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Meet BNB: The #4 Crypto Most US Investors Have Never Heard Of

September 29, 2026

Watch Time 3 MIN

Patrick Bush, VanEck Senior Digital Assets Analyst, breaks down BNB — the #4 crypto powering $130B in monthly stablecoin transactions for 30M users worldwide.

BNB By The Numbers

What if I were to tell you right now, the number four asset of all digital currencies is something that few people in the United States know about. It boasts over 30 million monthly active users. 70% of those return each month to do stablecoin transactions. It boasts almost 130 billion worth of stablecoin transactions each month, and also hosts more than 5.7 billion in real-world assets. And that network is called the BNB network, and we're going to talk today a little bit about the BNB token that governs that network.

BNB is simply software. It's software that's run globally on servers across the globe. It's a marketplace that allows anybody to deploy a smart contract, or a series of smart contracts, to build financial functions on BNB. This can include everything from trading in a DEX to trading through a perpetual exchange. So the BNB network gives you the opportunity to build lots of really interesting financial applications.

Why BNB Token Has Value

BNB is a network that is governed by the token. That means every single transaction, every single function you do on BNB necessitates the BNB token — whether it's sending someone stablecoins, participating in a DEX, or deploying a series of smart contracts to start your own business. Because you need BNB to use the network, it makes the BNB token valuable.

Who Uses BNB & Why

BNB has been a gateway for people around the world to do all sorts of financial transactions — everything from managing their payments to using DEXs to trade speculative assets. One of the biggest things we've noticed in our research is that it's actually an important part of people's everyday financial transactions. If you live in a developing country like Argentina or Brazil, or even places in the Middle East and North Africa, you're going to have some of your money in stablecoins on BNB. And that allows you to escape the fiat trap of your local currency. For example, if you go to Egypt — when I was there in 2007, the exchange rate was 5.57. Today, the exchange rate to the US dollar is about 10x higher.

So we've explained that the BNB network is a place where anyone can deploy smart contracts to build their own financial application, and that there are 30 million monthly active users with an extremely high retention rate. Why this is really interesting is that it provides a really good substrate for fintechs to deploy their applications. You have a user base that transacts almost $130 billion every single month in stablecoins — that's a really interesting user base to tap into. And that gives an incentive structure for people to deploy their own businesses that are effectively fintechs. When we step back and think about what gives BNB value in the long term, it's that utilization of the chain — and it's going to come from these fintechs developing and building.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

Please note that VanEck may have a position(s) in the digital asset(s) described herein.

Definitions

BNB is the native token of BNB Chain, used to pay transaction fees, stake with the validators that secure the network, and participate in governance.

Risk Considerations

This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

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