jakiro
author:K2Kai; Source: X,@kaikaibtc
Binance Alpha has been running in the market for almost a year. This year, due to the emergence of Binance Alpha, the spot currency markets of other major CEXs have been completely squeezed. After half a year has passed, we look back at the market and realize:The 2025 “Copycat Season” broke out almost entirely on Binance Alpha.
If a new coin becomes hot on Alpha, you will see it on the homepage of all second-tier exchanges within three days.If a coin is not on the Alpha, then no matter how popular it is on the chain, it will be difficult to open the door of any mainstream CEX.
This is no longer Binance is competing for “sinking market share” with others.This is the rule of higher dimensions:Binance Alpha is redefining the “coin listing standard” for the entire CEX industry.
Revisit in depth.Why Binance Alpha?Why can it succeed?And, what strategic goals does Binance want to achieve through this move?
Why Alpha?Why now?
To understand its rise, it must depend on the overall environment.
Since the FTX crash, the US SEC’s regulatory pressure on the crypto industry has reached its peak.Coinbase and other exchanges were sued for “listing unregistered securities” (of course, Binance was not spared, and was sentenced to 4 months in prison for fines and CZ).The speed of currency listing on mainstream exchanges and the industry’s innovation momentum have been greatly suppressed.
Under restraint, what should I do if the speculative demand for funds is done?The only option is “on-chain”. The “Meme coin launch platform” represented by pump.fun on the Solana chain ushered in an epic explosion.This is an extremely dangerous sign for Binance:The most active and risk-loving core users on the platform are “escape”.
For this situation, Binance Alpha came into being.A perfect “pressure relief valve” and “strategic buffer zone”.Next to Binance, the “compliance building”, it has opened up a specially designed “pressure zone”, which not only isolated the legal risks of the main site, but also “circled” the speculative funds that are about to escape back into its own ecosystem.
Alpha Hunting Ground
Alpha’s success is ultimately reflected in the amazing performance of its online projects.I have sorted out the top ten project data of the “Binance Alpha Spotlight” section on CoinGecko, which is divided into 2 hunting grounds:
Binance Alpha Spotlight Market Value Top 10 Project Performance Analysis
1. “Drainage Model” – Rediscovery of the value of mature projects
The top $Ondo, #Morpho, #Aerodrome in the table were already stars on their respective tracks before being “discovered” by Binance.Binance introduced them to Alpha, playing the role of a “super traffic portal”.The logic is: “I know you are already very awesome in other communities. Come to me and I will give you a bigger stage so that you can be known to my millions of users.”
Gameplay and expectations: The risks of this type of project are relatively low, and the fundamentals have been verified by the market.Don’t expect 100 times. The goal is to gain the “secondary value-added” brought by Binance’s huge liquidity. The return of 5-10 times is an excellent performance.This is closer to the traditional “value investment”.
2.“Scouting Mode” – “Battle Royale” for grassroots projects
Let’s look at the “Alpha start/early” currencies in the table, especially today’s protagonist – $STBL.Before Alpha was launched, they were almost always “grassroots”.Binance introduces them to truly play the role of “scout”.The logic is: “There is potential to let Binance’s users check.”
Gameplay and expectations: This type of project has extremely high risks and may return to zero at any time.But once you successfully pass the “stress test”, the rewards are also amazing, and 20 times, 30 times, or even 50 times ATH are born here.Pure “narrative game” and “emotional speculation”.
In-depth analysis of STBL cases
Find a textbook case to understand how the second game on Alpha is played, then STBL is the most perfect template at this moment.
It gathers almost all the elements that ignite the market on Alpha:
1. Hot narrative: The story of $STBL perfectly combines stablecoins, LST (liquid staking tokens) and interest-generating assets, the sexiest and easiest narratives on the market.It drew a big pie to the market: “We want to be a more awesome and stablecoin that can generate interest.”This story sounds a little more “advanced” than pure Meme coins, but it is simpler and clearer than DeFi.
2. Low market value: $STBL’s market value and circulation volume were very small in the early stages of its launch, which provided huge imagination space for the later “pull the market”.
3. Soaring: Look at STBL’s K-line chart, it is almost vertical, which is its best marketing.
The rise of STBL perfectly interprets the core of Alpha’s “scout mode”: it does not care about how deep a project’s long-term technical moat is, it only cares about the project’s current situation.Can it provide the most attractive story, can it withstand the largest transaction volume, and can create the strongest money-making effect.
Binance Alpha replaces the closed and subjective currency-listing decision-making process in the past with an open and data-based market competition.Establish a brand new set of “coin listing standards” that the market has to convince.
What should I do with other exchanges?
When Binance established this new set of standards, all other CEXs fell into a classic “prisoner’s dilemma”.
For spot exchanges such as Bitget and Gate, which were originally “fast listing and many new coins”, they face three choices:
Choose one: Dig independently and get the first to launch.
This was the mainstream way of playing in the past.But now, the risks are extremely high.Because you worked hard to mine, review and list a new coin, as long as it is not listed on Binance Alpha, the market consensus will not recognize you.Most liquidity and attention will still be sucked away by Alpha.”First launch” is likely to become a “stand-alone coin” that no one cares about.
Choice 2: Ignore Alpha and stick to your own standards.
This means that when a hundred times hot spot like ONDO and MCORE runs out on Alpha, you don’t have it on your platform.What is the result?The most active and most wanting core users on your platform will not hesitate to bring their funds to Binance to chase hot spots.User assets are in net outflow, and spot exchanges will face chronic deaths.
Choice Three: Follow Alpha, what it is on, what I am on.
This looks a bit “faceless”, like a follower.But from a business perspective, this is the most rational, the least risky, and the only right choice.
Free due diligence: The project has passed the bloody battle test of Binance Alpha’s “Gallery Arena”, and its fundamentals and community popularity are guaranteed, and the risk of listing coins is low.
Intrinsic fluidity and heat: The project has a preliminary consensus in the market. After it is launched, it can immediately undertake the popularity and trading demand spilled out from Binance.
Retain users: At least, it ensures that users can trade the hottest assets on your platform and avoid their loss.
So, what we are seeing now is that all exchanges collectively choose the third path.
Alpha’s ambition: What does Binance want to do?
By understanding Alpha’s game mode, we can understand Binance’s deep strategic intentions.Alpha is not just a feature, it is Binance’s most important strategic weapon at the current stage.
1. Defense: The “moat” that prevents users from churn
This is the most direct purpose of Alpha.It successfully left the most speculative users in Binance’s ecosystem.It tells all competitors: “Binance can not only meet the needs of value investors, but also those of top gamblers.”
2. Offensive: Discover the “Star Scout + Racecourse” of future star projects
Alpha provides Binance with a brand new, data-driven “project filtering mechanism”.The winner who stands out in Alpha will have a great chance of being “promoted” to the main board transaction in the future, with low risks and high efficiency.(Now there is even a “one-stop” trend, Binance supports these projects with one click Alpha, spot, contracts, financial management, etc.)
3. Experience the dimensionality reduction strike: Binance’s eternal moat
No matter which model it is, Alpha has inherited Binance’s most powerful gene: the ultimate user experience.Compared with the complexity and danger of on-chain operations, when trading on Alpha, users can directly participate by simply using their existing Binance accounts and funds.This dimensionality reduction strike on experience is the fundamental reason why Binance can continue to “suck back” its on-chain popularity.
Binance Alpha is not a simple product, it is a profound reshaping of its positioning by Binance in the post-exchange era.Binance still aspires to be the heart of the crypto world and become the central stage for the birth of innovation, the emergence of wealth and the game of risk.
The emergence of Binance Alpha is not just a new trading sector.It was a successful “industry coup”.Binance is no longer just the biggest player on the market, it has become the rulemaker and the outputter of standards.
For users, this is a more convenient “early project gold rush” that coexists with risks and opportunities.For the project party, this is a brand new, crueler but fairer “dragon gate” to enter the Binance ecosystem.
