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The BNB Smart Chain (BSC) experienced a mixed performance in the second quarter (Q2) of the year as the broader cryptocurrency market cooled off after a strong price surge in March. While BNB, the native token of the BSC, remained mostly flat, down 5% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), the network’s key metrics showed both positive and negative trends.
Binance Smart Chain Revenue Plunges
According to a recent report by market intelligence platform Messari, the chain’s revenue, which measures the total fees collected by the network, fell 28% QoQ to $48.1 million during Q2, although it was only down 8% year-over-year from $52.4 million in Q2 2023.
According to the report, this decline was largely driven by the decrease in BNB’s price, as revenue in the network’s native token terms declined 51% sequentially from 165,100 BNB to 81,300 BNB.
The report also highlighted a decline in network activity, with average daily transactions decreasing 10% QoQ to 3.7 million and average daily active addresses dropping 18% QoQ to 1.1 million. This trend was not isolated to the BSC, as on-chain activity decreased across most smart contract platforms in Q2 following a strong Q1.
Despite the overall decline, the report noted notable shifts in user preferences within the BSC ecosystem as decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap experienced a significant increase in daily transactions, up 630% QoQ, while the previously dominant PancakeSwap saw a 46% QoQ decrease.
Staking Surges 30%, TVL Drops
Messari also highlighted that the total BNB staked increased 30% QoQ to 30.4 million BNB, with the total dollar value of staked funds increasing 24% to $17.7 billion. This ranks the Binance Smart Chain as the third-highest Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network by staked value, though it still lags behind the Solana blockchain by a significant $38.4 billion.
The BSC’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, however, saw a decrease in total value locked (TVL), down 24% QoQ to $5.5 billion, primarily driven by a 41% QoQ drop in borrowing on the DeFi protocol, Venus Finance.
Binance Smart Chain’s TVL in USD and BNB. Source: MessariThe company notes that this indicates that the overall decrease in value locked was partially due to the drop in value of the BNB token, which closed the quarter at a low of $567 after reaching an all-time high of $722 in March.
Despite these fluctuations, Messari reported that the Binance Smart Chain maintained the third-highest decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume during the second quarter of the year, with $66 billion in total volume, trailing only Ethereum (ETH) and Solana.
BNB Price Analysis
At the time of writing, the BNB token was trading at $586, up over 2% in the last 24 hours. However, trading volume in the last 24 hours was down 3% to $830 million, according to CoinGeko data.
Since Friday, the token has been consolidating between $570 and the current trading price, following the lead of the largest cryptocurrencies on the market, after a failed attempt on Monday to break through its nearest resistance wall at $590, which is the last obstacle preventing a move upwards to the $600 milestone.
Conversely, the key level to watch for BNB bulls is the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) noted on the daily BNB/USDT chart below, with the yellow line just below the current price, which could act as a key support for the token, potentially preventing further declines.
The 1D chart shows BNB’s sideways price action. Source: BNBUSDT on TradingView.comFeatured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com