Coinspeaker
Binance Introduces BANANA as First Crypto Project on HODLer Airdrops
The leading global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has introduced the first project on its HODLer program, which was launched last month to reward loyal BNB users for their contributions to the company’s growth. In an announcement on Thursday, Binance said it has added BANANA, the native token of the Banana Gun project, which is designed to offer trading tools for on-chain tokens. This digital asset is now available for qualified users who subscribed their BNB to Simple Earn products between June 23 and July 5, as instructed during the program launch.
Subscription and Qualification
Last month, Binance revealed that users must commit their BNB holdings to either Simple Earn or Locked Products to qualify for any future airdrops on the HODLer initiative. These users will first receive airdrops from medium to small-sized crypto projects before potential listings on the Binance spot marketplace for trading, giving them the opportunity to earn a steady income.
As promised, the company has taken a snapshot of the eligible addresses for the airdrop and will distribute a total of 800,000 BANANA tokens. Binance said that distribution would start five hours after the announcement on July 18, which means users had already received their allocations at the time of the press.
Binance plans to list the token for trading on July 20 at 09:00 (UTC). The digital asset will be available for trading on various pairs, including BANANA/BTC, BANANA/USDT, BANANA/BNB, BANANA/FDUSD, and BANANA/TRY.
However, other exchanges like KuCoin have already listed the token for trading. Binance warned users to be careful as price may fluctuate when the token gets listed tomorrow on its platform.
Geographical Restrictions
While trading the digital asset is open to all users, the airdrop distribution has been restricted in certain countries due to regulatory hurdles.
When Binance introduced the HODLer program in June, the exchange said that not all users would be part of the initiative. Users from countries like the United States and its territories, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, North Korea, China, and New Zealand cannot participate, despite meeting the requirements.
However, the company stated that the rules are not set in stone and could change in the future.
Legal and Compliance Issues
The restriction is part of the company’s efforts to ensure compliance with regulations in these regions to avoid legal issues. Last year, Binance paid a whopping fine of $4.3 billion to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle its case with many regulators in the country.
The exchange and its then-CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) were accused of violating several US laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), failure to register as a money-transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Currently, the Binance chief is serving a four-month jail term in a US prison as part of his punishment for failing to implement anti-money laundering measures on the exchange during his tenure as CEO.
Binance Introduces BANANA as First Crypto Project on HODLer Airdrops
