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In the fast-paced crypto world, where fortunes rise and fall on the tide of market sentiment, Binance stands as a colossus. Eight years on from its launch in July 2017, Binance isn’t just surviving – it’s thriving. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine the crypto landscape today without the exchange running in the background, powering spot, perps, and serving as a major liquidity hub and jumping-off point for exploring the omnichain ecosystem from Solana to BNB Chain. But it all could have been so very different.
What began as a scrappy startup in a Shanghai office has morphed into a global ecosystem powering billions in daily trades, fostering web3 innovation, and navigating regulatory storms. This journey isn't just about numbers: it's a tale of shrewd expansion, ecosystem partnerships, and a relentless quest to build – all while keeping user funds SAFU. As the exchange marks its eighth birthday, it's worth reprising how Binance evolved from a simple exchange to a web3 juggernaut with a little help from its friends including early projects like Neo and My Neighbor Alice whose timelines intersect.
It's June 2017, and the crypto scene is buzzing with ICOs promising to disrupt everything from smart contracts to bananas – yes, there was actually a token sale for bananas, which isn't even as bananas as some of the ideas being floated at the time. But not all of the ideas doing the rounds at the time were loco. In fact some were positively smart – particularly for the investors shrewd enough to see the upside in a native token called BNB.
At Neo's rebranding event in Shanghai – then transitioning from Antshares to its current identity – Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) delivered his first public keynote, where he unveiled the Binance ICO. It was a bold move, pitching a new exchange amid a sea of skeptics prone to dismissing it as just another ambitious idea in a frothy market. Yet, some of those listening paid heed – not least NEO – and they took notes. This CZ guy may have promised the world, but he appeared to have a roadmap with which to deliver it.
When Binance went live that July, its initial listings were straightforward but strategic: BTC, ETH, its native BNB token, and NEO. Then known as “the Chinese Ethereum” – a designation it’s long since shrugged off – Neo’s vision of a “smart economy” brought something unique to the table: a vibrant community and a dual-token model where NEO holders earned GAS rewards for holding and participating in the network.
This mechanism provided early liquidity and incentives that helped Binance attract users hungry for yield. In those heady days of the 2017 bull run, Neo's GAS distributions acted as a subtle booster, drawing in traders who saw Binance not just as a trading venue but as a gateway to rewarding ecosystems. It's a reminder of how interconnected the crypto space was – and still is – where one project's success can lift others with it.
As the crypto winter kicked in through 2018, Binance didn't so much as shiver. It had hit the ground running, and now had enough momentum to keep ticking over – regardless of where the market moved next. The exchange's rapid listing policy became legendary, hitting the 100-coin milestone faster than competitors thanks to initiatives like Binance Launchpad, which democratized access to new tokens and ICOs. This era marked Binance's shift from mere trading platform to innovation hub, culminating in the 2020 launch of Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a high-throughput blockchain that addressed Ethereum's congestion woes and pivoted the company toward building its own infrastructure.
Parallel to this, Neo was charting its own path of maturation. The Neo3 upgrade introduced enhancements like the delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT) consensus for faster, more secure transactions and onchain governance. Binance was quick to support this evolution, being among the first exchanges to enable GAS distributions and facilitate the N3 migration, ensuring seamless token swaps for users. This wasn't altruism; it was smart business. In backing Neo's upgrades, Binance reinforced its role as a reliable bridge between legacy and next-generation blockchains, fostering loyalty among developers and investors who valued stability amid the market's volatility.
If Binance scarcely shivered in the 2018-20 bear market, the bull market that followed was the cycle that saw it indelibly leave its mark on the crypto landscape. It played an outsized role in igniting the onchain gaming boom and Binance perfectly timed its NFT marketplace launch, tapping into the exploding demand for digital collectibles. This period saw the exchange expand beyond trading into immersive web3 experiences, where virtual worlds promised real economic value.
Enter My Neighbor Alice (MNA), the multiplayer builder game on the Chromia blockchain that debuted as one of Binance's earliest Launchpool gaming projects in 2021. So well received was the MNA token launch that it was voted Binance Launchpool Project of the Year. The ALICE token's listing and deep liquidity on Binance was crucial, enabling players to stake and earn rewards that fueled in-game incentives like land ownership and asset building.
Binance amplified this through cross-promotions such as trading competitions, AMA sessions with developers, and integrations that helped mainstream the web3 gaming model. More than just marketing, these efforts demonstrated Binance's knack for spotting trends and turning games into cultural phenomena while bolstering its ecosystem with user-generated economies.
Fast-forward to today and Binance is deep into modular Layer 2 solutions, leveraging tech like the OP Stack for scalable, interoperable chains, alongside AI-powered features that enhance trading bots and analytics. This push reflects a maturing industry focused on efficiency and intelligence. As ever, the adroit exchange is one step ahead of the chasing pack, helping to mold emerging narratives through early ecosystem support and token listing the most promising projects.
My Neighbor Alice has kept pace, notably integrating Pudgy Penguins NFTs in 2025, adding a new Pudgy Land region with quests and cross-chain avatar functionality. Binance's NFT marketplace has continued to play a supporting role by cross-listing in-game assets, easing liquidity for these hybrid experiences and highlighting the exchange's commitment to bridging gaming and DeFi.
In Binance's vast portfolio, projects like Neo and My Neighbor Alice remain closely aligned with the exchange that to all intents and purposes helped mainstream them. Neo, often seen as "China-adjacent" due to its origins, boasts an 11-year track record of resilience, offering alternative smart-economy tech via dBFT and emerging agentic AI capabilities through SpoonOS, a decentralized OS for AI agents. Meanwhile, MNA exemplifies fully onchain gaming on Chromia, where users truly own asset-centric worlds, aligning with Binance's multichain ethos that extends to the furthest corners of the cryptosphere.
The enduring success of these projects highlight themes that Binance is betting on: deep multichain liquidity, thriving onchain gaming economies, and AI-driven dapps that are poised to redefine user interactions. The battle-tested nature of Neo and MNA means that, like Binance, they’re odds on to continue leading within their respective fields for years to come.
The future of web3 has yet to be written, but certain projections can be made with confidence. Onchain agents are going to be huge. Blockchain networks that are optimized to facilitate this – such as Neo's SpoonOS enabling sentient economies – will flourish. Gaming will likely shift toward chain-native models, with MNA's seasonal upgrades paving the way for deeper player economies and suggesting the shape of web3 gaming to come.
As for Binance, well, it isn’t going anywhere. It’s weathered the highs, the lows, the regulatory pressure, and everything else that can be thrown at a crypto exchange and emerged on the other side stronger. Expect to see it continue supporting the ecosystem projects it has a long history with, as well as incubating new ones whose journey is just beginning. The next chapter is about symbiosis in a web3 world that's increasingly interconnected and interoperable.
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