BNB Standard Rings Nasdaq Bell as CZ Pitches BNB Chain for AI and Payments
Key Takeaways
- •Changpeng Zhao said artificial intelligence could eventually use bitcoin, existing stablecoins, or tokens issued by AI companies, and he wants BNB Chain to become a leading network for such applications, though he acknowledged that goal has not yet been achieved.
- •BNB Standard, formerly known as CEA Industries, holds more than 515,400 BNB valued at roughly $383.5 million, making it the largest BNB treasury among publicly traded companies.
- •The Nasdaq opening bell ceremony marked Alex Odagiu's appointment as CEO, and the company plans to run its own BNB Chain validator as its first concrete operating step beyond passively holding the asset.
- •Zhao said cryptocurrency payments remain clunky for typical users and advised startups to focus on underserved markets and remittance corridors instead of immediately competing with Apple Pay or Google Pay in the United States.
- •BNB Standard's shares traded at approximately $5.36 on Monday and were down nearly 17% year to date.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said cryptocurrency could become the “native currency for AI” during a media briefing on Monday, following BNB Standard’s Nasdaq opening bell ceremony.
BNB Standard, formerly known as CEA Industries, plans to build an operating business on BNB Chain, beginning with the operation of its own validator. The company holds more than 515,400 BNB, valued at roughly $383.5 million, making it the largest BNB treasury among publicly traded companies. Corporate digital-asset treasuries have become an increasingly common structure among listed companies, giving public-market investors balance-sheet exposure to crypto.
The Nasdaq ceremony marked the appointment of Alex Odagiu as BNB Standard’s new CEO and came after the company changed its name last month. Opening-bell ceremonies are traditionally used by listed companies to spotlight milestones such as leadership changes and rebrands.
🔥BIG: Binance founder CZ rings the NASDAQ opening bell for BNB Standard ( $BNC ), the world's LARGEST corporate BNB treasury company. “I don’t know what shows crypto and tradfi converging more than this,” CZ said. pic.twitter.com/H5Mxxd6Mn3 — Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 26, 2026
https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2114791695913214372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Zhao, who is widely known as “CZ,” said artificial intelligence could use bitcoin, existing stablecoins or tokens issued by AI companies in the future. He said he wants BNB Chain to become a leading network for those applications, while acknowledging that the goal has not yet been achieved. AI agents paying for services over blockchains have drawn growing attention across the crypto industry as a potential payment use case.
“We hope to make the BNB Chain the major one, but that’s still to be done,” he said.
BNB Standard plans its own validator
Odagiu said BNB Standard intends to develop activity directly on BNB Chain rather than simply hold BNB as a treasury asset. The company will initially run its own validator. Validators process transactions and help secure the network, so operating one gives the company an operational role on the chain rather than a passive balance-sheet position.
“We’re not here just to hold the asset,” Odagiu said during the bell ceremony. “We’re here to build an operating business on BNB Chain.”
He identified payments and AI agents as potential future sources of activity on the network. Odagiu also said BNB Standard is not currently a payments company, making the validator the company’s first concrete operating step, with payments and AI-agent applications named as the areas it intends to build toward.
The company’s BNB holdings represent the largest treasury among publicly traded companies, according to the briefing. Its shares traded at approximately $5.36 on Monday and were down nearly 17% year to date.
CZ highlights payments and underserved markets
Zhao said cryptocurrency payments remain difficult for typical users because the tokens they hold do not always match the assets merchants accept.
“I try to pay everything in crypto, and it’s pretty clunky,” he said.
Rather than immediately attempting to compete with Apple Pay or Google Pay in the United States, Zhao advised startups to focus first on underserved markets and remittance corridors. He described those areas as more practical starting points for cryptocurrency payment products. Cross-border transfers have long been among the most-cited use cases for cryptocurrency payment products.
Zhao also said he had discussed tokens connected to computing resources earlier in the day. He said he wants to bring those tokens onto BNB Chain but did not provide further details, leaving the scope of that initiative unclear.
The Nasdaq bell ceremony followed a governance overhaul in June. BNB Standard ended a proxy fight with its largest shareholder, YZi Labs, and added Odagiu, Ella Zhang and Matthew Roszak to its board.
The ceremony was presented as an example of the growing connection between traditional financial markets and the cryptocurrency industry. Zhao commented on that connection in the X post shared by Coin Bureau: “I don’t know what shows crypto and tradfi converging more than this.”
Source: https://coincentral.com/bnb-standard-rings-nasdaq-bell-as-cz-pitches-bnb-chain-for-ai-and-payments/
