNB’s price can be partly attributed to the hype surrounding an airdrop farming campaign initiated by the web3 gaming project Portal. Binance introduced Portal to its Launchpool, allowing users to participate in the project’s PORTAL token airdrop scheduled for Feb. 29.

According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, BNB holders transferred over $400 million worth of BNB tokens to Portal within 24 hours after the announcement.

BNB holders have sent >$400M in BNB to Binance in the past 24 hours to farm @Portalcoin ’s launchpool.

7 separate addresses have sent over $10M of BNB, with the largest whale sending in over $40M. https://t.co/EBINQnUPWn pic.twitter.com/dZvvxYXJ0E

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) February 22, 2024

Talking about airdrops, Starknet’s token STRK was recently listed on Binance, allowing users to trade the coin in the following pairs: STRK/BTC, STRK/USDT, STRK/FDUSD, and STRK/TRY.

Starknet’s airdrop, while the largest in crypto history so far (around $2 billion), also ended up being a messy event, as, among many factors, airdrop hunters dampened it by controlling multiple addresses to claim as many rewards as possible, which was then reported as a Sybil attack resulting in an unfair advantage.