Binance Weekly Report: Oops, We Staked It Again (WINk, WINk)

On this weekly report (July 15 to 21, 2019): Binance supports staking and announces airdrop for Stellar, Binance Launchpad announces project No. 7, British pound-pegged Binance GBP (BGBP) launches on Binance Jersey and will list on Binance, Binance Margin Trading adds more coin and pair options, and many more.

1. Binance Launchpad, the token sale platform of Binance, has announced support for its seventh project of the year and the first in the gaming industry, WINk. WINk is a trustless, permissionless and high-performance gaming platform based on the TRON blockchain. WINk’s token sale will follow a lottery format and begin on July 24, 2019, at 00:00 UTC. Read the announcement for more details, or study the project on this comprehensive report from Binance Research.

Binance Launchpad has also updated the rules for future projects. We increased the number of tickets for each BNB balance tier, from 1 to 5 tickets depending on holdings to 5 to 25 tickets. The next Launchpad project will have a 7-day BNB holding period, while the project after that will have a 15-day BNB holding period. After those two projects, the BNB holding period will be set at 30 days for the succeeding projects. Read here for more information.

2. Binance Jersey, the fiat-to-crypto exchange platform for Europe and the UK, has launched Binance GBP (BGBP), a British pound-backed stablecoin. “There has been an overwhelming demand in the market and Binance community for more stablecoin diversification, including a GBP-pegged stablecoin, and listing BGBP is in response to it,” said Binance CFO Wei Zhou. 

Meanwhile, Binance Jersey announced support for instant British pound deposits for all UK users and increased the daily deposit limit to 20,000 GBP/EUR.

The other Binance-branded fiat-to-crypto platforms have also made some announcements. Binance Singapore has listed Litecoin and opened the LTC/SGD trading pair. Meanwhile, Binance Lite Australia made a video that shows how easy it is to buy Bitcoin in Australia, which you can view here.

3. Binance has started supporting staking for Stellar (XLM). We have also launched a program for distributing the 9,500,000 XLM ($775,000 USD) in staking rewards that we have been unknowingly receiving since last year. On September 1, Binancians who staked XLM tokens will get a bundled bonus payment of XLM staking rewards, including the regular monthly staking reward and the one-time distribution of the bonus payment, which is estimated to be worth 10 to 12 months of typical monthly rewards. Read the details about that distribution here.

Here are other recent developments from the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange:

- Binance.com has enabled authentication via security key for the following functions: Withdrawal & API, Log In, and Password Reset. To know more about hardware security keys, read here.

- In addition, Binance has announced that it is listing Binance GBP (BGBP), following its launch on Binance Jersey, and Dusk Network (DUSK), which has stated its intention to donate 3,012 BNB to Binance Charity.

4. Binance Margin Trading has added EOS and LINK as new margin assets and borrowable assets. It has also added the following new margin pairs: EOS/USDT, EOS/BTC, LINK/USDT, and LINK/BTC. Look here for a list of margin assets and pairs, as well as hourly-updated index values and interest rates.

5. Here are some of the updates this past week from BNB Chain and Binance DEX:

- BNB Chain has completed its hardfork upgrade. The hardfork included several updates such as matching engine revision, the delisting of certain trading pairs, time locking of token assets, and state sync enhancement, among others.

- Meanwhile, a new upgrade is upcoming. BNB Chain announced a new update to the testnet. This update, called Hubble, is expected to be launched by around July 24. Read here for more details.

- You can now trade on Binance DEX via Google Chrome extension, through the Equal Wallet, which integrated a custom WalletConnect into Binance DEX.

- Binance DEX listed the following projects: aXpire (AXPR), Crypterium Token (CRPT), Hyperion Token (HYN), Cubiex (CBX), TOP Network (TOP), and MEET.ONE (MEETONE). DEX also added a BOLT/BTCB trading pair.

- Coineal, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it will list BNB/USDT trading pair on their trading platform. In addition, Coineal Labs will support the development of BNB Chain in the future and seek further collaboration with Binance on blockchain developer community building, social good, and startup empowerment. 

For more information about the latest on BNB Chain and Binance DEX, read the latest BNB Chain Monthly Update.

6. Binance Charity, the blockchain-enabled donation platform of Binance, has distributed 1,100 Pink Care Tokens (PCAT) and delivered 1,100 packs of reusable sanitary pads to 1,100 girls at Busalamu Secondary School in Bukanga Sub-County, Luuka District, Uganda. The Pink Care Token is a redemption-only token issued on BNB Chain that is pegged to one year’s supply of sanitary pads instead of a fiat currency. To support this cause, donate Bitcoin and other cryptos here. Also, learn more about the Pink Care Token project on this video.

Meanwhile, Binance Charity Head Helen Hai was invited to be one of the representatives from the crypto industry for Tron Founder Justin Sun’s lunch with Warren Buffett. Learn more about Binance Charity’s worldwide endeavors in this Ugandan TV segment.

7. Binance Labs, the venture arm and incubator of Binance, is once again on the lookout for the brightest minds and the most promising projects in the blockchain space. Join the Binance Labs Incubation Program, now in its third season! Apply here. Also, learn more about the program on this blog.

8. Binance Strategy Officer Gin Chao spoke last week at BlockCrypto Expo 2019 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, as a keynote speaker. “Investing to grow the community in Latin America will drive both global adoption and real-world use cases,” he said.

9. The global Binance community held two meetups this past week.

- The July 17 meetup in Seoul, South Korea, was notable because it featured many of the blockchain projects that have launched on Binance Launchpad, such as Celer, Fetch, Harmony, and Elrond.

- The meetup in Xiamen, China, last July 21 was a well-attended event, with more than 200 Binancians in the city enthusiastically convening to discuss all things Binance.

10. Binance’s educational arm Binance Academy offered new content this past week, such as: 

- What Are Perpetual Futures Contracts? Know how perpetual futures contracts work, especially in the crypto context.

- Threshold Signatures Explained. Find out how threshold signatures, cryptographic primitive for distributed key generation and signing, may offer a solution to some of the challenges facing blockchains today.

- What is Tulip Mania? (New Video Here) Understand how the Tulip Mania, considered by many as the first recorded story of a financial bubble, is often used as a comparison point for other bubbles.

- New additions to the blockchain glossary: cipher, diversification, fear of missing out (FOMO), progressive web application (PWA), and staking pool.

11. On the latest episode of Binance Podcast, Leslie Tam from Binance Trading walks you through the recently updated report by Binance Research on cryptoasset correlation. Listen to the podcast here. Also, read the full report here.

12. Here are some of the promos that were held across the Binance communities and ecosystem:

- To celebrate the recent launch of Binance Margin Trading, Binance launched the LINK Margin Trading Competition, where 100,000 LINK will be given away. In addition, during the promotion period, all users will enjoy zero interest on their LINK borrowings on Binance.com.

- To celebrate Binance's 2nd anniversary, Binance Jersey launched a 100,000 EUR giveaway promo for users who complete their account verification and invite their friends to use the platform. Read the promo mechanics here.

- The Binance German community is giving away hoodies to celebrate its growth to 2,000 members on Telegram. Read the details here.

- More Binance hoodies are being given away, especially for those who follow Binance Jersey’s social media accounts. Join the promo here.

- We’ve announced the Top 10 videos of our 2nd Anniversary Video Competition. Follow Binance on Twitter to see the other Top 10 winners.

13. The Binance Blog recently made a series of articles about Binance’s second year, as well as the latest month, which has been very eventful. Read the articles: Binance Year 2 Highlights: Evolution in Progress and Binance Review,  Month 24: Ending Year 2 with a Bang.

14. Download our all-new animated sticker pack on Telegram. 

BONUS: Pic of the Week 

Someone’s having too much fun on FaceApp, a useful (but privacy-invading) app for finding out what you will look like after six months of trading cryptocurrencies. (Credits: Marshy Monero)

That’s a wrap for last week! Please follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to stay up-to-date with our latest announcements. Join our official Binance Telegram group to participate in discussions with our users, staff, and volunteers.