Binance Space Review: Binance Alpha is not the same as the main site, and the selected projects are not limited to the BNB Chain ecosystem

Author: Fu Ruo, Odaily Planet Daily

Today, the Binance Chinese community officially introduced the new features of the Binance Web3 wallet—Binance Alpha—during a Space event.

At this event, Binance co-founder He Yi and Winson, head of Binance Wallet, appeared together to answer users' questions about the new features and provided an in-depth analysis of the latest industry trends. The Space invited several Web3 Chinese media and well-known KOLs to participate in the discussion and posed questions to He Yi and Winson regarding hot topics such as Binance's listing policies.

He Yi shared his views on the current industry situation during the event, responded to recent controversies regarding Binance's listings, and elaborated on the future development plans for Binance Alpha Zone.

Below is the transcript of the Space, organized and edited by Odaily Planet Daily.

Q: Binance has faced numerous controversies regarding listings in the past year. How do you view this phenomenon? What prompted Binance to launch Binance Alpha? Can you elaborate on the background of this initiative and whether the project selection process is the same as for futures and spot listings?

He Yi: Binance listings indeed have higher user expectations; everyone hopes that every listing will rise, but the reality is that after a listing, the market cap may spike in the short term and then fall back. This situation has led us to continuously seek optimization solutions, such as suppressing coin prices through pre-market pricing, but the effect is limited.

The entire industry also has some structural issues:

• Project token issuance cycles are short, lacking real users and solid business models. Many on-chain interaction data are artificially "washed" out, lacking value support.

• The current market enthusiasm is more about distributing "air," with projects themselves lacking labor results and profit models, making it difficult to support long-term development.

• The global regulatory environment is complex, and the participation costs and risks for excellent entrepreneurs are high, leading the industry into an awkward phase.

The original intention of launching Binance Alpha Zone is to provide users with an "observation zone," listing popular but immature projects in the market, including hot meme coins, VC-backed projects, local chain projects, etc. Users can trade these coins through the wallet, but their entry into the observation zone does not mean they will eventually be listed on Binance's spot or futures markets. Most meme coins will go to zero in this wave, and only a few can survive; this is a harsh reality.

The significance of Binance Alpha Zone lies in providing users with tools to filter high-probability projects while reminding everyone to participate rationally in new projects and conduct thorough research. Ultimately, we hope to find projects that truly have social value, can produce labor results, and give back to token holders. Nevertheless, whether it is Binance Alpha Zone, spot, or futures listings, it is a continuous process of selection and elimination, and we cannot guarantee that every coin will survive long-term or make users money.

For the market's hot meme coins, we understand their appeal and will include them in the Alpha Zone, providing users with early value capture opportunities. However, the healthy development of the industry ultimately depends on whether excellent projects can truly generate social value and share the results of labor.

Q: Are there specific project selection criteria for Binance Alpha? Will the projects listed in Binance Alpha potentially be listed on Binance's main board in the future? Will Binance Alpha favor projects within the BNB ecosystem?

He Yi: The project selection for Binance Alpha does not solely rely on whether it will eventually be listed on Binance's main board. The selection criteria focus on the project's popularity and attention rather than simply because a project enters Binance Alpha, it will necessarily be listed. In other words, while many projects entering Binance Alpha have high exposure and potential, not all will ultimately be listed; this depends on more market and internal evaluation factors.

BNB Chain, as one of the hot public chains in the industry, is indeed a key focus for Binance. Due to the strong competitiveness and high attention of the BSC ecosystem in the market, its projects are more likely to be included in Binance Alpha. However, this does not mean that Binance Alpha is limited to the BNB Chain ecosystem; other excellent projects will also be considered.

Q: Industry competitors are investing heavily in wallet services (with team sizes reaching 500-1000 people). What is the current size of the Binance wallet team? In the face of such strong competitive pressure, is Binance adopting a defensive or offensive strategy?

Winson: Currently, the Binance wallet team has just reached 100 people, but the team is still expanding, especially in technical positions, and we welcome excellent engineers to join.

The Binance team expresses great respect for the significant investments and achievements of competitors in the wallet field and actively studies and learns from their strengths. However, Binance will not simply replicate their models but will explore differentiated development paths.

From the market demand perspective, users do not need two identical wallet products, so blind imitation is not feasible. Binance believes that the wallet track has enough space to accommodate different differentiated products. Based on years of practice, the team has clarified its development path and is confident in it.

The strategy of Binance Wallet is neither purely defensive nor purely offensive but focuses on exploring new paths:

• Providing simple, user-friendly, comprehensive, and secure wallet services to meet the on-chain operation needs of most users.

• Centering on user experience, making the user experience smoother and providing security and data support.

We acknowledge that Binance started late in on-chain services and spent a lot of time in the past year recruiting excellent talent, rebuilding the wallet team, and reconstructing the system from the ground up. Although we are still in the "clean water house" stage, the team has clarified future plans, aiming to gradually improve functionality based on meeting user needs.

The CEO mentioned in summary that although Binance started late in the on-chain field, the team's confidence and resource investment are sufficient, just as Binance made significant progress in developing its futures business in the past.

Q: What is the long-term development positioning and plan for Binance's new Web3 wallet? How does it differ from the positioning of Trust Wallet within the Binance ecosystem?

Winson: The positioning of Binance's new Web3 wallet is "beginner-friendly," but it is not limited to serving novice users. The team believes that if a product can be very simple for beginners to use, then experienced users can also easily get started, even if they may be a bit unaccustomed. Therefore, the goal of Binance Wallet is to serve veteran users in the industry while focusing on new entrants, aiming to promote the large-scale adoption of Web3, especially contributing to the mainstream user base.

The team also plans to address key experience challenges users face when using the wallet through phased implementation of specific improvements, ultimately eliminating all barriers so that users can use Web3 products without any hurdles.

Differences from Trust Wallet:

• Platform Integration:
  Binance Wallet is deeply integrated with the Binance main site and belongs to the same APP, while Trust Wallet is a relatively independent product.

• Compliance:
  Binance Wallet is designed based on KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements and complies with regulatory requirements, while Trust Wallet is a more independent product without deep compliance integration with the Binance main site.

• User Base:
  Binance Wallet serves a relatively broad user base, including existing Binance users and new Web3 users, while Trust Wallet focuses on providing an independent wallet experience aimed at a broader decentralized user base.

Although there is some competition between Binance Wallet and Trust Wallet at this stage, it is not a "kill or be killed" competition within Binance but rather "differentiated competition," aimed at providing differentiated services for different user groups and promoting the adoption of Web3. The team stated that such competition will benefit the development of the entire industry, and the goal of Binance Wallet is to help more people smoothly enter the Web3 field and simplify the user experience.

Q: Are the projects in the Alpha section launched by Binance selected by Binance itself, or are they chosen through other means, such as community voting or open registration? If a project successfully "graduates" and is listed on the main board, what aspects will the main board assessment cover? How to avoid issues of inflated volume and fabricated data?

He Yi: The project selection for Binance Alpha includes both proactive selection and active registration or community recommendations from external sources. Binance's selection does not solely rely on industry popularity; it also involves detailed research and analysis covering multiple areas, such as public chains, infrastructure, DeFi, NFTs, etc. These selection criteria combine on-chain data tracking and daily submission information from projects. Therefore, projects may enter Alpha through registration and community recommendations, but whether they are ultimately selected still depends on their popularity and market performance; the Alpha section is essentially a relatively broad pool.

For those projects that successfully "graduate" and have the opportunity to be listed on the main board, the assessment criteria will cover multiple aspects, primarily including project quality, compliance, and development potential, ensuring that projects not only have popularity but also possess the ability for long-term development. To avoid issues of inflated volume and fabricated data, Binance will conduct strict reviews of the authenticity of projects during the selection process, including the sources of data and trading behaviors, ensuring compliance with platform requirements and maintaining market fairness. Binance is also exploring whether to introduce more interesting gameplay in the Alpha section and welcomes the community to provide innovative ideas or suggestions.

Inflated volume and fabricated data are difficult to completely avoid in the industry, especially as some projects use airdrops or volume-boosting tools to increase popularity. Binance believes the key is to continuously assess value and industry experience to identify which data is real and which is inflated.

Binance uses the Alpha section as a filtering mechanism, allowing projects to showcase and accumulate data first, observing which projects can continuously attract users and create value, and which are merely inflating volume. This is the core purpose of launching the Alpha section, aiming to filter out truly promising projects.

Q: How does Binance Wallet filter airdrop projects in the airdrop platform section? Can users obtain more benefits early by participating in airdrops?

He Yi: Airdrops are a tool provided by Binance for project parties and users, primarily aimed at attracting users for projects and providing more opportunities for retail investors. Airdrops may be a target for retail investors, but for project parties, it is more a means of acquiring users. Binance hopes to connect more quality projects and users through this platform, avoiding inflated volume and ensuring that projects can interact with real users.

Additionally, Binance is considering how to allow users to obtain more benefits through on-chain operations while ensuring these operations are simple and secure. Besides airdrops, Binance also plans to collaborate with the industry through an open platform to jointly promote the development of Web3 and create more valuable scenarios and projects.

Winson: Binance's airdrop platform is a sub-section of its open platform, aimed at connecting Binance users with project parties. The core value of the platform lies in helping project parties promote their products to the right users through precise user data. Binance does not intend to overly filter projects but rather allows any project party to self-initiate airdrops through an open approach.

In the future, Binance's open platform will further expand, allowing more project parties to promote on the platform without restricting project selection. This way, Binance aims to create a diverse platform that provides more opportunities for project parties and users.

Q: Will Binance's wallet shift towards chain abstraction or intent wallets in the future? If so, will it adopt its own technology or that of other projects?

Winson: Binance Wallet will indeed adopt relevant technologies related to chain abstraction and intent wallets, but it will not completely shift towards these two approaches. The goal is to lower the user entry barrier and achieve a more convenient user experience through these technologies. Binance Wallet will not simply replicate existing solutions in the market but will conduct in-depth technical research, combining its own user needs to design a suitable solution. While technology serves the product, Binance emphasizes that technology should be integrated with user scenarios to ultimately bring higher value to users, rather than merely following technological trends.

Q: Will Binance adjust the selection criteria or display list based on user feedback on displayed tokens? How will Binance respond if the displayed tokens encounter widespread negative feedback?

He Yi: Binance will arrange the display of projects based on its own logic, considering factors such as token price fluctuations and listing times. Users can arrange according to their own needs, and Binance's focus is on maintaining the platform's transparency and flexibility, allowing users to sort themselves.

For negative feedback during on-chain operations, Binance will notify users, especially when high-risk projects arise. Since Binance operates purely on-chain, it cannot close deposit or withdrawal functions like CEX platforms, so it mainly relies on a warning mechanism to alert users. As for feedback channels, Binance is considering establishing a Telegram group to facilitate users in providing feedback and ensuring timely responses to project risks.

Q: What is the core idea behind Binance Wallet positioning itself as the largest airdrop platform? How does Binance Wallet help newcomers lower the barriers to on-chain interactions, or what are its advantages and considerations as an airdrop distribution platform?

Winson: The strategy of Binance Wallet is not solely focused on becoming the largest airdrop platform. While the airdrop platform is an important means for Binance Wallet, it is not the only core strategy. The goal of the platform is to bridge users and project parties, capturing user value through the airdrop platform while helping achieve a win-win situation for both sides. The positioning of the airdrop platform is to provide users with a convenient airdrop participation experience, rather than merely serving as a distribution platform.

Binance Wallet has made significant optimizations to guide new users in lowering the barriers to on-chain interactions. The focus is on the following aspects:

• Guided Experience: Providing user-friendly tutorials to guide them through each step.

• Airdrop Management: Helping users manage airdrop earnings through the Reward Center feature, avoiding manual management and enhancing user experience.

• User Lifecycle Management: Providing a one-stop solution from project launch to airdrop receipt and earnings management, minimizing user operations and leaving the rest to the platform.

Through these optimizations, Binance Wallet strives to simplify the user participation process and enhance the user experience.

From the perspective of project parties, Binance Wallet is not only an airdrop platform but also a precise marketing platform. Project parties can ensure that airdropped tokens are distributed to target user groups through Binance Wallet, which is also the direction for future product iterations of Binance Wallet.

Q: How does Binance Wallet define its growth? What experiences and lessons has Binance Wallet learned during its development process?

He Yi: The growth of Binance Wallet is defined not only as an expansion of a wallet platform but also as an important entry point for the entire Web3 ecosystem. The goal of Binance Wallet is to become a convenient channel for users to deposit fiat, register, complete KYC, and perform on-chain operations. Its core idea is to simplify the operational process and provide a smooth cross-platform experience, allowing users to complete operations seamlessly whether they are engaging in on-chain activities or using centralized exchanges (CEX) for investment.

Binance Wallet positions itself as an entry point to Web3, helping users understand hot topics in the crypto space and eliminating the boundaries between blockchain and traditional finance. Whether users choose to interact on-chain or invest on a CEX, Binance Wallet aims to provide the simplest solutions to enhance user experience.

In the growth process of Binance Wallet, the biggest lessons learned mainly focus on the following points:

• Insufficient reserve of professional talent: In the past, Binance Wallet lacked sufficient reserves in Web3 technology, mainly leaning towards Web2 operational models. Although it could operate efficiently, there were still shortcomings in deeply understanding and applying Web3 technology. This is an important reflection point, and Binance hopes to attract more professionals to join and promote the further development of the platform.

• Missteps taken: Binance has faced challenges in compliance and technology. For example, it experienced difficulties and setbacks in the past with the use of Compass, compliance, and licensing applications, especially in Web3 technology solutions, where there were some missteps. Through these experiences, Binance has placed greater emphasis on compliance and made large-scale investments and adjustments.

• Transitioning to Web3: The transition from a traditional Web2 platform to Web3 has not been easy. Although the company's operational model was very successful in a Web2 environment, the thinking and technical requirements of Web3 are different, and Binance has certain technical shortcomings in this regard. These missteps have helped the team understand that to truly become an industry leader, breakthroughs in Web3 technology and thinking are necessary.