CZ Push Mints Memecoin Millionaires

The BNB Chain has become the new playground for memecoins and this week’s action shows just how fast capital is rotating between plays as the network’s BNB token keeps breaking records.

Whenever the base asset rallies, liquidity tends to stay inside the ecosystem — just as Solana experienced with WIF and other dog-themed tokens last year.

Freshly launched “Chinese”-themed tokens like 币安人生 (“Binance Life”), 客户小何 (“Customer Xiaohe”) and 空气币 (“Air Coin”) have surged thousands of percent in hours, pushing daily volumes into the tens of millions within 24-hour periods.

Bubblemaps data shows more than 100,000 new on-chain traders have piled into the BNB meme wave in the past 48 hours, with 70% already sitting on paper profits. A handful of whales minted fortunes almost overnight, with 40 wallets now showing more than $1 million in gains, and at least one cracked $10 million.

But what sets this run apart is the explicitly Binance- and founder Changpeng Zhao-linked branding. Tokens like 4ever (built on the “4” meme from Zhao’s 2023 new year resolution to “ignore FUD”), and spin-offs of his dog Broccoli, tie speculation directly to Binance’s founder and its culture. The effect is recursive as every time Zhao posts or reacts on X, BNB-linked memes pump harder.

In the past 24 hours, the BNB Chain network shows over $82 million in trading volume among the top ten memecoins issued this week, per DEXTools.

But beneath the euphoria lies familiar fragility. Older BNB memes like BROCCOLI and MUBARAK still trade more than 90% below their peaks, reminders of how fast hype fades once inflows dry up.

BNB Chain now accounts for 11.4% of global meme coin activity, nearly catching Ethereum’s 12%. Solana, long the dominant meme venue, has slowed, with daily volumes for Trump (TRUMP), DOOD$0.01019, and Cards (CARDS) sit far below the BNB-based newcomers.

BNB itself is the quiet giant in this story. Year-to-date, it’s the top-performing large-cap, outpacing both bitcoin BTC$123,791.08 and ether ETH$4,536.04 and flipping XRP$2.9167 on Tuesday to become the world’s third-largest token by market cap.

Its breakout above $1,200 coincided directly with the meme frenzy, suggesting a feedback loop as higher BNB prices fund meme speculation, which in turn drives more volumes, fees, and visibility back to the chain.