Coinbase is rumored to be going public on the US stock market! Zhao Changpeng stated that Binance will not IPO, is the future of BNB a governance token?

On the evening of the 9th, Coinbase, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was reported to be preparing for a US stock market listing this year, with insiders stating that its valuation in 2018 was at least $8 billion. The news, revealed by Reuters and coming from three sources, is still pending confirmation of specific details. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of another major exchange, Binance, also responded to this news on Twitter.

Binance Will Not IPO

Zhao Changpeng shared news on Twitter about Coinbase preparing for its IPO, stating:

I usually don't comment on other exchanges, but I want to congratulate Coinbase on its IPO plans. It paves the way for the cryptocurrency industry. And I want to say, Binance has no plans for an IPO, we want to be more decentralized.

Some netizens criticized Coinbase, believing that it is already doing centralized things, so what's the point of supporting decentralized projects.

Zhao Changpeng replied, you can be a centralized company and still contribute to the cryptocurrency industry. Decentralization has different levels, and being highly decentralized doesn't necessarily mean it's better. We have seen many decentralized project failures.

Don't Treat BNB as Stocks

Exchanges are currently one of the biggest use cases for blockchain and cryptocurrency, and for the top exchanges, they continue to be profitable. Therefore, the platform coins issued by exchanges, besides being used for fee discounts and investment participation, are also believed to be related to the profitability of the exchange.

BNB, the platform coin of Binance, with a market value of approximately $26 billion, is the highest market value platform coin.

A netizen commented on Zhao Changpeng's post, "Binance doesn't need an IPO at all because BNB is Binance's stock!"

Zhao Changpeng immediately denied this, stating that BNB is a utility token meant to be used.

BNB's burn mechanism (reducing circulation based on 20% of profits) has often been joked about as a form of security token. Later, to dispel the controversy, Binance made changes to its whitepaper, decoupling burning from profits.

Is BNB's Future a Governance Token?

A netizen asked if it's true that Binance will gradually transform into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and turn BNB into a governance token?

Zhao Changpeng replied, I cannot guarantee or predict the future. But I will definitely be satisfied with such a future. We wait and see. I hope BNB has more uses, and it already has many.

On June 30th, Binance announced the launch of its Binance Smart Chain testnet. It is said to adopt PoS (Proof of Stake), meaning no need for mining power, and users can stake a certain amount of BNB on BSC to earn block rewards. It seems that Binance is moving towards a more decentralized path for BNB.