By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
Despite the Q2 2022 bear market in Q2 2022, BNB Chain saw a substantial increase in users for the period, rivaling other networks.
According to a Messari report, BNB Chain outperformed other rival smart contract networks in Q2 2022. During the second quarter, the blockchain network saw its smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) pull in a substantial number of new users. Some of the attractive BNB Chain offerings include non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and GameFi. In addition, the report states that the Terra collapse also aided BNB Chain during the period.
Going by key metrics, BNB Chain outperformed other top 5 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains. These include Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), Fantom (FTM), and Polygon (MATIC).
BNB Chain also had the lowest market cap decline, as well as a lower revenue decline quarter on quarter. In addition, the chain also saw a higher volume in daily transactions at 4 million compared to Ethereum’s 1.17 million.
Highlights of the BNB Chain Q2 2022 Report
The report described Q2 as a “break out quarter” for BNB Chain, emphasizing that the commendable performance came amid the crypto market drawdown. In the same period, the trading volume of leading crypto Bitcoin (BTC) sank by more than $2 trillion. Praising the Binance-backed blockchain network, the report read:
“The bear market has not prevented BNB Chain from implementing core architectural solutions and strategies for expanding its ecosystem.”
Messari’s report also credits BNB Chain’s resilience and relative outperformance for Q2 in part to its deflationary fee-burning mechanism. Singling out the NFT sector as a standout success, the report stated:
“Unlike the lagging DeFi sector, Q2 was a breakout quarter for the BNB Chain NFT sector. Both NFT secondary sales volume and unique NFT buyers grew exponentially over the quarter. GameFi activity also continued its growth with the introduction of new GameFi applications.”
Breakdown of BNB Chain’s Q2 NFTs, GameFi & DeFi Performance
The number of unique NFT buyers reportedly grew by a whopping 716%, while secondary sales volume also saw a 634% surge during Q2.
As it stands, BNB Chain’s NFT activity aligns with rival networks such as Solana and Flow.
BNB Chain’s GameFi sector’s growth trajectory got a major boost during the second quarter from new GameFi applications. These include X World Games and Era7: Game of Truth. Furthermore, for the period, the top three BNB Chain GameFi platforms experienced a 35% quarterly increase in daily users to 60,000. In addition, these platforms also raked in $14 million in revenue.
However, as earlier stated, the DeFi sector trailed the other two noteworthy sectors in performance for the second quarter. For instance, the total value of assets locked (TVL) in the BNB Chain slumped 55%, from $14 million to $6 million. In addition, major chain DeFi platform Pancakeswap also fell roughly 55% during the second quarter. Pancakeswap holds around half of BNB Chain’s TVL.
The report also added that although the total number of smart contracts for Q2 increased 31.7%, there was a 23.9% decline in unique contract deployers.
