Stablecoins have become an integral part of the crypto industry. However, there are only a few big players in the stablecoin game. Binance USD (BUSD) is one of the largest and most popular stablecoins in the market. The widely used token has just completed three years of existence. Nonetheless, the project has come a long way since its inception in September 2019.
While celebrating three years of BUSD, let’s take a look at how the project started, and the milestones it has reached.
What is Binance USD (BUSD) and how did it start?
BUSD is a fiat-collateralized stablecoin, issued by the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. BUSD is an ERC-20 token issued on the Ethereum blockchain. The token is collateralized 1:1 with the US Dollar. The reserves for the tokens issued are held in Paxos-owned US bank accounts. Along with GUSD and PAX, BUSD is one of three stablecoins that Wall Street regulators have approved.
BUSD was launched in 2019, in collaboration with Paxos. Paxos is a New York-based financial institution and technology company. Moreover, Paxos is the entity that issues BUSD on the Ethereum blockchain. BUSD is also the first stablecoin which was a part of Binance’s Project Venus. Furthermore, upon launch, the NYDFS (New York State Department of Financial Services) approved the offering.
Milestones since launch
Binance USD has become one of the fastest growing cryptocurrencies in its three short years of existence. On the 10th of March, 2020, BUSD had a market cap of $100 million. This was impressive given that the project had launched a little less than a year ago.
On the 6th of August, 2020, the coin was listed on the approved Greenlist of NYDFS. This again was a significant milestone for the project.
In January 2021, BUSD reached a market cap of $1 billion. In less than two years, the project had crossed the 10-digit level. Then, in September of 2022, a year and a half since the first billion, BUSD has a market cap of $20 billion. That is a 20X growth in 20 months, which is truly commendable.
Not only that, Binance USD has over 4 million holders worldwide. The currency’s popularity can be attributed to its strict compliance and low transaction fees. Users and investors trust the Binance brand and hence believe that the BUSD peg will not fall. Moreover, unlike USDT, BUSD has not faced flack for a lack of audits.
Additionally, BUSD’s ecosystem continues to expand across centralized platforms, wallets, and blockchains. On decentralized trading platforms, it also plays the role of a major element in many trade pairs.
At press time, BUSD was trading at $0.999653.