Original | Odaily (@ OdailyChina)
Author | Fu Ruhe (@ vincent31515173)
Today, the Binance Chinese community officially introduced the new features of the Binance Web3 wallet - Binance Alpha in the Space activity.
In this event, Binance co-founder He Yi and Binance Wallet business manager Winson appeared together to answer users' questions about the new features and conduct an in-depth analysis of the latest industry dynamics. This Space event invited several Web3 Chinese media and well-known KOLs to participate in the discussion and ask He Yi and Winson about hot topics such as Binance's listing policy.
He Yi shared his views on the current industry situation, responded to recent controversies over Binance's listing, and elaborated on the future development plan of Binance Alpha.
The following is a transcript of the Space event, organized and edited by Odaily.
Q: Binance has faced many controversies in its token listings over the past year. How do you view this phenomenon? What are the reasons for Binance to launch Binance Alpha? Can you describe the background and process of selecting projects, and whether it is the same as the process for futures and spot listings?
He Yi: Binance's token listings indeed have higher user expectations, as everyone hopes that each listing will pump. But the reality is that the market value surges in the short term after listing, and then falls back. This situation has led us to constantly seek optimization solutions, such as using pre-market pricing to suppress the coin price, but the effect is limited.
The industry also has some structural problems:
The project token issuance cycle is short, lacking real users and solid business models. Much on-chain interaction data is artificially "washed", lacking value support.
The current market heat is more about distributing "air", and the projects themselves lack labor output and profit models, making it difficult to support long-term development.
The global regulatory environment is complex, and the participation cost and risk for excellent entrepreneurs are very high, leaving the industry in an awkward period.
The purpose of launching the Binance Alpha zone is to provide users with an "observation area" to list popular but not yet mature projects, including hot meme coins, VC-backed projects, and local chain projects. Users can trade these coins through the wallet, but their inclusion in the observation area does not mean they will ultimately be listed on Binance's spot or futures markets. Because most meme coins will go to zero in this wave, only a few memes will survive, which is a rather cruel reality.
The significance of the Binance Alpha zone is to provide users with a tool to screen for high-probability projects, while reminding everyone to participate in new projects rationally and do sufficient research. Ultimately, we hope to find projects that truly have social value, can generate labor output, and reward holding users. However, whether it's the Binance Alpha zone, spot, or futures listings, it's an ongoing process of screening and elimination, and we can't guarantee that every coin will survive in the long run or make users money.
For the market's hot meme coins, we understand their appeal and will include them in the Alpha zone to provide users with early value capture opportunities. But the ultimate healthy development of the industry still depends on whether excellent projects can truly generate social value and realize the sharing of labor output.
Q: Regarding Binance Alpha, are there specific project screening criteria? Will the projects listed in Binance Alpha potentially be listed on the Binance main board in the future? Will Binance Alpha be more inclined to projects in the BNB ecosystem?
He Yi: The project selection for Binance Alpha is not entirely dependent on whether they will ultimately be listed on the Binance main board. The selection criteria focus on the project's heat and attention, rather than just because a project has entered Binance Alpha, it must necessarily be listed. In other words, while many projects entering Binance Alpha have relatively high exposure and potential, not all of them will ultimately be listed, as it depends on more market and internal evaluation factors.
As one of the hottest public chains in the industry, BNB Chain is indeed a key focus for Binance's support. Due to the strong competitiveness and high attention of the BSC ecosystem in the market, its projects are more likely to be included in Binance Alpha. But this does not mean that Binance Alpha is limited to the BNB Chain ecosystem, as other excellent projects will also be considered.
Q: Competitors have invested a large amount of resources in wallet business (with team sizes reaching 500-1,000 people). What is the current size of the Binance wallet team? Facing such strong competitive pressure, is Binance adopting a defensive or offensive strategy?
Winson: The Binance wallet team has just reached 100 people, but the team is still in the process of continuous recruitment, especially for technical positions, and welcomes excellent engineers to join.
Regarding the huge investment and achievements of competitors in the wallet field, the Binance team expressed great respect and actively studied and learned from their strengths. However, Binance will not simply copy the competitors' model, but explore a differentiated development path.
From the market demand perspective, users don't need two completely identical wallet products, so blind imitation is not feasible. Binance believes that the wallet track has enough space to accommodate different differentiated products. The team, based on years of practice, has clearly defined its own development path and is full of confidence.
Binance wallet's strategy is neither defensive nor purely offensive, but focused on exploring new paths:
Provide simple, feature-rich, secure and reliable wallet services to meet the needs of most users' on-chain operations.
With user experience as the core, make the user's usage process more "smooth" and provide security and data support.
We acknowledge that Binance itself started relatively late in on-chain services, and spent a lot of time last year recruiting excellent talents, rebuilding the wallet team, and reconstructing the system from the bottom up. Although it is still a "rough house" at the moment, the team has clearly planned for the future, aiming to gradually improve the functions on the basis of meeting user needs.
The CEO mentioned in the summary that although Binance's start in the on-chain field was relatively late, the team's confidence and resource investment are sufficient, just as Binance made great progress in the contract business in the past, it will also make great strides in the future.
Q: What is the long-term development positioning and plan for Binance's new Web3 wallet? What are the differences between it and Trust Wallet in the Binance ecosystem?
Winson: The positioning of Binance's new Web3 wallet is "newbie-friendly", but it is not limited to serving new users. The team believes that if a product can be very simple for new users to use, experienced users can also get started easily, although they may be a bit unfamiliar. Therefore, the goal of the Binance wallet is to serve the industry's veteran users, while focusing on new entrants, and committed to promoting the mass adoption of Web3, especially contributing to the popularization of the mainstream user group.
The team also plans to implement specific improvement measures in stages to solve the key user experience challenges in using the wallet, ultimately eliminating all barriers and allowing users to use Web3 products seamlessly.
Differences from Trust Wallet:
Platform integration: Binance wallet is deeply integrated with the Binance main site, belonging to the same app, while Trust Wallet is a relatively independent product.
Compliance: Binance wallet is designed based on KYC requirements and meets compliance requirements, while Trust Wallet is a more independent product without direct deep compliance integration with the Binance main site.
User group: Binance wallet serves a relatively broad user group, including Binance's existing users and new Web3 users, while Trust Wallet focuses on providing an independent wallet experience for a wider decentralized user base.
Although there is certain competition between Binance wallet and Trust Wallet at the current stage, this is not an "either you or me" competition within Binance, but a "differentiated competition" aimed at providing differentiated services for different user groups and promoting the popularization of Web3. The team stated that such competition will be conducive to the development of the entire industry, and the goal of the Binance wallet is to help more people enter the Web3 field and simplify the user experience.
Here is the English translation of the text, with the specified terms translated as requested:Q: Are the projects in Binance's Alpha section selected by Binance itself, or through other means such as community voting or open applications? If a project successfully "graduates" and is listed on the Binance main board, what aspects will the main board review cover? How can the issues of wash trading and data fabrication be avoided?
He Yi: The project selection for Binance Alpha includes both active screening by Binance and external active applications or community recommendations. Binance's screening not only relies on industry hype, but also conducts detailed research and analysis covering multiple areas such as public chains, infrastructure, DeFi, and Non-Fungible Tokens. This screening combines on-chain data tracking and daily project submission information. Therefore, projects may enter Alpha through applications and community recommendations, but whether they are ultimately selected still depends on their hype and market performance. Alpha section is actually a relatively broad pool.
For projects that successfully "graduate" and have the opportunity to be listed on the main board, the review standards will cover multiple aspects. This mainly includes the quality, compliance, and development potential of the project, ensuring that the project not only has hype, but also has the ability to develop in the long term. To avoid the issues of wash trading and data fabrication, Binance will strictly review the authenticity of the projects during the screening process, including the source of the data and trading behavior, to ensure that they meet the platform's compliance requirements and maintain the fairness of the market. Binance is also exploring whether to introduce more interesting gameplay in the Alpha section and welcomes the community to provide innovative ideas or opinions.
Wash trading and data fabrication are difficult to completely avoid in the industry, especially for some projects that use airdrops or wash trading tools to increase hype. Binance believes that the key is to continuously assess value and industry experience to identify which data is real and which is wash traded.
Binance uses the Alpha section as a screening mechanism, allowing projects to first showcase and accumulate data, and observe which projects can continuously attract users and create value, and which are just wash traded. This is the core purpose of Binance launching the Alpha section, aiming to screen out projects with real potential.
Q: How does the Binance Web3 wallet's airdrop platform screen airdrop projects? Can early participation in airdrops generate more returns?
He Yi: Airdrops are a tool provided by Binance to project parties and users, with the main purpose of attracting users for project parties and providing more opportunities for retail investors. Airdrops may be the goal for retail investors, but for project parties, it is more a means of acquiring users. Binance hopes to use this platform to connect more high-quality projects and users, avoid wash trading, and ensure that projects can interact with real users.
In addition, Binance is also considering how to help users earn more rewards through on-chain operations, and ensure that these operations are simple and secure. In addition to airdrops, Binance also plans to open the platform and cooperate with the industry to jointly promote the development of Web3, and create more valuable scenarios and projects.
Winson: Binance's airdrop platform is a sub-section of its open platform, aimed at connecting Binance's users with project parties. The core value of the platform is to help project parties promote their products to suitable users through accurate user data. Binance does not intend to over-screen projects, but will allow any project party to self-initiate airdrops in an open manner.
In the future, Binance's open platform will be further expanded, allowing more project parties to promote on the platform without limiting the choice of projects. In this way, Binance's goal is to create a diversified platform and provide more opportunities for project parties and users.
Q: Regarding the wallet's future, will it shift towards chain abstraction or intent wallets? If so, will it adopt its own technology or other project's technology?
Winson: The Binance wallet will indeed adopt chain abstraction and intent wallet related technologies, but will not completely shift towards these two approaches. The goal is to lower the user's usage threshold and achieve a more convenient user experience through these technologies. In terms of technology selection, the Binance wallet will not simply copy the existing solutions in the market, but will conduct in-depth technical research, combine its own user needs, and design a suitable solution. Although technology serves the product, Binance emphasizes that technology should be combined with user scenarios to ultimately bring higher value to users, rather than simply following technology trends.
Q: Will Binance adjust its screening standards or display list based on user feedback on the displayed tokens? If the displayed tokens receive widespread negative feedback, how will Binance respond?
He Yi: In the arrangement of token display, Binance will follow its own arrangement logic, such as considering factors like token price fluctuations and listing time. Users can sort according to their own needs, and Binance's focus is to maintain the transparency and flexibility of the platform, allowing users to sort by themselves.
For negative feedback on on-chain operations, Binance will use notifications to remind users, especially when high-risk projects occur. Since Binance is a pure on-chain operation, it cannot close deposit or withdrawal functions like a CEX platform, so it mainly relies on the warning mechanism to alert users. As for feedback channels, Binance is considering establishing a Telegram group to facilitate user feedback and ensure timely response to project risks.
Q: Binance wallet is positioned as the largest airdrop platform. What is its core idea? How can the Binance wallet help newcomers reduce the threshold of on-chain interaction, or what are the advantages and considerations of the airdrop distribution platform?
Winson: The strategic focus of the Binance wallet is not solely on becoming the largest airdrop platform. Although the airdrop platform is an important means for the Binance wallet, it is not the only core strategy. The platform's goal is to build a bridge between users and project parties, capturing user value through the airdrop platform, while helping to achieve a win-win situation for both sides. The positioning of the airdrop platform is to provide users with a convenient airdrop participation experience, rather than just being a distribution platform.
In guiding new users to reduce the threshold of on-chain interaction, the Binance wallet has made a lot of optimizations. The key points are reflected in the following aspects:
Guided experience: Provide user-friendly tutorials to guide them through each step.
Airdrop management: Use the Reward Center feature to help users manage airdrop earnings, avoiding manual management and improving user experience.
User lifecycle management: From project release to airdrop claiming, and then to earnings management, provide a one-stop solution, allowing users to operate as little as possible, and leaving the rest to the platform.
Through these optimizations, the Binance wallet strives to simplify the user's participation process and enhance the user experience.
From the perspective of project parties, the Binance wallet is not only an airdrop platform, but also a precise marketing platform. Project parties can ensure that airdrop tokens are distributed to the target user group through the Binance wallet, which is also the direction of the Binance wallet's future product iteration.
Q: How does the Binance wallet define its own growth? What experiences and lessons has the Binance wallet learned in its past development?
He Yi: The growth definition of the Binance wallet is not only an extension of the wallet platform, but more importantly, an important entry point for the entire Web3 ecosystem. The goal of the Binance wallet is to become a convenient channel for users from fiat currency deposit, registration, KYC completion to on-chain operations. Its core idea is to simplify the operation process and provide a smooth cross-platform experience, so that users can seamlessly complete on-chain operations or use centralized exchanges (CEX) for financial management.
The Binance wallet positions itself as the entry point for Web3, helping users understand the hot topics in the crypto industry and eliminating the boundaries between blockchain and traditional finance. Whether users choose to interact on-chain or invest on CEX, the Binance wallet hopes to provide the most convenient solution to improve the user experience.
In the growth process of the Binance wallet, the biggest experience and lessons are mainly concentrated in the following aspects:
Insufficient professional talent reserve: In the past, the Binance wallet's reserve in Web3 technology was not enough, mainly leaning towards the Web2 operating model. Although it could operate efficiently, there were still shortcomings in deeply understanding and applying Web3 technology. This is an important reflection point, and Binance hopes to attract more professional talents to join and drive the further development of the platform.
Detours taken: Binance has faced challenges in compliance and technology. For example, in the past, it encountered difficulties and setbacks in the use of Compass, the compliance and license application process, especially in the solutions of Web3 technology, there were some mistakes. Through these experiences, Binance attaches more importance to compliance and has made large-scale investments and adjustments.
Binance has gradually transitioned from the traditional Web2 platform to Web3, but this process is not easy. Although the company's operating model has been very successful in the Web2 environment, the mindset and technology required for Web3 are different, and Binance has certain technical shortcomings in this regard. These detours have helped the team understand that in order to truly become an industry leader, they must make breakthroughs in Web3 technology and thinking.
