BNB Price Climbs to Highest Since FTX Crash Amid Airdrop Frenzy, Easing Binance Worries

Binance-adjacent cryptocurrency BNB (BNB) climbed to its highest price since the crash of FTX, leaving behind last year's worries about the crypto exchange's legal troubles and buoyed by an upcoming airdrop mobilizing BNB users.

BNB, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hit $387 during the day for the first time since Nov. 2022, gaining 7% over the past week, CoinDesk data shows. It outperformed the broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index's (CD20), which showed a slight decline over the same time period.

BNB is closely linked to Binance. It was issued by the crypto exchange in 2017 and powers the blockchain ecosystem BNB Chain, formerly known as Binance Smart Chain. The exchange also conducts a regular token burning scheme that reduces the outstanding supply of BNB.

While the broader crypto market rebounded last year, BNB's price struggled, sinking to a two-year low price last October as regulatory troubles mounted for Binance. most notably the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing a lawsuit against the exchange, its CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, and claimed BNB security.

"A lot of sentiment was around U.S. sanctions impacting Binance beyond just the U.S.," David Shuttleworth, research partner at Anagram, said in an interview via X direct messages. "In many ways, BNB's performance is tied to the exchange, so if user activity and volume on the exchange suffered, this could spill over into the broader ecosystem of the BNB network."

Pressure on BNB eased following Binance's settlement with U.S. authorities – paying a $4.3 billion fine and CZ stepping down –, and the token staged a relief rally as market participants' worry over the exchange dissipated.

Rejuvenated activity also likely fueled the price action, as the latest airdrop frenzy has reached to the BNB ecosystem.

Read more: Crypto Spring Is Airdrop Season With Tokens From Starknet, LayerZero

Binance introduced on Wednesday cross-chain gaming platform Portal to the Binance Launchpool, offering Binance users a way to benefit from the project's PORTAL token airdrop slated for Feb. 29 and also listing the upcoming token on the exchange. Users may lock-up BNB tokens or FDUSD stablecoins in Portal's liquidity pools to qualify for the airdrop.

Following the announcement, BNB holders transferred over $400 million worth of BNB tokens in 24 hours to Portal in anticipation of the airdrop, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham noted Thursday in an X post.