BNB just flipped XRP. What’s going on

BNB might as well stand for Buy Now, Bro – cuz the bros really do be buying.

The coin hopped on a rocket and blasted straight to a new all-time high above $1.3K today.

And not only that – it surpassed XRP to become the #3 largest crypto in the world.

Soooo, what’s going on?

1/ Memecoins

BNB Chain has recently seen a whole lotta new memecoin projects, which attracted a whole lotta new traders, which made the prices a whole lotta higher.

You’ll see that in just a second, in the Memecoin Harvest section: Binance ecosystem-related memecoins are really stealing the show.

Matter of fact, the BNB memecoin launchpad FourMeme has actually outperformed Solana’s PumpFun in 24-hour trading volume.

And this whole meme hype, while speculative, has created real on-chain activity that increases BNB’s demand, because every transaction on that network requires BNB to pay fees.

2/ Aster

Then there’s Aster – a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on BNB Chain.

Aster supports perpetual futures – contracts that let users speculate on crypto prices without expiration – and offers leverage up to 1,000x. Very risky, but also very attractive to high-risk traders looking for bigger returns.

It gained immediate attention after Binance founder CZ started bullposting about it.

The attention in question:

👉 It became one of the highest fee-earning protocols on BNB Chain ($2.5M in the past day);

👉 Its token, ASTER, increased nearly 3K% in its first week.

Because Aster operates on BNB Chain, every trade and position uses BNB for fees. As Aster’s trading volume grew, so did the network’s gas usage.

3/ Institutional interest

👉 Companies like CEA Industries have begun holding BNB as part of their treasuries;

👉 YZI Labs (a venture capital firm linked to CZ) is launching a $1B fund to support new projects in the BNB ecosystem.

All of these factors have created a rise in demand for BNB = price go up.

Looking ahead, however, the rally might cool off a bit. After such a strong move, it’s normal for prices to wobble as traders take profits.

Plus, memecoin seasons come and go – one viral week can turn into silence the next.

Still, as long as BNB Chain stays busy, the underlying demand for BNB should stay healthy.