BNB (BNB), the native token of the BNB Chain, reached a record high of $720 on June 6 before correcting to $705.
Comparing BNB Chain’s activity with Ethereum (ETH), the leading platform for decentralized applications (DApps), provides insight into BNB's sustainability at its current price. The BNB Chain’s low fees, due to its semi-centralized nature, can skew activity data, making direct comparisons challenging. Despite this, BNB Chain remains competitive in DApps volume, showing strength in user engagement.
Analysts initially suggested that BNB's rally was driven by excessive leverage from derivatives traders. This theory gained traction after BNB futures open interest surpassed $1 billion for the first time on June 6. However, data indicates that the rally may not be solely fueled by leveraged positions.
BNB perpetual futures average 8-hour funding rates have stayed below 0.03% over the past six days, which equates to 0.6% per week—a manageable rate for most traders. By comparison, Bitcoin's (BTC) weekly funding rate is 0.2%, while Solana's is higher at 0.5%. This suggests that excessive leverage did not primarily drive BNB's recent price movements.
BNB Chain maintains its position as a top-3 blockchain in terms of DApps volume. Data from DappRadar shows a 23% increase in BNB’s DApps volume over the past seven days, whereas most other blockchains saw declines. Despite this growth, BNB Chain's user base has remained relatively stable, and its seven-day volume of $6 billion is significantly lower than Ethereum's $40.5 billion.