BNC Pivots to BNB With Record $160 Million Buy

Backed by a $500 million private placement involving investors tied to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, the company plans to expand its BNB holdings to as much as $1.25 billion, due to the token’s deflationary model, growing ecosystem, and potential for a future ETF. This move is part of the broader corporate treasury shift toward alternative cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. Meanwhile, Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo praised BTC as the “perfect asset” for the next millennium but still warned that it needs massive capital inflows to rival gold or the US dollar. He also pointed out risks from overleveraged treasuries, ETF reliance, and custodial concentration among institutional investors. BNC Bets Big on BNB BNC, a subsidiary of CEA Industries, made a major move by purchasing 200,000 BNB for $160 million. This purchase made the largest publicly listed holder of the Binance-associated token. The acquisition was executed through BNC’s treasury management arm, BNB Network Company, as part of a broader shift in corporate strategy. Just last month, the Nasdaq-listed firm announced that it was pivoting away from its former focus on nicotine vapes to concentrate on building a BNB treasury. It even changed its ticker symbol from VAPE to BNC. Press release from CEA Industries The transition is being fueled by large capital commitments, as the company recently secured $500 million in a private placement led by 10X Capital and YZi Labs, an investment firm linked to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. BNC described BNB as a compelling long-term asset, especially due to its deflationary token burns, growing on-chain activity, and the possibility of a future BNB spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). The company also plans to help boost institutional participation in the BNB ecosystem, which it sees as underrepresented in the US market. BNC intends to continue accumulating BNB until its initial $500 million allocation is exhausted and may expand its holdings even more through its warrant structure. This could potentially increase its investment to $1.25 billion. This strategy is part of a growing trend among corporate treasuries to diversify beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, with more companies now establishing holdings in alternative cryptocurrencies. Recent examples include Nano Labs and Windtree , which have each committed about $500 million to BNB treasuries. BNB is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and is the native token of BNB Chain, which is currently the third largest blockchain by total value locked. The token experienced a modest uptick of around 1% in the past 24 hours, trading at $820.5. The market also responded positively to CEA Industries’ strategic pivot, with its stock closing 3.7% higher at $17.10 last Friday and gaining over 92% since the BNB strategy was unveiled, according to Google Finance data . CEA Industries stock price (Source: Google Finance ) Bitcoin Perfect but Needs Bigger Flows While BNB treasuries are gaining traction, Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo recently described Bitcoin as the “perfect asset” for the next 1,000 years but warned that it will not overtake the US dollar or gold without a big influx of capital. At the Baltic Honeybadger conference in Riga, Latvia, Woo said that Bitcoin’s current market cap of $2.42 trillion is less than 11% of gold’s $23 trillion value, while the US dollar’s money supply stands at $21.9 trillion. He stressed that for Bitcoin to fulfill its potential, it must grow large enough to rival these dominant monetary assets. While Bitcoin treasury firms are helping to accelerate adoption, Woo warned that little is known about their debt structuring, which raises some serious concerns about the possibility of a Bitcoin treasury bubble. He suggested that poorly managed firms could collapse during market downturns, pushing large amounts of Bitcoin back into circulation. He also criticized the growing trend of altcoin treasuries adopting similar strategies, which he said could lead to another speculative bubble. Woo is especially uneasy about the growing reliance on spot Bitcoin ETFs and institutional custodians like Coinbase, particularly among pension funds and large investors. He argued that while these on-ramps increase capital inflows, they also concentrate Bitcoin in custodial arrangements that could be vulnerable to nation-state interference, creating the risk of a large-scale “rug pull.” According to Woo, the wealthiest investors entering the market are opting for custodial exposure rather than self-custody, which is a trend he sees as risky at a systemic level. Fellow panelist Max Kei, CEO of Bitcoin self-custody platform Debifi, predicted that self-custody adoption will spread gradually, starting with corporations and eventually filtering down to individuals. Blockstream CEO Adam Back agreed that companies are still the most logical entry point for Bitcoin adoption. He suggested that businesses unable to generate returns above Bitcoin’s expected future growth should consider holding Bitcoin instead, while those with solid operations could benefit from integrating it into their models without abandoning their core activities.

Source: Coinpaper