Binance's Capital Chess Game: From Exchange Giant to Global Financial Player

Original author: Master Brother from Down Under (X: @BroLeonAus)

Under Trump, cryptocurrency compliance has entered an unprecedented “Age of Exploration”. In addition to the favored stablecoins, I believe that the CEXs, which were once the core of the cryptocurrency industry, are also gearing up.

Last time I wrote about how @star_okx painstakingly placed bets on the IPO, this time I will talk about Binance. Although there is relatively less information about the capital market layout, it is still possible to find some clues by analyzing the actions of Binance and cz. Some of these are my personal speculations, and they may not be accurate. I hope @cz_binance will forgive me if I am wrong.

In addition to its aggressive expansion in the traditional cryptocurrency space through Alpha, Binance is also quietly advancing a more ambitious layout in the capital markets.

Upgrade BNB from “exchange platform currency” to a global financial asset, and use this to build a capital landscape that spans chains, countries, and markets.

This is not just a game of cryptocurrency prices; it is also Binance’s bet on the “new global financial order.”

This article will systematically analyze Binance’s layout path in the capital market, from national strategic reserves, the diffusion of BNB micro-strategies, to ETF exploration, gradually outlining its greater ambitions and the possibility of an IPO.

I. National-Level Cooperation: BNB as a Tentative Attempt at Sovereign Asset

In recent years, the cooperation between Binance and certain countries has gradually shown characteristics of “quasi-sovereign cooperation.” Among them, interactions between @cz_binance and countries such as Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan can be found. These all took place in 2025, indicating that this is part of CZ’s new strategic direction.

Gelephu Mindfulness City (New Special Administrative Region) of Bhutan has announced plans to incorporate Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), and BNB into its strategic reserves, aiming to enhance economic resilience and expand participation in Bitcoin mining.

Essentially, this is Binance’s attempt to embed BNB into the sovereign financial system, laying the foundation for its future multinational identity and legitimacy. Currently, it has become popular for small countries to incorporate $BTC as digital gold into their national reserves, and if $BNB can break through the threshold of “national use,” its asset narrative will be completely restructured.

2. Microstrategy Diffusion: The Leverage Engine of BNB Financialization Narrative

In the past few days, CZ indicated that several companies are preparing to build “micro-strategies” around BNB and plan to go public in the U.S. stock market, including:

• The $100 million BNB fund led by former Coral Capital Holdings executives ( is now called Build & Build Corporation.

• The hot topic that ignited the market yesterday, $NA Nabit, publicly declared that it will purchase 5% - 10% of the circulating supply of BNB in the future.

These companies are mimicking the MicroStrategy model of the US stock market by using a “public shell + crypto assets” to obtain valuation premiums and financing capabilities.

Of course, these plans are not entirely trustworthy—some companies are more like using micro-strategies and the BNB narrative for market harvesting and topic marketing.

But it is undeniable that BNB has begun to possess financial attributes that can be packaged, issued, and speculated by mainstream capital markets. This means that BNB is transitioning from a “on-chain functional asset” to an “off-chain investment tool.”

III. $BNB ETF in Progress: A Dual Probe into Compliance Transformation

On April 2, 2025, asset management company VanEck registered the VanEck BNB ETF in Delaware, becoming the first ETF application in the United States targeting BNB.

On May 2, 2025, VanEck officially submitted the S-1 registration document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), clearly proposing the issuance of the VanEck BNB ETF, which aims to track the spot price of BNB and become the first ETF in the U.S. to directly hold BNB.

The timing of the application is related to the meeting between VanEck CEO Jan van Eck and @cz_binance at the Token 2049 conference in Dubai in April 2025, where CZ stated that the success of the Bitcoin ETF would “spill over” to other crypto assets, which could be a catalyst for VanEck to accelerate its application.

Once this action is successful, it not only means that the compliance channel is opened, but also implies that passive funds (such as pension funds and asset management funds) can legally allocate BNB, which may drive up demand and prices.

Since early 2025, the SEC has received over 70 applications for alternative coin ETFs (including Solana, Dogecoin, etc.), so the final decision may take months or even years.

IV. The Listing Controversy of Binance.us

Will Binance go public or not? After it was revealed that OKX is planning to go public in the US stock market this year, this has become a topic of great concern for many people.

After collecting information available online, it can be felt that CZ’s thinking has changed.

In July 2020, CZ clearly stated that Binance has no plans to go public, but rather aims to become more decentralized.

However, by 2021, CZ stated that Binance.us was moving towards an IPO and planned to complete the listing within three years. In 2022, there were also rumors in the market that it was seeking to raise funds at a valuation of 4.5 billion USD.

Although these plans have been stalled due to regulatory conflicts, in May 2025, the SEC officially withdrew its lawsuit against , opening up a window of possibility for listing once again.

In the context of OKX clearly advancing towards a listing in the United States, if it is successful, it would be akin to a breakthrough. If Binance chooses to reactivate its listing plan for Binance.us, it is highly likely to reshape the exchange landscape in the U.S., especially under the political environment of Trump’s administration, which may provide the most lenient external conditions, after all, its USD1 is hand in hand with Binance.

5. What is the relationship between listing and us as players in the crypto world?

The relationship is significant, and it has actually been reflected.

If Binance wants to further embrace the capital market, it must address the issue of whether BNB is a security. In the previous article on OKX, I mentioned that star cold-handled $OKB in a way similar to self-destructing its own skills to ensure it can pass the Howey Test (the criteria for determining securities).

From the changes over the past year, we can roughly see some policy shifts of Binance:

• Launchpad: The previously most securities-like “BNB Initial Offering” feature has been completely discontinued;

• Launchpool: The frequency of rewards has significantly decreased, gradually replacing the “Holder Backtracking Airdrop” model with the “Pool’s Holding Token Airdrop” model. In contrast to OKB being directly “sent to the cold palace,” Binance has taken a more moderate and subtle adjustment path. The reason behind this is that BNB has a large volume, many holders, and numerous ecosystem stakeholders, and any radical adjustments would shake the foundation of Binance.

Therefore, Binance chooses a “moderate and gradual” approach to gradually weaken the securities attributes of BNB without causing panic, paving the way for its compliance and long-term legitimacy.

Of course, I don’t think $BNB will be abandoned; otherwise, we wouldn’t see CZ working hard to promote BNB everywhere. They are probably just looking for a more reasonable balance. I still remain optimistic about $BNB reaching four digits.

Conclusion: From Platform Token to National Asset, BNB is Restructuring Its Financial Identity

We can see that Binance’s strategy in the capital market goes far beyond just “collecting listing fees” or “squeezing out competitors,” but rather attempts to build a three-dimensional system centered around BNB as a core anchor point, linking on-chain ecosystems with off-chain capital, and connecting national resources with financial markets.

This layout is still in progress, and whether BNB can truly realize its transformation into a financial asset in the future will depend on: • Is the ETF approved;
• Is Binance.us really restarting its IPO; • Whether BNB has completely detached from the questioning of its “securities nature”; • Does the market provide consensus pricing for its “non-Bitcoin long-term assets.”

But regardless of the outcome, Binance has quietly made its move in this game of capital, and its momentum is gradually strengthening. Opportunities to watch:

1. Subsequent BNB micro-strategy stock secondary opportunities
2. BNB ETF benefits from the favorable price of BNB.

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