BNB Chain Hits 500M Active Addresses Amid TST Meme Coin Frenzy and MEV Concerns

Binance Smart Chain (BNB Chain) has crossed a significant milestone, surpassing 500 million unique active addresses, a major achievement for the blockchain. This surge in activity comes amidst the launch of the TST meme coin, which, despite being intended for educational purposes, gained unexpected popularity and contributed to the recent uptick in the network’s unique active addresses.

The TST meme coin was initially created for a tutorial video, showcasing how to create a meme coin on the Four.Meme launchpad platform built on BNB Chain. However, the token quickly gained traction, rising by 1,100% in the first three days of its release, hitting an all-time high of $0.52 before experiencing a 62% drop, returning to $0.20.

The beginning of the TST coin’s rise can be traced to a brief appearance of its name in a single frame of the tutorial video. When this discovery was made, the video was briefly taken down, but Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao later instructed the team to re-upload it. CZ clarified that TST was not an official token and had no formal connection to BNB Chain, emphasizing its role as part of the tutorial.

However, the speculation around TST helped boost activity on BNB Chain, possibly contributing to the surge in the number of unique active addresses on the platform.

Alongside this growth, BNB Chain is grappling with a Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) issue, which refers to the additional profits validators make by manipulating the order of transactions. MEV exploits, such as front-running and sandwich attacks, have become a prevalent concern, allowing malicious actors to profit at the expense of unsuspecting users. In fact, $1.5 billion was lost in 2024 alone due to such attacks on BNB Chain.

The rise in active addresses, driven in part by the TST meme coin craze, has highlighted the vulnerabilities in BNB Chain. CZ recently addressed the MEV issue, conducting a poll on X asking whether BNB Chain should take more aggressive steps to eliminate or reduce MEV-related exploits. This ongoing issue is a growing concern as BNB Chain continues to gain popularity, particularly as trading volume and activity increase.