Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Golem (@web3_golem)

It's quiet, not only the market sentiment from mainstream coins to meme coins is cooling down, but the industry innovation progress is also stagnant, and the market's attention is almost all on the words and deeds of the big Vs and whales.

On the evening of March 16, CZ bought 1 BNB of TST and Mubarak tokens on the grounds of "testing on the weekend", and then the price of the BNB Chain meme coin Mubarak soared, with its market value rising from about $30 million to over $120 million. This means that even if you got on the bus after CZ's purchase, you would still have a nearly 4-fold return.

Temporarily leaving the retail perspective, according to DeFiLlama, driven by meme coins like Mubarak, the 24-hour trading volume of BNB Chain DEX reached $1.64 billion, surpassing Solana and ranking first; at the same time, BNB Chain's main DEX PancakeSwap also became the DEX with the highest 24-hour trading volume.

BNB Chain's old fans all know that this is not the first time CZ has "built" with great force. In the past more than a month, CZ has gradually "let himself go" on social media and has become the new rising Meme shill king:

• On February 6, he publicly responded to the meme coin TST for the first time, bringing considerable heat to the BNB chain;

• On February 13, CZ used the name of his pet dog to attract on-chain liquidity to migrate to the BNB Chain;

• On February 18, the BNB Chain official launched a $4.4 million meme coin liquidity pool boost campaign to take over, maintain and expand the traffic;

• On March 3, CZ forwarded the celebrity coin issued by soccer star Ronaldinho on the BNB chain, but unfortunately the effect was not ideal;

• On March 15, CZ posted on the Binance Square and accompanied it with meme pictures related to Mubarak, triggering the first FOMO of the meme coin Mubarak;

• On the evening of March 16, CZ posted that he wanted to change his Twitter avatar, triggering a community guessing frenzy about the new avatar...

For how CZ is driving the local bull market of BNB Chain meme coins with his own power, it is recommended to read the article "The "Middle East" Meme Wind Blows to BSC, CZ's Concept Coin Mubarak Soars to Over $140 Million".

Is CZ's "Build" a panacea?

However, the community's views on CZ's series of "scheming" behaviors to try to drive the BNB Chain ecosystem are not consistent. Supporters believe that CZ is throwing off his burden and using meme to attract more excellent developers to the BNB Chain, and that as long as users can make money, it's fine; opponents believe that BNB Chain is retracing the old path of Solana, and the end result is bound to be a mess.

Data level: indeed bringing short-term activity

First, let's look at the objective data. The TVL of BNB Chain has not increased or decreased under the influence of meme coins, but has remained relatively stable, fluctuating between $4.7 billion and $5.5 billion. According to DeFiLlama data, from February 6 when CZ responded to TST, the TVL of BSC reached a peak of $5.665 billion on February 23, and then began to decline slightly, reaching a trough of $4.744 billion on March 12, and then began to rebound. (This is also normal, as TVL is more accumulated by DeFi, while meme contributes to trading volume.)

Although the attention caused by CZ's pet dog gradually faded at the end of February, the meme market on the BNB Chain has become cold, but there is also no direct evidence that this is causally related to the decline in BNB Chain's TVL. At the same time, the BNB Chain official's $4.4 million meme coin liquidity incentive program has not yet had a significant positive impact on TVL.

From the perspective of on-chain activity and DEX trading volume, the effect of CZ's "Build" is limited. Artemis data shows that the number of active addresses on BSC only had a sudden increase around February 13 (CZ's pet dog event) and around February 19, but the heat quickly returned to the average, and even the number of active addresses on Solana chain gradually declined, but it is still more than 3 times that of BNB Chain.

Similarly, the DEX trading volume of BSC also showed a "peak-like growth", with a short-term increase in DEX trading volume on February 9 and February 13, and then returned to the average.

Today, DeFiLlama data shows that the 24-hour trading volume of BNB Chain DEX reached $1.64 billion, surpassing Solana and ranking first, and BNB Chain's main DEX PancakeSwap also became the DEX with the highest 24-hour trading volume.

In addition, the data of the meme issuance platform Four.meme on the BNB Chain is also worth noting. According to Dune data, the total revenue of the Four.meme platform currently exceeds 3,978 BNB (about $2.52 million), and the platform's daily active users, daily token issuance and daily trading volume all started to grow after February 6, but reached a peak on February 13 (guessed to be CZ's pet dog name day) and then began to decline, until the emergence of CZ's Middle East concept coins like Mubarak began to grow again.

In summary, CZ's "Build" can boost the heat of BNB Chain in the short term, attracting the liquidity of on-chain meme players, but once the attention fades (about one to two days), the various indicators of BNB Chain will return to the average, and it has not yet been able to retain players in the long run.

Community voice: look at CZ with a developmental perspective

Some community players believe that in addition to being unable to retain users in the long run, CZ is also consuming his own reputation, and when the reputation is diluted and overdrawn, he will face a large-scale user outflow like Solana's celebrity coins.

But there are also community players who support CZ's approach, believing that CZ's leading by example can continue to attract developers, project parties and users to migrate to the BNB Chain. The KOL in the Chinese-speaking area, Crypto Skanda, analyzed that in the short term, as long as CZ keeps BNB stable while constantly producing new meme coins that fit the transmission pricing rules, he can revive the BNB Chain through asset operation logic. When the price of a meme coin reaches a certain height and can no longer attract new capital, a new meme coin is issued to make the players reinvest, establishing a new wealth effect, and over time more and more developers will come to the BNB Chain to build pools, truly improving the TVL. At that time, it will not be necessary for CZ to dominate the meme coins, but to hand them over to more quality "conspiracy groups", and CZ will not end up with a ruined reputation.

At the same time, the meme coins on the current BNB Chain have a natural advantage over the meme coins on other chains like Solana, that is, they are more likely to be listed on Binance. After all, Binance is still the liquidity hub of the cryptocurrency, and also the goal of meme coins. TST is a typical case.

Shilling is not shameful or new, but does BNB Chain need it?

In fact, as the "image spokesperson" of a public chain, actively shilling for various sectors within the ecosystem is normal. During the heyday of Ethereum Memes, Vitalik was passively endorsed for Meme coins in the ecosystem, to the extent that the Meme coins received in the selling address could trigger FOMO; during the Solana Meme boom, Toly forwarded multiple projects, leading to much less effect than before; Last year, Base founder Jesse also personally took the field to shill, hoping to bring more TVL to Base through Meme, even shaving his head to create a sense of topic (related reading: After the Meme Summit, the Base Meme coin ecosystem officially enters the second half). Compared to them, the late CZ is still relatively restrained.

"Late" also constitutes a problem - the old players have already become desensitized to the many Meme narratives and gameplay, having experienced the bitterness of celebrity coins. Lacking the "right time", CZ's "Build" effect is greatly discounted.

What about the "right place"? Does BNB Chain really need CZ-style "Build" now?

It is true that the short-term on-chain activity brought by CZ has indeed forced BNB Chain's ecosystem to make rapid improvements in supporting tools, improving the user experience in high-frequency transactions. But from the effect of CZ's several shills, CZ's cooperation with the BNB Chain official is not close, CZ seems to be triggering trading heat and discussion on social media without any warning, and BNB Chain is more like chasing behind to provide support. And the Meme attention cycle is extremely short, it cannot tolerate being late.

Finally, let's talk about "people" - in 2024, BNB Chain will release a Web3 blueprint, stating that its mission and vision is to attract the next 1 billion users into Web3, and in 2025 it will even propose an AI First development theme. Guessing the intention of the BNB Chain official, the real long-term vision is more users and practical products. This does not match CZ's recent Meme "public self-study class". CZ's shilling has not directly helped AI settle in, and the dwindling Meme user base no longer has the ambition to attract massive outsiders.

Now, we can only believe that doing more will not be wrong. Or perhaps, CZ is quietly building BNB Chain in a way we cannot see, keeping a low profile.