BNB Overtakes SOL to Become the Fifth-Largest Cryptocurrency by Market Cap

Due to several planned advancements outlined in the BNB Chain’s 2025 roadmap, BNB has surpassed Solana (SOL) to become the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

In the last 24 hours, BNB’s market cap surged by 12%, reaching $104 billion, while Solana’s decreased by 0.1%, dropping to $95 billion. Additionally, BNB’s on-chain metrics have shown improvement, with transaction fees rising by 115% over the past week due to increased user activity on the BNB Chain. This stands in sharp contrast to other blockchains like Solana, Ethereum, and Base, where transaction fees have been declining.

The rise in BNB’s price and user activity can be attributed to announcements regarding major upgrades planned for the BNB Chain. According to the BNB Chain’s 2025 roadmap, the network aims to focus on enhancing performance and improving user experience.

Among the most notable updates are plans to reduce block latency from three seconds to under one second, enabling faster transaction processing. Additionally, the network will introduce gasless transactions, allowing users to pay for transaction fees using stablecoins or other BEP-20 tokens.

Another significant development involves the release of AI-powered smart wallets. These wallets are expected to simplify the user experience for both newcomers and experienced users by making it easier to manage keys, complete multiple transactions simultaneously, and handle gas fees. BNB Chain is also exploring AI tools to assist users with portfolio management, price comparisons, and automated trading.

In related news, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, has sparked a new memecoin frenzy. CZ posed a simple question to his 9.8 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), which led to rumors about a potential new memecoin launch. Although CZ has historically been a critic of memecoins, urging that builders should focus on utility, his involvement in the launch of such a coin could significantly boost BNB Chain’s on-chain activity and lead to further price increases for BNB. Solana has traditionally been the go-to blockchain for memecoins, but CZ’s influence on the crypto community could shift attention to BNB, at least in the short term.