As Kraken is set to list BNB, Binance founder CZ earlier referred to BNB as a meme coin, sparking heated discussions within the community. However, overall market reactions remain stable.
(Background: Binance Launchpool’s new token mining listing Initia, tokenomics, and $INIT project features at a glance)
(Supplementary background: WSJ reports CZ admits guilt, ‘agrees to provide evidence of Sun Yuchen’s criminal activities’! Sun responds: Good relations with CZ and the U.S. Justice Department)
Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) shared news on X a few hours ago that BNB will be listed on Kraken on April 22, while for the first time he referred to Binance’s native token BNB as a “meme coin,” igniting enthusiastic discussions in the cryptocurrency community.
In the conversation, CZ casually stated, “BNB is a meme coin,” accompanied by a shrug emoji, leading to varied interpretations within the community. Some users viewed this as an affirmation of BNB’s ecosystem builders, aiming to highlight its technological value rather than merely being a meme coin (recently, meme coin developments within this ecosystem have been booming, with all trading interactions requiring payment in BNB).
Others interpreted it as a jest regarding meme coin culture. Overall, the market reaction was not particularly strong, but driven by the new Launchpool and TGE activities, the price of BNB approached $590 before the deadline, making it the best performer among the top ten tokens in the last 24 hours.
BNB is a meme coin.♂️https://t.co/JY68Ct30Yu — CZ BNB (@cz_binance) April 17, 2025
Potential Impact of Kraken Listing
BNB Chain announced yesterday that Kraken will launch BNB trading pairs on April 22 at 14:00 UTC, including BNB/EUR, BNB/USD, BNB/USDC, and BNB/USDT, which is expected to enhance BNB’s liquidity and global accessibility, considering that some institutions wish to invest under strict regulatory conditions.
Does CZ Really Want to Classify BNB as a Meme Coin?
Another possibility is that CZ might genuinely want to categorize BNB as a meme coin. As we know, according to securities trading laws, if a cryptocurrency is defined as a security rather than a commodity, it will bear many legal regulatory burdens. Previously, there was a publisher that launched a BNB ETF; if it cannot be classified as a commodity, the threshold for its formal launch will be significantly higher.
However, we know that as the core token of the BNB Chain, its functions include discounts on Binance trading fees, staking, and DeFi applications, far exceeding the speculative nature of an ordinary meme coin. Moreover, a substantial reserve of BNB is held by CZ and the Binance exchange team; whether this can pass the SEC’s securities test remains a significant question mark.
