BNB Smart Chain (blockchain platform)
BNB Smart Chain is a public blockchain platform that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and provides smart contract functionality. The platform's native cryptocurrency is BNB. Blockchain was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, as a branch of the Binance system.
Characteristics
BNB Smart Chain runs on a proof of stake model. The New York Times and Financial Times described the coin as an alternative to Ethereum.History
BNB originated in 2017 as an Ethereum-based token for Binance exchange users, becoming the native coin for the separate Binance Chain in 2019 via a token swap. In 2020, the parallel Binance Smart Chain launched, adding smart contract functionality, and was rebranded as BNB Smart Chain in 2022. BNB Chain use of centralization had led to several exploits on the network. Binance Smart Chain was renamed to BNB Chain. The unified BNB Chain was introduced in 2022, combining the functions of the original Binance Chain and BNB Smart Chain into a single sytem.After the BSC Token Hub bridge exploit on October 6–7, 2022, validators coordinated a temporary halt. Independent security tallies have found BNB Chain to be the most targeted chain by incident count in 2023, with industry coverage and vendor reports highlighting rug pulls as a frequent loss vector on the chain that year.
Since 2023, regulatory exposure has been cited due to links with Binance and the BNB token: the U.S. SEC filed a civil complaint in June 2023 alleging unregistered offers and other violations; in May 2025 the SEC announced a joint stipulation to dismiss the case with prejudice.