April 23rd, 2019. It’s a big day for the Binance community. As anticipated (and announced) the native Binance Coin tokens initially issued on the Ethereum blockchain have been swapped for the Binance Chain Mainnet counterparts. Therefore they are now BEP2 tokens.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) announced earlier today on Twitter that Binance has “Just burned 5mm ERC20 BNB, commencing swap to the real #BNB.” CZ was referencing the token burn of 5 million BNB tokens that were based on the ERC-20 standard in exchange for the issuance of an equivalent number of BEP2 compliant BNB tokens.
This means that any individual holding BNB tokens that are based on the ERC-20 standard are encouraged to swap their tokens for the newly launched tokens. The easiest way is to swap them on the Binance.com exchange platform.
On the heels of the BNB token swap was the launch of the highly anticipated peer to peer decentralized cryptocurrency exchange – the Binance DEX. Coming in a little sooner than anticipated, Binance has written in its blog that,
“Binance DEX launches on its native blockchain, Binance Chain, to empower community growth and foster the industry’s long-term vision of peer-to-peer trading.”
The news comes just a week after the launch of the Binance blockchain that will be hosting the Binance DEX. Offering similar user interface and more or less the same features as the current Binance centralized exchange, the DEX is only differentiated by the security features that it offers. Other than the most obvious contrasting feature of peer to peer trading, individuals will be required to generate a 24-word mnemonic seed phrase that will help in securing their private keys. Therefore unlike the centralized counterpart, users of the DEX will be responsible for their funds on the platform.
Right off the gate, Binance also revealed that the DEX will be supporting the following wallets: The official Binance wallet – Trust Wallet, Ledger, Enjin, Magnum Wallet, CoolWallet, Coinomi Wallet, Atomic Wallet, ZelCore Wallet, Infinito Wallet, Math Wallet, Ellipal Wallet, Guarda Wallet, and Exodus.
In addition, Binance noted that “users now have access to the Binance Chain Explorer, web wallet, public data nodes, and APIs.” It is worth noting that trading is not yet enabled at the moment but users are allowed to create their wallets and deposit their cryptocurrency tokens to the platform.
CZ expressed his enthusiasm on the launch of the DEX and reiterated his views on the believe that cryptocurrencies in conjunction with decentralized platforms for trading of those cryptos offer the community a level of freedom that the current financial system cannot offer.
“We believe decentralized exchanges bring new hope and new possibilities, offering a trustless and transparent financial system,” he said and added “With no central custody of funds, Binance DEX offers far more control over your own assets. We hope this brings a new level of freedom to our community.”
