Binance Coin frees itself from Bitcoin's influence

Binance Coin (BNB) is the native coin of the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance. As such, it can be used within the exchange for easy crypto conversions, cashing out, or participating in Binance Launchpad-based token sales. Furthermore, the use of this coin comes with additional benefits, like the reduced transaction fees within the exchange.

With all this in mind, it is easy to understand why BNB has seen a lot of usage in recent months, and why it is pretty much the only coin that has been on an almost constant growth since December 2018. This was when the bear market that dominated 2018 first started showing signs of weakening, and BNB took this opportunity to start its growth.

This is important to notice since BNB is one of the very rare few coins that follows its own path, instead of just following Bitcoin's lead. One proof of this is the fact that the coin grew by over 140% in 2019 alone.

Binance Coin leaves Bitcoin’s shadow

Most large cryptocurrencies on the market as it is right now are older coins, with several years of history. It is also true that most of them were inspired by Bitcoin. However, instead of leaving its guidance and trying to find their own way, they remained dependant on it, which is now a trend that Binance Coin managed to break.

At the time of writing, BNB price sits at around $15.23, with a 13.66% growth in the last 24 hours. Its market cap managed to grow as well, and it allowed the coin to climb up on the list of largest coins by market cap. After spending months on the 10th spot, BNB recently went past TRON (TRX), Stellar (XLM), as well as Tether (USDT). Its current market cap is at $2.15 billion, and its next roadblock comes in the form of Bitcoin Cash, with a market cap of $2.35 billion.

In terms of behavior, all of the coins among the top 10 list tend to follow a similar path — one dictated by Bitcoin. However, BNB/USD took a turn ever since 2019 arrived, and is currently seeing massive gains when compared to others on the list. The coin managed to double its price in the last 30 days, going from $7.76 on February 7th to its current price of $15.23.

While the two recent bull runs did help the coin go higher, the withdrawal of the bulls did not affect it nearly as strongly as other cryptocurrencies. As a result, Binance Coin has a better performance than any other digital currency, including Bitcoin itself. For example, in 2019 so far, Bitcoin experienced an increase that is less than 4%. Meanwhile, BNB has grown by over 141.7%, dwarfing Bitcoin's own performance in the process.

The coin is outperforming on more immediate time scales as well, with a 41.47% growth in the last seven days, compared to Bitcoin's 1.62%.

The coin's performance is the strongest in February, which is likely a consequence of bull runs, as well as Bitcoin's own first green candle since July 2018. While it is unlikely that BNB will continue on its path away from Bitcoin for much longer, and the gravity of the larger coin is expected to bring BNB back under its fold eventually, Binance Coin is currently doing rather well for itself. More importantly, it shows that it is possible for cryptocurrencies to come out from Bitcoin's shadow and start paving their own way through the market.