Binance Labs has severed ties with the crypto exchange Binance, sparking concerns among BNB holders.
Binance Labs, popularly known as Binance’s venture capital and incubation unit for crypto projects, has cut its ties with Binance, a Bloomberg report confirmed. This is one of the most notable changes since Richard Teng became Binance CEO.
Binance Labs Become Independent
Founded in early 2018 by Binance co-founder Yi He, who currently serves as Head of Binance Labs, the firm emerged as a venture capital valued at about $10 billion. Its mission is to invest in crypto startups and protocols. The investment company has supported over 200 projects since its inception. Among these projects are decentralized platforms like PancakeSwap and Curve DAO. The company’s geographical reach spans across over 25 countries.
Earlier this month, Binance Labs showed its detachment from Binance via a disclaimer on its website:
“Binance Labs is an independent venture and not part of the Binance Group nor is it involved in any of the businesses operated by the Binance Group. [. . .] Binance Labs is licensed by Binance to use its trademark but otherwise have no other relationship with the Binance Group.”
Binance Labs Investment Officer Alex Odagiu reiterated this point and explained the company’s goal going forward:
“We’re not part of the Binance group. [. . .] Our primary goal is to identify projects and invest in them and this has not changed. It’s been our focus for the most part since the inception of Binance Labs, which we started as a team in 2018.”
A Cause for Panic Among BNB Holders?
The latest development is no cause for serious alarm within the Binance ecosystem. For one thing, Binance still retains its large market share, dominating around 50% of trading volume across centralized exchanges globally.
Nonetheless, the Binance-branded cryptocurrency BNB has taken a mild downturn as news of the Binance Labs detachment came to light. At press time, BNB traded at $574, representing over a 5% decrease.
Source: CoinStats
