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

Article by: Master Brother from Australia

Under Trump, crypto compliance has ushered in an unprecedented "Age of Exploration". In addition to favored stablecoins, I believe the CEXs, which were once the core of the crypto industry, are also gearing up.

Last time I wrote about @star_okx's painstaking efforts to bet on the IPO, this time I want to talk about Binance. Although there is relatively less information about the layout of the capital market, by analyzing the actions of Binance and cz, there are still some clues to follow. Some of these are my personal speculations, which may not be accurate, and I hope @cz_binance will forgive me if I am wrong.

In addition to aggressively promoting its almost "domineering" expansion through Alpha in the traditional cryptocurrency sector, Binance is also quietly advancing a more ambitious layout in the capital market:

Upgrade BNB from a "exchange platform token" to a global financial asset, and use this to build a capital landscape that is cross-chain, cross-country, and cross-market.

This is not just a game of coin prices, but 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 micro-strategy diffusion of BNB, to probing ETFs, gradually outlining its greater ambitions with the possibility of an IPO.

1. National-level cooperation: BNB as a tentative attempt at a sovereign asset

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

Among them, Gelephu Mindfulness City in Bhutan (the new special administrative region) has announced plans to include Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), and BNB in its strategic reserves, aiming to enhance economic resilience and expand Bitcoin mining participation.

Essentially, this is Binance's attempt to embed BNB into sovereign financial systems, laying the groundwork 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 usage", its asset narrative will be completely reconstructed.

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

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

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

• The hot topic that exploded the market yesterday, $NA Nabite, publicly announced plans to purchase 5%-10% of the circulating supply of BNB in the future.

These companies are mimicking the MicroStrategy model in the US stock market, using "listed shell + crypto assets" to obtain valuation premiums and financing capabilities.

Of course, these plans are not entirely credible—some companies are more like using micro-strategy and BNB narratives for market harvesting and topic marketing.

However, it is undeniable that BNB has begun to possess the financial attributes that can be packaged, issued, and speculated in mainstream capital markets. This means BNB is transitioning from "on-chain functional assets" to "off-chain investment tools."

3. $BNB ETF in Progress: A Dual Probe into Compliance Transition

On April 2, 2025, the 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 an S-1 registration file to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), explicitly proposing to issue the VanEck BNB ETF, aimed at tracking the spot price of BNB, becoming 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 Token2049 conference in Dubai in April 2025, where CZ stated that the success of the Bitcoin ETF would "spill over" to other crypto assets, potentially serving as a catalyst for VanEck to accelerate the application.

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

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

IV. The Listing Controversy of Binance.us

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

After collecting the current 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.

But 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 seeking funding at a valuation of 4.5 billion USD.

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

Against the backdrop of OKX clearly advancing its listing in the US, if its listing is successful, it would be akin to a breakthrough. If Binance chooses to reactivate the listing plan for Binance.us, it is highly likely to reshape the landscape of exchanges in the US, especially in the political environment under Trump's administration, which could be the most lenient external environment, after all, its USD1 is closely tied to Binance.

V. What does listing have to do with us players in the crypto space?

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

If Binance wants to further embrace the capital markets, it must address whether BNB is a security. In the previous article about OKX, I mentioned that star handled $OKB in a way similar to self-sabotage to ensure it could pass the Howey Test (the standard for determining securities).

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

• Launchpad: The previously most securities-like "BNB Initial Offering" feature has been completely abolished;

• Launchpool: The frequency of rewards has significantly decreased, gradually replacing the "Holder Backtracking Airdrop" model with the "Pool's Token Holding Airdrop" model;

In contrast to OKB being directly "sent to the cold palace", Binance has taken a more gentle and subtle adjustment path. The reason behind this is that BNB has a large volume, many holders, and numerous stakeholders in its ecosystem; any radical adjustment would shake the foundation of Binance.

Therefore, Binance chooses a "gentle and gradual" approach to gradually weaken the securities attributes of BNB without triggering 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 vigorously promoting BNB everywhere. They are probably just looking for a more reasonable balance. I still remain optimistic about $BNB reaching four digits.

Conclusion: From platform tokens to national-level assets, BNB is reconstructing 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' market share"; it is attempting to build a three-dimensional system centered around BNB, linking on-chain ecosystems with off-chain capital, and integrating 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? • Has BNB completely distanced itself from the doubts regarding its "securities attributes"; • Does the market provide consensus pricing for its "non-Bitcoin long-term assets."

But no matter the outcome, Binance has quietly made its move in this capital chess game, and its momentum is growing stronger. Opportunities to watch out for:

1. Subsequent BNB micro-strategy stock secondary opportunities
2. BNB ETF benefits from positive factors on BNB price