BNB Standard rings Nasdaq bell as CZ pitches BNB Chain as the network for AI payments

26 Oct 2026

26 Oct 2026, 20:48 UTC+01:00

Altcoins TradeReviewed News Desk

BNB Standard, the Nasdaq-listed company that holds the largest BNB treasury of any public firm, rang the Nasdaq opening bell on Monday, October 26, and used the occasion to say it wants to do more than sit on tokens. At a media briefing after the ceremony, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) pitched BNB Chain as a home for AI-driven crypto activity, according to The Block, which attended the briefing.

From BNB treasury to validator

BNB Standard, formerly CEA Industries, changed its name last month and still trades under the BNC ticker. The bell ceremony formally marked the new name and the appointment of Alex Odagiu as CEO. The company controls more than 515,400 BNB, worth roughly $383.5 million at the time of the report.

Odagiu said the first step beyond holding the asset is running the company’s own BNB Chain validator. “We’re not here just to hold the asset,” he said during the ceremony, adding that the goal is to build an operating business on BNB Chain. He named payments and AI agents as possible future drivers of network activity, but stressed that BNB Standard is not a payments company for now.

CZ: crypto as the native currency for AI

Zhao said crypto will be the “native currency for AI”. In his view, AI systems could transact in bitcoin, existing stablecoins or tokens that AI companies launch in the future, and he wants BNB Chain to win a large share of that activity. “We hope to make the BNB Chain the major one, but that’s still to be done,” he said. He also mentioned earlier discussions about tokens tied to computing resources that he would like to bring onto BNB Chain, without giving details.

CZ was candid about the state of crypto payments, saying that paying for everything in crypto is “pretty clunky” because the tokens users hold often do not match what merchants accept. His advice to payment startups: start with underserved markets and expensive remittance corridors rather than taking on Apple Pay or Google Pay in the US.

Governance reset and share price

The bell ringing follows a governance overhaul. In June, the company settled a proxy fight with its largest shareholder, YZi Labs, under an agreement that added Odagiu, Ella Zhang and Matthew Roszak to the board. BNC shares traded around $5.36 on Monday and are still down nearly 17% year to date, per The Block.

What it means for traders

• Treasury companies are shifting to yield. Running a validator lets a BNB treasury earn on-chain rewards instead of relying only on token price, a model ETH and SOL treasury firms have also pursued.
• The AI narrative is a talking point, not a product yet. No concrete AI or compute-token launch on BNB Chain was announced, so treat it as sentiment rather than a catalyst.
• BNC is a leveraged BNB proxy. With the stock down on the year, its performance still tracks BNB closely; spot BNB is usually the cleaner exposure.

If you want direct BNB exposure, compare fees and BNB pairs across exchanges in our crypto exchange comparison. Our top picks, BingX and OKX, both list BNB spot and perpetual markets. See how we test exchanges for our methodology.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice.

Sources

• The Block: CZ pitches BNB Chain's role in AI as BNB Standard rings Nasdaq bell

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