Behind Binance's launch of Messenger is an undeniable social ambition
Start with payment and enter the social track.Author: Odaily Planet Daily
Editor: 0xAyA
Today, Binance's launch of Binance Messenger on the iOS store has sparked considerable controversy in the crypto community, with many speculating whether Binance is personally entering the social arena.
In response to this issue, Odaily Planet Daily sought confirmation from Binance staff, who stated: "This product is invite-only, has been online for a long time, and is planned for use by major clients. Currently, using this app also requires an invitation code." Binance founder CZ also posted that Binance Messenger is a small internal application for testing purposes, not newsworthy, and unrelated to the new product announced yesterday.
During the hype of Friend.tech, there were rumors that Binance would lay out related Socialfi projects to participate in the market. Additionally, Binance has invested in several social projects over time and launched the Binance Square feature this year, enabling social interaction within the platform. Speculation about Binance entering the social arena starting from payments has never ceased, but what are the intentions of Binance and CZ himself?
The Social Track Shows Development Potential
On February 1 of this year, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweeted that the social products Damus and Amethyst, based on the decentralized social media protocol Nostr, have been launched on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. Subsequently, Damus announced that it would randomly distribute small amounts of Bitcoin to users via the Bitcoin Lightning Network and plans to introduce a feature for Bitcoin tips in the next version.
During that time, public keys flooded WeChat Moments and Twitter, as people eagerly boarded the train of decentralized social networking.
In August, the emergence of Friend.tech (hereinafter referred to as FT) once again brought traffic to the decentralized social track. The strategy of converting interpersonal relationships into keys for social pricing led to FT's great success. According to Dune statistics, as of now, the total revenue of the FT protocol has reached 14,250 ETH, with a total of 11,988,858 transactions. Meanwhile, FT's activity has spurred a number of strong competitors in the Socialfi track, such as Tomo and New Bitcoin City.
CZ Rubbing His Hands, Binance Watching Closely
CZ and Binance have expressed interest in the social track more than once.
As early as 2020, CZ tweeted that he and the official Binance Twitter account were greatly troubled by Twitter's account lock feature. When a netizen suggested that "Binance should create an independent cryptocurrency social media," CZ responded: "Looking forward to the release of Voice and Vitalik's work in this area." The story that followed was------Vitalik chose to support the relatively closed Farcaster, while Voice completely disappeared over time.
During Musk's acquisition of Twitter last year, Binance firmly stood by Musk's side. CZ wrote in an email: "We are pleased to help Elon realize Twitter's new vision to expand the use and adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology." At the same time, CZ tweeted: "As part of the deal, Binance has transferred approximately $500 million, which is the amount previously agreed upon for Binance's participation in the Twitter acquisition."
A spokesperson for Binance stated: "As a Web3 infrastructure company, we look forward to bringing new solutions to address some of the inherent issues in the Web2 ecosystem."
At the end of last year, CZ responded to questions about the board, stating that he would be willing to join Twitter's board if invited by Elon Musk, but he also emphasized that he would wait for a more detailed plan on how Twitter could better utilize blockchain and cryptocurrency, and that joining Twitter's board was not the most important thing.
In addition, Binance Labs has invested in numerous Web3 social projects, such as Hooked, Paragraph, and CyberConnect, hoping these projects can actively explore and transform the existing social network model, and establish a new social network based on open social graphs, NFTs, and token economies.
Conclusion
Binance's movements in the social track are attracting attention. Whether it is the Binance Messenger or other social projects it has invested in, they have sparked heated discussions in the market and among users.
As the trend of integration between cryptocurrency and social fields continues to strengthen, Binance's future development in the social track will become a focal point of industry attention, and people are looking forward to the birth of a "Web3" WeChat.
Let us wait and see how Binance will demonstrate its influence and innovation in this field, bringing new possibilities for cryptocurrency social networking.
