Lorenzo Protocol’s native token, BANK, has recorded a 150% price surge within six hours of its official launch.
The token’s rapid climb follows its listing on multiple platforms, including Binance’s Alpha Market and the launch of a BANKUSDT perpetual contract on Binance Futures with up to 50x leverage.
What is the New BANK Token on Binance Futures?
The Token Generation Event (TGE) for BANK took place today, April 18, via Binance Wallet, in partnership with PancakeSwap. Lorenzo Protocol raised $200,000 through the sale of 42 million BANK tokens—2% of the total supply—priced at $0.0048 each.
The token is now trading on PancakeSwap, Bitget, and CoinEx. Following its debut, BANK reached a market cap of approximately $22 million.
The protocol allows users to earn yield on BTC without giving up custody. It uses financial primitives like Liquid Principal Tokens (LPTs) and Yield-Accruing Tokens (YATs).
According to its claims, BANK holders can stake their tokens to receive veBANK, which provides governance rights and a share of future emissions.
BANK Token Price Chart After Launch. Source: CoinMarketCap
Also, Lorenzo Protocol is built on a Cosmos-based Ethermint appchain. It enables BTC restaking and interoperability with Bitcoin’s Layer 1. The design supports on-chain issuance and settlement of BTC-backed assets.
Binance has historically preferred new tokens on the BNB chain for early futures trading. BANK’s sharp price increase and rapid market integration highlight strong early interest in Lorenzo Protocol’s approach to BTC-based DeFi infrastructure.
Currently, it’s far-fetched to project whether the exchange will list this newly launched token. However, Binance’s new community voting on token listing has offered positive hopes for small market cap projects.
Backed by 300% user growth, Bitget Wallet unveils a new design and $1M campaign to bring crypto into everyday use worldwide
Bitget Wallet, the leading non-custodial crypto wallet, has unveiled a new brand identity to reflect its evolution into a full-service crypto wallet designed for everyday use. With over 80 million users, Bitget Wallet has strategically expanded its offerings beyond trading and earning to onchain discovery and global payments.
Alongside a new logo symbolizing simplicity and direction, the app has introduced a more streamlined, user-friendly interface to make crypto more intuitive for all. Bitget Wallet stands by the inclusive motto — Crypto for Everyone — now part of a broader initiative, theCrypto for Everyone Movement, aimed at onboarding the next billion users. Through this, it plans to incentivize the community with a pool of over $1 million as gratitude for support.
“The role of wallets is evolving — it’s moving from a niche tool to one with real-world utility for everyday needs,” said Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet. “This rebrand is part of a longer-term plan to make crypto accessible for everyone. We’re building towards a future where interacting with crypto feels as easy as using Uber or Paypal,” he added. Bitget Wallet’s growth has coincided with increased demand for self-custody and alternative financial access, particularly in regions where banking infrastructure is limited. The platform saw a 300% increase in users over the past year, with the fastest growth in Africa (+959%), Europe (+367%), and the Middle East (+350%), as more individuals turn to crypto to navigate inflation, limited banking access, and economic instability, gaining greater control over their finances.
Bitget Wallet’s rebrand focuses on making crypto easier to use and more practical for everyday needs. Built around four core features — Trade, Earn, Pay, and Discover — the wallet lets users track market trends, explore new tokens, and trade across over 130 blockchains with one click. In selected regions, a new Simple Mode will be launched to offer a streamlined experience for users who are new to crypto. To support secure usage, it includes protections like real-time risk monitoring and transaction screening, helping users navigate onchain finance more safely.
Bitget Wallet is among the first to launch an in-app shop and remains the only major self-custodial wallet offering full payment flexibility, including crypto cards, QR code scans, and direct purchases. The shop supports over 300 brands across gaming, mobile, travel, and e-commerce, enabling crypto payments at Amazon, Google Play, Shopee, and more. Regional integrations with national QR payment systems are also underway. Building on this everyday utility, the wallet offers yield features to help users earn passive income on their crypto balances and plans to support tokenized real-world assets like stocks and gold as it expands beyond digital assets.
“Bitget Wallet stands strong with the essence of crypto extending beyond our decentralized vision, serving as a critical access layer across trading, earning, and payments for onchain assets. Users now have an even more powerful tool — simple to use, accessible, and packed with capabilities — that connects people to opportunity, wherever they are, whenever they need,” said Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget.
To mark the rebrand, Bitget Wallet is launching theCrypto for Everyone Movement in partnership with leading ecosystem projects, offering over $1 million in rewards and inviting users to explore the updated platform through interactive campaigns.
More details on the brand update and product roadmap are available on the Bitget Wallet blog. Watch the brand video on YouTube.
About Bitget Wallet
Bitget Wallet is a non-custodial crypto wallet designed to make crypto simple and secure for everyone. With over 80 million users, it brings together a full suite of crypto services, including swaps, market insights, staking, rewards, DApp exploration, and payment solutions. Supporting 130+ blockchains and millions of tokens, Bitget Wallet enables seamless multi-chain trading across hundreds of DEXs and cross-chain bridges. Backed by a $300+ million user protection fund, it ensures the highest level of security for users’ assets.
After much anticipation, the ZORA airdrop is finally live, rewarding early platform users across two snapshot periods. However, there was notable confusion among the community on whether an official checker or claim site was provided.
Operating on the Zora network, the project leverages low-cost transactions via Base blockchain, making it accessible for creators and collectors. Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base blockchain, commented on Zora and content coins amid the airdrop euphoria.
No Official Checker or Claim Site for ZORA Airdrop
Airdrop farmers expressed concerns during the hours leading up to the Zora airdrop as the network did not provide an official checker or claim site.
“Zora launches in 30 mins & no official checker or claim site in view. Incompetence,” wrote a core contributor at NFTNG.
However, reports suggested that Zora airdrops would happen automatically, not requiring users to claim the token. Users were required to go to the contract address and check their allocations.
Alot of people trying to claim $Zora onchain directly from smart contract..
For me, it’s not necessary to be in rush.. you can burn all your allocation if you do it wrongly.
You can only check your allocation using the READ function on the smart contract, Head to allocation,… pic.twitter.com/JoIFwH3bmQ
From inception, the project committed to transforming the creator economy. To do this, it aimed to empower artists and developers through its decentralized NFT marketplace and protocol.
It aims to foster a permissionless, on-chain creator ecosystem, evidenced by its distribution of 300,000 OP tokens to early users in past campaigns.
Zora’s airdrop required users to engage with the network, minting NFTs, bridging ETH, or using Uniswap, before snapshots on March 3 and days before the Token Generation Event (TGE).
“Snapshot 1 includes activity from 00:00:00 UTC January 1, 2020 up until 14:00:00 UTC March 3, 2025. Snapshot 2 includes activity from 14:00:00 UTC March 3, 2025 up until 00:00:00 UTC April 20, 2025,” Zora said in a Sunday post.
An additional 20% was reserved for community incentives, though 65% went to insiders (team, treasury, contributors). This sparked criticism of skewed tokenomics.
However, ZORA has been listed on exchanges like Binance Alpha (DEX), Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, Gate, MEXC, and Bitrue. Its launch price was also $0.03, which aligned with pre-market prices estimated at $0.02–$0.06.
Meanwhile, attention has shifted to Content Coins amidst the Zora airdrop frenzy. The mismatch between their viral popularity and financial returns has become apparent.
While Zora’s novel platform cultivated a loyal creator base, concerns linger over transparency and token utility.
The ZORA token, lacking governance rights, drew scrutiny from figures like ZachXBT. As BeInCrypto reported, the blockchain sleuth questioned Zora’s pivot to meme coin-like tokens and its decline in NFT market share amid competition from platforms like OpenSea.
Against this backdrop, BeInCrypto contacted Jesse Pollak, Creator of the Base network, on the same matter. Pollak recentlydefended the value of content coins, emphasizing their potential for creators despite volatility.
Jesse Pollak Discusses Base Network’s Viral Gambit
As meme coins surge back into the spotlight, the Zora airdrop has ushered in a new frontier in content. While Solana has positioned itself as the go-to chain for meme coin launches, Base Network is quietly redrawing the map.
With an ethos rooted in accessibility, virality, and on-chain creator empowerment, Base is going beyond competition and expanding the playing field.
In an exclusive with BeInCrypto, Jesse Pollak shared his thoughts on the rise of meme culture on-chain and why the next wave will not look like the last.
“We’re working to bring a billion people on-chain, and we know we can’t do that alone. I have a lot of respect for the Solana team – they have done a lot to onboard people into crypto, and I’m glad to see that. We’re looking to grow the pie, not just compete for the existing pie. And we see content coins on Base as one way to grow that pie,” Pollack told BeInCrypto.
According to the Base executive, one must not understand anything about crypto or the underlying infrastructure before posting on Zora.
Instead, creators can post their content, start earning, and experience firsthand the benefits of on-chain social.
From Meme Coins to Content Coins
Meme coins like DOGE, PEPE, and BONK have thrived on shared culture and speculative energy. However, where those coins demand coordinated communities, shill strategies, and roadmap hype, content coins represent a cleaner break from tradition.
“Content coins are one-off pieces of content that are also coins. Most photos posted on social media are just photos, but occasionally something will take off and become a viral meme. Similarly, with content coins, most of them are just pieces of content that people should post without expectation. However, big ones have the potential to turn into memes, and the free market is deciding on the value of each piece of content,” Pollak added.
According to the Base creator, virality, decoupled from long-term projects, marks a philosophical departure. It lowers the barrier to entry while foregrounding creativity, not coordination.
In contrast, Solana’s meme coins often emulate startup cultures, featuring brand building, influencer tie-ins, and a pitch deck’s worth of lore.
Base’s alignment with platforms like Zora introduces a new monetization pathway. Instead of creators launching tokens, they are launching moments.
Each post becomes an atomic unit of culture, value, and trade. Moreover, Base invites the entire internet to participate because no crypto literacy is required.
In this way, Base transcends a chain, becoming a cultural substrate for the next evolution of the web. It is a platform where virality itself becomes liquid.
Whether Base overtakes Solana as the new epicenter for memetic creation remains to be seen.
However, the network’s commitment to onboarding creators, not just developers and degens, sets a unique tone. It is meme culture without the roadmap, presenting virality without the whitepaper.
If Solana is the Nasdaq of meme coins, Base looks more like TikTok with a wallet in the race to bring the next billion users on-chain.
In an exclusive interview with BeInCrypto, former US CFTC Commissioner Timothy Massad explains how President Trump’s crypto ventures and political power have significantly overlapped in his first two months at the White House.
Shortly before assuming office for the second time, US President Donald Trump dove head-first into a flurry of crypto experiments. From endorsing World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to launching his meme coin, Trump is raising serious concerns over conflicts of interest. Tim Massad, the 12th CFTC Chairman, who served under Barack Obama, shares his thoughts.
A Historic President For Many Reasons
Before assuming his first term in office in 2016, President Trump broke with modern precedent by departing from established conflict-of-interest norms. A real estate mogul with a trademark for a last name, Trump would be entering the Oval Office as the leader of a multi-billion dollar empire.
While former presidents like Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush took measures to separate themselves from their businesses by placing their assets in a blind trust, the sitting President took a different approach.
Instead, Trump handed day-to-day management decisions over to his sons but did not divest in his ownership stake.
Though he received much backlash during his first term over conflict of interest concerns, Trump refused to relinquish ownership of the Trump Organization before assuming office for the second time.
Given Trump’s favorable stance toward digital asset policy development, players inside and outside the industry have begun to wonder whether his decisions are based on the sector’s best interests or are designed to benefit his own ventures.
How Deep is Trump’s Involvement in World Liberty Financial?
Though Trump does not have a direct role in WLFI, he appears on the whitepaper’s list of supporting teams as “Chief Crypto Advocate.” His three sons, Eric, Donald Jr., and Barron, are also on the list.
Reports further unveiled that the Trump family holds a 75% stake in the platform’s net revenue and a 60% stake in the holding company. At the same time, Trump and his associates own 22.5 billion of the company’s tokens.
For former CFTC Commissioner Tim Massad, despite Trump’s informal role in WLF’s governance, his stake in the platform’s performance raises serious conflicts of interest.
“I think it’s unprecedented and plainly wrong for a President of the United States to engage in commercial ventures or have his family and associates engage in commercial ventures that can be directly influenced by the policies he adopts as President or the statements he makes about those policies,” Massad told BeInCrypto.
Meanwhile, the tokens themselves are non-transferrable, limiting financial flexibility. Though the project aims to provide token holders access to a range of DeFi-related products and services, it has yet to launch them. In the meantime, token holders will have to wait until the time comes to use their tokens.
“I have yet to see any real business case or utility that’s of value to people who invest. So I think it all just has a character of taking advantage of people,” Massad added.
The industry has also grown weary over how WLF and other Trump-endorsed projects could be used to gain the President’s favor.
Industry Leaders Voice Concerns Over World Liberty Financial’s Legitimacy
Shortly before Trump launched World Liberty Financial, many prominent figures in the crypto sector warned that the project could cause Trump further legal troubles. Meanwhile, Alex Miller, CEO of Web3 platform Hiro, described the project as an “obvious pump scheme.”
Meanwhile, Alex Miller, CEO of Web3 platform Hiro, described the project as an “obvious pump scheme.”
Just fucking shoot me
Anyone who thinks this is good for crypto, that it doesn’t make us look like clowns, that it doesn’t set us back YEARS in credibility….
This is such an obvious pump scheme. Maybe he won’t literally rug but he’s just grifting and it’s pathetic pic.twitter.com/8bTGmUfLvG
Other industry leaders, such as Mark Cuban, Max Keiser, and Anthony Scaramucci, also criticized Trump’s decision to proceed with WLF’s token sales. Trump’s involvement in the project heightened fears that crypto’s fragile public image and controversial reputation would be smeared further.
Massad agreed with this last point, adding that crypto policy development is alive and well today more than ever. The ongoing development of stablecoin regulations, open talks of a national crypto strategic reserve, and a Senate-driven digital asset working group are only some of the current institutional initiatives.
“He, the Trump Organization and his family members should not be engaging in commercial ventures that pose such blatant conflicts of interest, given the fact that crypto regulation and things like a potential Bitcoin reserve are important policy issues today. A US president shouldn’t be engaging in these things at all, in my view,” Massad said.
Since the project’s launch six months ago, several examples validating these concerns have emerged. The most notable one has focused on Tron founder Justin Sun.
The move was highly controversial. Despite Trump’s endorsement, WLFI struggled to meet its $30 million fundraising target during its first public sale. The token’s availability was restricted, excluding general trading and limiting purchases to non-US and accredited US investors.
Sun’s investment turned WLFI’s luck around. Soon after that, he also became one of the project’s advisors. Then, on the day of Trump’s inauguration, Sun invested an additional $45 million in the project, bringing the total sum to $75 million.
This investment brought varying degrees of scrutiny. While some questioned his quick transition from investor to advisor, others pointed to Sun’s past as a potential motive for his contributions.
In March 2023, the SEC filed fraud charges and other securities law violations against Sun and his companies. This regulatory baggage has led some industry leaders to question the wisdom of his association with World Liberty Financial.
Meanwhile, Tron’s price soared following Sun’s latest WLF investment. Tron, which had been experiencing lagging prices up until that point, was able to jumpstart its trading activities.
TRON Price Surge Following Sun’s $45 Million Investment in World Liberty Financial. Source: TradingView.
However, these conflicts of interest are not just limited to Sun’s investment.
Zhao could also benefit from an agreement. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to federal charges for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering measures at Binance.
Following his plea, Zhao resigned as Binance’s CEO. Motive-driven speculations point toward the possibility of a potential presidential pardon.
For Massad, maneuvers like these are natural when a president directly involves himself in crypto ventures.
“I think there is a huge risk of conflicts of interest and corruption by virtue of the President and people associated with him selling crypto assets—whether that’s through World Liberty Financial or the meme coins. It creates the potential for ongoing conflicts, because people who might want to curry favor with the administration could buy the coins,” Massad told BeInCrypto.
All the while, Trump benefits his crypto ventures every time he makes a pro-crypto announcement.
Is Trump Manipulating the Crypto Market?
A week into March, Trump signed an executive order to establish a Crypto Strategic Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile. In his original announcement, Trump said the reserve would include Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins like XRP, ADA, and SOL.
The crypto market responded immediately, with all five cryptocurrencies posting strong gains. Yet, Trump’s announcement quickly raised concerns over potential market manipulation.
With Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP in its treasury, WLF’s holdings grew in value as those assets appreciated. This growth could have boosted investor confidence, leading to higher demand for WLF tokens.
The crypto market’s overall surge and attention to Trump-related projects also generated greater investor interest in WLF, contributing to its price appreciation.
Meanwhile, Trump’s meme coin surged following the President’s reserve announcement. While TRUMP’s price stood at $13.55, with a trading volume of almost $1.2 billion on March 2, those numbers surged to $17.46 and $3.6 billion, respectively, following the news a day later.
On March 4, TRUMP’s price and trading volume plummeted below the numbers they registered only two days earlier.
“I think the meme coins have looked like a classic pump-and-dump scheme or money grab. I don’t think the issue should be, why not let people invest in these things if they want to? Of course they should have the right to invest in whatever they want. The issue is the propriety of the President of the United States selling things that capitalize on his being the President,” said Massad.
Even Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin touched on the damaging effects of political meme coins in a social media post published five days after TRUMP’s launch.
“Now is the time to talk about the fact that large-scale political coins cross a further line: they are not just sources of fun, whose harm is at most contained to mistakes made by voluntary participants, they are vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation states,” Buterin said.
There is perhaps an analogy with weed here.
Ten years ago, to many weed represented freedom, and rebellion against sclerotic old order that denied self-sovereignty over our bodies. Then, weed became legalized, and “official”.
On that day, I remember my personal interest in weed…
Given Trump’s active participation in the crypto industry over the past several months, a vital question remains: Why hasn’t Trump been held accountable over these apparent conflicts of interest?
The answer remains short and bitter: He can’t be.
Can Trump Be Held Accountable?
The potential conflicts of interest arising from Donald Trump’s involvement in the cryptocurrency industry have drawn the attention of various political figures, particularly those focused on government ethics and oversight.
US Senator Elizabeth Warren has been the most vocal opponent of Trump’s dealings in the crypto industry.
“I write today to request information about how you, as President Trump’s ‘Crypto Czar,’ have addressed your conflicts of interest, and how you will prevent the President and other private individuals from directly profiting off of the Trump Administration’s efforts to selectively pump the value of certain crypto assets, drop crypto asset-related enforcement actions, and deregulate the crypto asset industry. These actions have the potential to benefit billionaire investors, Trump Administration insiders, and speculators at the expense of middle-class families,” Elizabeth Warren wrote.
However, not much else can be done beyond letters that demand responses and clarifications from the Trump administration.
The Legal Loophole
US Presidents are largely exempted from conflict of interest provisions. This exemption has been based on legal interpretations that argue these laws could impede the President’s ability to fulfill their constitutional duties.
“The problem is, the POTUS is not subject to the conflict-of-interest laws that apply to most other executive branch officeholders. There is the Foreign Emoluments Clause in the Constitution, which prohibits accepting gifts from foreign countries. There’s also a domestic clause that prohibits accepting gifts from the government. But beyond that, he’s not subject to the usual conflict-of-interest standards. So, it’s unfortunate that we don’t have those standards applicable to a president. I think, had any other president done these things, there would be far more outrage,” Massad told BeInCrypto.
Given the legal circumstances, public scrutiny and political pressure are the best ways to hold a president accountable for potential conflicts of interest.
Yet, despite the legal exemptions for sitting presidents, the ethical implications of Trump’s crypto dealings remain undeniable.
As the lines between political power and personal profit continue to blur, the necessity for clear ethical standards, even without legal mandates, becomes increasingly urgent.
Failing to do so might erode public trust in the crypto industry, generating potentially irreversible consequences.
Final Results:
BNB (@cz_binance) 