BNB’s price jumped by 7% between Sept. 11 and 13, pushing it above $550 for the first time in over two weeks. This surge far outpaced the broader altcoin market, which only saw a 2% increase during that time. The strong performance suggests that specific factors tied to the BNB Chain and Binance exchange drove the price higher.
In the past three months, BNB has had a tough time staying above the $600 mark, but that hasn’t stopped it from holding its place as the third-largest cryptocurrency, not counting stablecoins. The last time Solana briefly overtook BNB was back on Aug. 8, but now there’s a solid $17.7 billion gap between them.
An X user, MJ, believes that the recent spike in BNB’s price is partly due to Binance’s founder and former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, being released from custody on Sept. 29.
BNB restaking and new token pools launch
A U.S. federal judge had sentenced CZ to four months in prison after he admitted to not implementing an effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program during his time at Binance. Authorities took him into custody in May. 31, they recently moved him to a residential reentry facility in California. MJ also points out that the rise is due to the new BNB restaking program and the introduction of two fresh Binance launchpad pools.
The Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) launch pool, which will be open for three days, lets users stake BNB and FDUSD. With over 100 million players reportedly engaged in the Telegram mini-app game, Binance plans to distribute 3 billion HMSTR tokens to those who deposit.
In Hamster Kombat, players take on the role of a cryptocurrency exchange CEO tasked with growing the company through investments, upgrades, and engaging in daily challenges. The aim is to earn HMSTR tokens, with no additional downloads required beyond the Telegram app.
The Catizen (CATI) token launch on Binance Launchpad will last four days. Catizen is a gaming platform with a cat theme that’s also available on Telegram. During the launch, the platform will give out 90 million CATI tokens to users who deposit BNB or FDUSD. Regarding the BNB restaking program, there hasn’t been any official announcement from Binance yet, just some rumors circulating.
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