Mubarak ignites the MEME trend in the BNB Chain Middle East, with Zhao Changpeng and He Yi stepping in to assist on-chain sentiment

Author: Nancy, PANews

Last weekend (March 15-16), led by Mubarak, the MEME coin boosted the revival of sentiment on the BNB Chain, with long-inactive P players switching to the Middle Eastern time zone to join the festivities. In this wave of MEME hype, Binance founder CZ and He Yi became the driving forces, personally engaging in meme creation and sharing various MEME promotional materials that pushed this trend to new heights.

MGX Investment Heat Boosts, Zhao Changpeng Ignites the Middle Eastern MEME Narrative

Recently, Binance announced a massive $2 billion investment from the UAE sovereign fund MGX, which not only attracted widespread attention both inside and outside the industry but also became the strongest hype narrative on the BNB Chain.

On March 13, the day Binance officially announced the MGX investment, the official account posted a tweet on X featuring an image of a "wealthy editor" wearing a Middle Eastern-style headscarf, which prompted interactions from CZ and He Yi.

When CZ retweeted the post, he captioned it "Mubarak," a term derived from Arabic meaning "blessing" or "to bestow grace." This culturally infused wording was quickly picked up by the market, leading to a surge of MEME coins named Mubarak appearing in the community. However, among the many MEME tokens, CZ later retweeted a related post from a member of the "0x5c…46f6" community, which acted like a "royal endorsement," rapidly forming a consensus in the market, and the attention on Mubarak skyrocketed.

With the momentum still strong, CZ dropped a bombshell on Binance Square—he posted, "Going to meet a friend this weekend," along with a humorous MEME image themed around Mubarak, which quickly spread throughout the community.

On March 15, Binance Alpha quickly launched Mubarak, and the next day, CZ spent 1 BNB each to buy 9,161 TST and 20,155 mubarak, and posted on Binance Square, seemingly responding, "Doing some testing this weekend." This series of actions pushed the hype around Mubarak to a climax. On March 16, CZ tweeted about "considering changing my profile picture, soliciting fun suggestions from the community," mentioning that his current avatar had been in use for 11 years. Coupled with his recent frequent mentions of Mubarak, this statement undoubtedly added more imaginative space for the MEME coin, with some speculating that the new avatar might relate to Mubarak's wealthy image. Additionally, with community support, Mubarak also secured a $4.4 million permanent liquidity pool support from Binance.

Compared to the on-chain PVP melee triggered by CZ announcing the name of his pet dog "Broccoli," Mubarak's operations were smooth and seamless. "With a cloth on my head, I'm the richest in the Middle East," from the cultural label of Mashallah to the teasing of a Middle Eastern version of CZ, and then to the launch on Binance Alpha and CZ personally buying in, every interaction propelled Mubarak to achieve viral spread. It can be said that Mubarak's rise to fame is a combination of celebrity effect, cultural narrative, and MEME attributes, precisely capturing the hot window period for Binance's layout in the Middle East.

GMGN data shows that Mubarak's market cap peaked at nearly $150 million. However, according to Ai Yi's analysis, Mubarak currently faces issues with insufficient liquidity depth, which may make it difficult for large holders to sell their positions without significantly impacting the price. Mubarak's current market cap is approximately $134 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $88.1 million, but the liquidity pool depth is only $4.48 million, accounting for just 5% of the daily trading volume. For example, the top address currently holds 13 million tokens worth about $1.618 million, and attempting to sell all at market price would face a slippage loss of over $500,000, as the current liquidity pool's BNB depth cannot support such a large transaction.

In addition to Mubarak, several other Middle Eastern narrative MEME coins have been hotly speculated in the market. For instance, a few days ago, CZ retweeted an old post saying "Inshallah," along with a photo with MGX board chairman Tahnoon, captioned "Mashallah," which temporarily drove the similarly named MEME coin to popularity, but it subsequently fell sharply after the tweet was unpinned.

Interactive Marketing Ignites Community Sentiment, MEME Hype Space Limited

The explosive hype around Mubarak ignited sentiment on the BNB Chain, and Binance's movements became material for market speculation, with its interactive marketing sparking wave after wave of community enthusiasm.

For example, on March 13, He Yi commented on a tweet about Binance's organizational structure, asking, "Who is that person in the upper right corner? I've never seen them before?" This remark instantly ignited community enthusiasm. Many members quickly joined in on the joke, editing their avatars into the organizational chart, creating a wave of parody. The official Binance X account also joined in, replacing the character in the image with "BNB Holder" and humorously changing it to "Paru"—a name derived from the popular game "Paru the Beast," which the Chinese community often jokingly refers to as "cow and horse workers." This self-deprecating brand marketing and community interaction spread like a virus in the crypto circle, not only giving rise to the "Web3 Paru" meme label but also evolving into a similarly named MEME coin Palu, further driving market heat.

Additionally, the recent "answer me" and "look in my eyes" video memes trending on Douyin have also been creatively adapted by the crypto community, featuring CZ and He Yi as the main characters in numerous remixed videos. These funny videos not only went viral within the community but also received retweets and likes from CZ and He Yi themselves, with the official Binance account joining the interaction, further amplifying the impact. The resulting similarly named MEME coin $Answer has become another market hotspot.

However, overall, the current hype space for most MEME coins on the BNB Chain shows certain limitations. According to GMGN data, in the past 24 hours, the MEME coin with the highest trading volume on the BNB Chain was Mubarak, nearing $100 million, while only three projects reached trading volumes in the tens of millions, with most others hovering below a million or even tens of thousands, indicating a concentration of market heat and insufficient long-tail effects.

To attract more users, Binance Wallet has also launched a six-month zero-fee trading event. On March 17, Binance announced that starting from March 17, 2025, at 16:00, it would launch a zero-fee trading event applicable to all trading pairs within Binance Wallet. The event will last until September 17, 2025, at 16:00. During the event, all transactions completed through the exchange and cross-chain bridge functions in Binance Wallet or the quick purchase function of Binance Alpha will be exempt from trading fees, but users will still need to pay network gas fees. Additionally, transactions conducted through third-party dApps are not included in the event.

In summary, in the ecological construction of the BNB Chain, the "two-way rush" between Binance and the community has become a highlight of its marketing strategy, not only bringing it closer to users but also injecting more vitality and topicality into the ecosystem through the light-hearted and humorous approach of MEME.