It is possible to [buy Tether](https://www.binance.com/en/buy-TetherUS) / USDT on a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges. In fact, USDT’s average daily trading volume is often on par or even exceeds that of Bitcoin. It is especially prominent on those exchanges where fiat-to-crypto trading pairs are unavailable, as it provides a viable alternative to USD. Here are some of the most popular exchanges that support Tether trading: * [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/) * [OKEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okex/) * [HitBTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/hitbtc/) * [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/)

USDT does not have its own blockchain — instead, it operates as a second-layer token on top of other cryptocurrencies’ blockchains: Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, Tron, Algorand, Bitcoin Cash and OMG, and is secured by their respective hashing algorithms.

There is no hard-coded limit on the [total supply](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-tokenomics) of USDT — given the fact that it belongs to a private company, theoretically, its issuance is limited only by Tether’s own policies. However, because Tether claims that every single USDT is supposed to be backed by one U.S. dollar, the amount of tokens is limited by the company’s actual cash reserves. Moreover, Tether does not disclose its issuance schedules ahead of time. Instead, they provide daily transparency reports, listing the total amount of their asset reserves and liabilities, the latter corresponding to the amount of USDT in circulation. As of September 2020, there are over 14.4 billion USDT tokens in circulation, which are backed by $14.6 billion in assets, according to Tether.

In July 2022, Tether, alongside peer-to-peer data network Hypercore and its sister company Bitfinex, collaborated on a social media app called Keet. The fully encrypted video chat application is currently a desktop-only app for now, but there are plans to extend the product to mobile devices soon. Keet app is the first app to be deployed on Holepunch, a platform that allows developers to build Web3 apps. And although Keet is still a closed-source project, the companies plan to make it open-source by the end of the year. Commenting on why Tether was launching a chat app, Ardoino, who doubles as the chief strategy officer at Holepunch, simply said “freedom of speech.”

USDT’s unique feature is the fact that its value is guaranteed by Tether to remain pegged to the U.S. dollar. According to Tether, whenever it issues new USDT tokens, it allocates the same amount of USD to its reserves, thus ensuring that USDT is fully backed by cash and cash equivalents. The famously high volatility of the crypto markets means that cryptocurrencies can rise or fall by 10-20% within a single day, making them unreliable as a store of value. USDT, on the other hand, is protected from these fluctuations. This property makes USDT a safe haven for crypto investors: during periods of high volatility, they can park their portfolios in Tether without having to completely cash out into USD. In addition, USDT provides a simple way to transact a U.S. dollar equivalent between regions, countries and even continents via blockchain — without having to rely on a slow and expensive intermediary, like a bank or a financial services provider. However, over the years, there have been a number of controversies regarding the validity of Tether’s claims about their USD reserves, at times disrupting USDT’s price, which went down as low as $0.88 at one point in its history. Many have raised concerns about the fact that Tether’s reserves have never been fully audited by an independent third party.

USDT — or as it was known at the time, Realcoin — was launched in 2014 by Brock Pierce, Reeve Collins and Craig Sellars. Brock Pierce is a well-known entrepreneur who has co-founded a number of high-profile projects in the crypto and entertainment industries. In 2013, he co-founded a venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, which by 2017 had raised over $80 million in funding. In 2014, Pierce became the director of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit established to help improve and promote Bitcoin. Pierce has also co-founded Block.one, the company behind EOS, one of the largest cryptocurrencies on the market. Reeve Collins was the CEO of Tether for the first two years of its existence. Prior to that, he had co-founded several successful companies, such as the online ad network Traffic Marketplace, entertainment studio RedLever and gambling website Pala Interactive. As of 2020, Collins is heading SmarMedia Technologies, a marketing and advertising tech company. Other than working on Tether, Craig Sellars has been a member of the Omni Foundation for over six years. Its Omni Protocol allows users to create and trade smart-contract based properties and currencies on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain. Sellars has also worked in several other cryptocurrency companies and organizations, such as Bitfinex, Factom, Synereo and the MaidSafe Foundation.

Tether tokens exist as digital tokens built on several leading blockchains, including Algorand, Avalanche, Bitcoin Cash’s Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), Ethereum, EOS, Liquid Network, Omni, Polygon, Tezos, Tron, Solana, Kava and Statemine. These transport protocols consist of open source software that interface with blockchains to allow for the issuance and redemption of Tether tokens. Every Tether token is 100% backed by Tether's reserves. As a fully transparent company, Tether publishes a record of the current reserve assets.

USD₮ is a digital dollar, powered by blockchain technology, a stablecoin that is pegged 1:1 to the USD. USD₮ provides individuals and organizations with a robust and decentralized method of exchanging value while using a familiar accounting unit.

Launched in 2014, Tether is a blockchain-enabled platform designed to facilitate the use of fiat currencies in a digital manner. Tether works to disrupt the conventional financial system via a more modern approach to money. Tether has made headway by giving customers the ability to transact with traditional currencies across the blockchain, without the inherent volatility and complexity typically associated with a digital currency. As the first blockchain-enabled platform to facilitate the digital use of traditional currencies (a familiar, stable accounting unit), Tether has democratised cross-border transactions across the blockchain.

It is possible to buy Shiba Inu on [Binance](https://www.binance.com/en/price/shiba-inu), [Huobi](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/), [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), [Gate.io](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/gate-io/), [Uniswap (V2)](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/uniswap-v2/) and [OKEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okex/), among other exchanges. To check Shiba Inu price live in the fiat currency of your choice, you can use CoinMarketCap's converter feature directly on the [Shiba Inu currency page](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/). Alternatively, use the dedicated exchange rate [converter page](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/). Popular Shiba Inu price pairs include: [SHIB/USD](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/shib/usd/), [SHIB/GBP](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/shib/gbp/), [SHIB/AUD](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/shib/aud/) and [SHIB/EUR](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/shib/eur/). For more information about how to buy crypto with fiat, check out CoinMarketCap's education portal — [Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/).

According to 22-page-long SHIB's WoofPaper, SHIB is an [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20) token based on [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/), a proof-of-work blockchain currently transitioning to proof-of-stake. Ryoshi announced in his final blog post to date that Shiba Inu would develop its own layer-two solution that would be more decentralized than [Polygon](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/polygon/) or [BSC](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/), both of which Ryoshi regards as not truly decentralized. The Shiba L2 would be called "Shibarium" and is supposed to use BONE as its primary pair token, as written above. According to Ryoshi, Shibarium would be built by a "very competent blockchain team" with experience building such solutions. Developer Eric M has announced in the Shiba Inu Discord server that Shibarium would launch "soon," although he did not specify a date.

The SHIBA INU website notes that they locked 50% of the total token supply on Uniswap, and "threw away the keys!" The remaining 50% was "burned to Vitalik Buterin." In response to the "gift" from the Shiba Inu team, Vitalik Buterin sent 50 trillion SHIB tokens, worth $1 billion in Shiba Inu price at that time, to India's Covid Crypto Relief Fund. Buterin then [burned](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/burned) 40% of the total supply to a dead wallet. There are several other tokens described on the SHIBA INU website — LEASH, which has "been unleashed and will not rebase," and BONE, the "Dogecoin Killer." LEASH has a fixed supply of only 107,646 tokens, and offers enticing rewards to [liquidity providers](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-provider), while BONE has 250,000,000 tokens, and is a [governance token](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/governance-token) that allows holders to vote on the Shiba Inu's Doggy [decentralized autonomous organization](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-autonomous-organizations-dao) (DAO). The WoofPaper notes that you will use SHIB to DIG for BONES or ShibaSwap, or even BURY your tokens. "Trainers" can teach their Shibas to SWAP tokens as well — all of these actions create "Returns" that are put into the Puppy Pools, where the #SHIBARMY has the option of BURYING or DIGGING for BONES. At the beginning of May 2021, dog-themed meme tokens like Shiba Inu [saw transaction volumes](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/ethereum-fees-hit-aths-amid-uncanny-dog-token-frenzy-a-data-perspective-by-intotheblock) in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Shiba Inu price hit an [all-time high](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/all-time-high) (ATH) of 0.00005 on May 10, 2021, before going on a downtrend since. As mentioned above, on May 13, Vitalik Buterin (who was given half of the token supply by the developers) [announced](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/the-surprising-reason-shiba-inu-has-plunged-44-in-24-hours) that he was donating a large amount of these tokens to a fund helping India with COVID relief. The SHIBA developers had not anticipated Buterin selling his tokens, but eventually, the two parties came to a mutually satisfying agreement. Later, [the fund actually lamented having sold its tokens too early](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/covid-fund-lost-1-2b-by-selling-shib-too-early), as its share would have been worth well over $1 billion at the token's all-time high. Despite rumors alleging the contrary, [Elon Musk](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/shib-crashes-as-musk-reveals-which-coins-he-owns) does not own any SHIB. He confirmed as much in a tweet, which caused a temporary price drop.

The SHIBA INU website invites dog-inspired artists from all over the world to foster the "artistic Shiba movement" as they bring their SHIBA INU community into the [NFT market](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-to-protect-your-nfts). SHIBA INU has also created a campaign using Amazon Smile in order to collect donations to escue real, live Shiba Inu dogs with the Shiba Inu Rescue Association. After initially being only one meme coin of many, Shiba Inu skyrocketed to popularity after Vitalik Buterin famously burned his share of the SHIB supply. Ryoshi had given Buterin 50% of the SHIB supply, announcing that "as long as Vitalik doesn't rug us," Shiba Inu would be fine. However, Buterin decided to burn 90% of his share, which later would have been worth billions thanks to the soaring value of SHIB. The remaining 10% were sent to a charity, as were about 50 trillion SHIB more that Vitalik had donated to a COVID-19 relief fund. He stated that he did not want "to be a locus of power" and thus gave the tokens away. This resulted in a temporary loss of value for SHIB, which the token later recovered from after the community agreed on an arrangement with the charity in question. Ryoshi's goal for Shiba Inu has been to see if a perpetual decentralized organization could work with no central leadership. In a blog post, Royshi noted that the rift caused by Buterin's token donation made the community stronger and would enable it to distribute further and decentralize the movement. His vision for the core ecosystem is to perform its utility while the Shiba Inu-own stablecoin becomes the globalized exchange of value. In October 2021, SHIB surged on the news of a possible Robinhood listing and briefly flipped Dogecoin to become the most-valued meme coin by market capitalization. Thus far, Robinhood has not listed SHIB, despite a petition with over 500,000 signatures calling for it. Robinhood executive Christine Brown has lauded the efforts of the Shiba Inu community, saying that one of her favorite things was seeing it engage with the community to make its wishes heard. However, Robinhood would prioritize safety over the "short-term gain" of a new token listing and has left Shiba Inu fans waiting since. The October 2021 price surge famously minted a billionaire, as one wallet was uncovered that had bought $8,000 worth of SHIB in summer 2020, which was worth over $5.7 billion at SHIB's all-time high valuation. The wallet owner has not been determined, although the person appears to have sent parts of their fortune to other wallets several weeks after the price explosion. The price surge also led to increased adoption across token holders. WhaleStats compiled data of the largest ETH wallets and found that SHIB represents over 20% of the combined market shares of all [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20) tokens held by Ethereum whales. [CRO](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/crypto-com-coin/) was a distant second with only 5%. SHIB also surpassed the one-million holder mark following its all-time high. Moreover, retailers increasingly started adopting SHIB as a means of payment following its popularity among small-time investors. American electronics retailer Newegg added SHIB at the start of December 2021, partnering with crypto payments platform BitPay to unlock payments in SHIB. This followed the adoption of SHIB by over 500 merchants, according to payments firm CoinGate, with even Samsung-backed digital wallet provider ZenGo adding SHIB to its options and a [restaurant in Paris ](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/shiba-inu-accepted-at-restaurant-in-paris)accepting it as a payment option. At one point, the Shiba Inu community called for McDonald's to accept Shiba Inu, although the social media effort eventually fell short. A major reason for the surging price of SHIB was a continued effort by the SHIB community to build a utility for the Shiba Inu token and the subsequent emergence of an entire Shiba Inu ecosystem. ShibaSwap is the coin's designated DEX that started as a fork of [Sushiswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/sushiswap/) that has, in the words of Ryoshi, its "own little twists and elements." Furthermore, Shiba Inu also plans to develop SHI, which will be the "global exchange of value for plebs," an [algorithmic stablecoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/algorithmic-stablecoin) pegged to one cent instead of one dollar as most other stablecoins. Its launch is planned after the Shiba [layer-two](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/layer-2) solution called Shibarium, and Ryoshi envisions SHI to work in a similar way to [DAI](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/multi-collateral-dai/). That way, SHI would have collateral as a backstop that would push it back to one cent if the peg was lost. According to Ryoshi, the end goal is that SHI becomes a global stable currency "that plebs across all countries are able to use as both a store of value and method of payment." In addition to SHI, a financial ecosystem is planned, and SHI would be added as a weighted pool pair on [Curve](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/curve-finance/). In that case, Ryoshi expects forks of the major DeFi protocols to appear in the Shiba Inu ecosystem, which would require an immutable bridge to function. Shiba would also start hosting localized meetups and a once-a-year ShibaCon convention that would be hosted at an easily accessible location in a country without oppressive visa restrictions "for the sake of inclusiveness for global plebs." One immediate change Shiba Inu has implemented is increasing token burns, which have sparked renewed interest in the token at the beginning of 2022. Bigger Entertainment, a crypto record label selling merch, [NFTs](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-to-mint-an-nft) and concert tickets, organized a SHIB burn party that burned over 239 million SHIB over Christmas. In total, the team has burned almost one billion SHIB since the end of October.

The SHIBA INU WoofPaper has three reasons why their team created SHIB: 1. "We started from zero, with zero." 2. "The brilliant minds behind Shib had never collaborated before." 3. "We love Shiba Inu Dogs." The anonymous creator of the Shiba Inu coin is known as "Ryoshi." However, very little is known of the mystery founder of the dog-themed cryptocurrency, much like the founder of Bitcoin, [Satoshi Nakamoto](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/satoshi-nakamoto). In his blog RYOSHI RESEARCH, he characterizes himself as "just some guy of no consequence tapping at a keyboard." Ryoshi said that usually in projects there are different roles like a CEO, a "tech guy," and a roadmap, resulting in "someone plebs can bitch at." He stresses that with Shiba, no one person is accountable or responsible and underlines that he owns 0 SHIB to this day. For this reason, Ryoshi can be "pure and unbiased," getting satisfaction from Shiba "in other ways." It has been speculated that Vitalik Buterin was behind the initial liquidity that helped set up Shiba Inu's liquidity on Uniswap. According to Ryoshi, he had "a fren" he met at Devcon in Osaka that sent him 10 ETH to set up the liquidity pair on Uniswap. Ryoshi also stated that Shiba Inu was an experiment in decentralized community building, and he thus declined all the influencer requests and pitches from different exchanges he received. His "job" is to defend the brand and give suggestions, although he does so very sparingly, as his last blog entry dates back to May 2021.

SHIB is the main token of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, bringing the power of a decentralized, community-led currency to millions across the globe. Since its inception in late 2020, the Ethereum-based SHIB token has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon, and is now accepted as a form of payment at hundreds of locations, either directly or through third-party intermediaries. Shiba Inu coin was created anonymously in August 2020 under the pseudonym "Ryoshi." Ryoshi says about himself that he is a nobody and not important and that the efforts to unmask his identity, even if successful, would be underwhelming. This [meme coin](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/memecoin) quickly gained speed and value as a community of investors was drawn in by the cute charm of the coin paired with headlines and tweets from personalities like Elon Musk and Vitalik Buterin. Vitalik Buterin was long believed to be the originator of Shiba Inu, but denied such rumors on the Lex Fridman podcast on June 5, 2021. Since release SHIB now trades on the ecosystem's proprietary DEX, [ShibaSwap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/shibaswap/). On Sept. 17, 2021, [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, listed Shiba Inu on their platform. This news caused Shiba Inu price to rise by over 40% in the following two days, bringing the meme dog token into the spotlight again.

As the dedicated utility token of the Binance exchange, the most straightforward way to acquire BNB coins would be to purchase them through Binance. The original exchange supports the largest variety of trading pairs with BNB, and it also has the best trading rates for the coin. Since the launch of Play2Earn games, interest in the [BNB to PHP price](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/bnb/php/) has increased substantially. To check BNB price live in the fiat currency of your choice, you can use CoinMarketCap’s converter feature directly on the [BNB currency page](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/). Alternatively, use the dedicated exchange rate [converter page](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/). Popular BNB price pairs include: [BNB/USD](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/bnb/usd/), [BNB/GBP](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/bnb/gbp/), [BNB/AUD](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/bnb/aud/), [BNB/CNY](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/bnb/cny/), [BNB/JPY](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/bnb/jpy/) and [BNB/EUR](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/bnb/eur/). Cryptocurrency newbie? You can read more about how to enter the market and how to buy BTC, BNB or any other token in CoinMarketCap education portal — [Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/).

Initially, the BNB started as a traditional [ERC-20](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20) token on the [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) blockchain. Later on, the company introduced its own blockchain, and the tokens started being issued from the Binance blockchain, secured by the Tendermint byzantine-fault-tolerant ([BFT](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/byzantine-fault-tolerance-bft)) consensus mechanism. While ERC-20 tokens rely on the proof-of-stake ([PoS](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos)) consensus, which allows them to be extremely scalable, and allows for the creation of smart contracts. Unlike PoS, the Binance blockchain does not support smart contract functionalities. In contrast, the Bitcoin blockchain is secured by the proof-of-work ([PoW](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-work-pow)) consensus, which is far more limited and consumes large amounts of electrical and computing power.

There is an initial maximum supply of 200,000,000 BNB coins, of which 168,137,036 are currently in circulation as of September 2021. Binance conducts quarterly burning of the BNB supply, with the goal of reducing the total supply by half — or 100,000,000 BNB. On July 18, 2021, it conducted its 16th quarterly burning, which was worth $390 million in BNB price at the time of burning. However, that was not the most expensive burn — on April 16, 2021, the exchange burned nearly $600 million worth, in BNB price at the time of burning. According to the Binance [whitepaper](https://whitepaper.io/document/10/binance-whitepaper), exactly half of the maximum supply of BNB coins was allocated towards the initial coin offering (ICO) and public sale of the coin. The ICO was held in July 2017 shortly after the exchange launched, and saw Binance raise $15 million in funding, with BNB price at $0.10 during the ICO. Taking BNB price today, that represents an almost 4200X [return on investment](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/roi) (ROI). Another 40% of the total supply, or around 80,000,000 BNB coins, was distributed among the founding members and team. Finally, the remaining 10% of the maximum supply was split among angel investors.

Within the crypto industry, a coin burn is a deflationary mechanism that is used to permanently remove coins from circulation. Most cryptocurrency projects, including Binance, periodically burn coins to sustain the value of their digital asset and create a deflationary effect. In the case of Binance, the crypto exchange began the program in late 2017 and has so far burned over 38 million tokens via its quarterly burn to date. The crypto exchange has in mind to destroy up to 100 million BNB tokens through its quarterly burns, accounting for 50% of its circulating supply. BNB utilizes two coin-burning mechanisms. The first mechanism consists of burning a portion of the tokens spent on transaction fees on the BNB Chain, and the second is its quarterly BNB burning events. Previously, the quarterly burn event was based on revenue generated from the Binance centralized exchange. But under the new BNB Auto-Burn program, the number of tokens to be burned is calculated using a formula based on the total number of blocks produced on the Binance Smart Chain and BNB's average dollar-denominated price during the quarter. As of July 2022, Binance had completed 20 BNB coin burn events. In total, 38,683,447.66 BNB tokens have been destroyed, reducing its initial 200M supply by 19.34%.

Binance is a unique ecosystem of decentralized, blockchain-based networks. The company has grown to be the leading crypto exchange in a number of countries, and their side organizations are attracting significant interest as well. One of the biggest competitive advantages Binance has is its drive for development. While the company started only as a crypto exchange back in 2017, today, Binance has spread its services among numerous different spheres. According to the company website, its mission is to become the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Since launching the BNB, the exchange has also benefited from increased investor interest in the coin. BNB went through a significant price increase at the beginning of 2021, which has put it on the map of enterprise investors. Measures like [BEP-95](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/how-binance-smart-chain-increased-bnb-s-value-the-bep-95-upgrade) have upgraded the already deflationary tokenomics to make BNB even more deflationary. Following the proposal, gas fees on Binance Smart Chain have become even lower, as the network burns a part of the fees to decentralize further. The proposal was modeled after Ethereum's famous [EIP-1559](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/ethereums-london-hard-fork-goes-live). This has helped Binance overcome several exploits of protocols on BSC, such as a [$200M exploit](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/pancake-bunny-price-crashes-after-defi-token-targeted-in-flash-loan-attack) of [Pancake Bunny](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pancakebunny/) and [several hacks](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/cream-finance-suffers-another-flash-loan-attack) of [Cream Finance](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cream-finance/). Despite these hacks, users return to Binance for its low fees and the abundance of [lucrative meme coins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/baby-doge-coin-up-143-as-other-memecoins-bleed) in its ecosystem.

[Changpeng Zhao](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpzhao/) is the founder and CEO of Binance. In 2001, Zhao joined Bloomberg as head of tradebook futures development. He spent four years with the company and later joined Fusion Systems as a partner. Since 2013, Changpeng Zhao has been actively involved with blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. He became head of development at Blockchain, and in 2015 he founded BijieTech. In 2017, Zhao officially launched Binance, and he has been the CEO of the company ever since. [He Yi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yi-he-%E4%BD%95%E4%B8%80/) is a co-founder and chief marketing officer at Binance. She started her career as a TV anchor and presenter on China Travel TV in 2012. Later, in 2014, Yi co-founded OKCoin, which was the largest fiat-to-crypto exchange in China at the time. In 2017, she joined forces with Changpeng Zhao, and together they created the largest crypto exchange globally — Binance.

Launched in July 2017, Binance is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange globally based on daily trading volume. Binance aims to bring cryptocurrency exchanges to the forefront of financial activity globally. The idea behind Binance’s name is to show this new paradigm in global finance — Binary Finance, or Binance. Aside from being the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, Binance has launched a whole ecosystem of functionalities for its users. The Binance network includes the Binance Chain, [Binance Smart Chain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-binance-smart-chain), Binance Academy, Trust Wallet and Research projects, which all employ the powers of [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain) technology to bring new-age finance to the world. BNB is an integral part of the successful functioning of many of the Binance sub-projects.

As of November 2022, Toncoin (TON) is listed on multiple crypto exchanges like [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/), [KuCoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/), [Uniswap (V3)](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/uniswap-v3/), [Gate.io](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/gate-io/), [OKX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okx/), [LBank](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/lbank/), [MEXC](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/mxc/), [EXMO](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/exmo/), [CoinEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinex/), [Biswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/biswap/), [BitMart](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitmart/), [Nomiswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/nomiswap/), [BitoPro](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitopro/), [ACE](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/ace/), [DigiFinex](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/digifinex/), [Tidex](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/tidex/), [Unocoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/unocoin/), [Bit.com](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bit-com/), [BingX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bingx/) and [HitBTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/hitbtc/). Read CoinMarketCap's in-depth [guide](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-tokenomics) on tokenomics.

The network utilizes the proof-of-stake ([PoS](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos)) consensus mechanism to validate transactions. Moreover, Toncoin is used to reward validators. Nominators can also provide tokens to validators and receive rewards. Validators and nominators are managed with smart contracts, providing the network with extra protection. [Smart contracts](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract) are executed using TON Virtual Machine (TVM).

The TON network has its native token, Toncoin, with a circulating supply of 1.22B TON and a maximum supply of 5B TON. Toncoin was designed to fuel the ecosystem. It can be used to build decentralized applications (dApps), act as a transaction processing fee, as a cross-chain transaction fee, and as a staking payment to secure the blockchain and services. The list of use cases also includes payment for decentralized data storage, TON DNS/TON Proxy, and other fees within decentralized services. Validator fees are also paid in TON. In addition, people can vote with TON for changes and development within TON's governance program.

TON has a multi-level structure built on the principle of sharding or segmentation ("blockchain within a blockchain"). A [sharding](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/sharding) feature involves the use of multiple subnets ([shards](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/shard)) on the same blockchain, where each shard has a specific purpose. It allows the net to avoid the accumulation of unverified blocks and speeds up tasks. The TON network consists of the master, work and shard chains. The developers focus on scalability, efficiency and mass adoption. Due to the well-established interaction between segments, the network provides ultra-fast transactions, verifying and processing a massive amount of TPS. The TON network offers the following services: TON Wallets, a built-in wallet function designed to transfer funds and interact with platform services and offers two categories of wallets: [custodial](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/custodial) and [non-custodial](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/non-custodial); TON Services allows developers to create various [dApps](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps) while users can access third-party apps through a user-friendly interface; TON Storage offers the benefits of private encryption using the private key of the owner's wallet; TON Proxy uses all platform components and allows clients to access the TON blockchain via decentralized VPNs; TON DNS (decentralized name system) makes it possible for traditional websites to work in the TON network, allowing users to set short, readable names.

Originally, the blockchain platform was created by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, and developed by the Telegram team. Telegram planned to launch an on-chain token called Gram and establish a platform for [decentralized applications](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps) (dApps). Gram was getting a lot of attention, which started to cause trouble. Its development was prohibited by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gram was considered securities, and the SEC banned the release of Gram tokens. The Telegram team brought TON to the state of an almost full-fledged product. However, in 2020, Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov, left the project, and the development was handed over to independent crypto enthusiasts. From the very beginning, the project was created as an open-source code so anyone could continue the development. The current network was launched and developed by Anatoliy Makosov and Kirill Emelianenko, members of the community called NewTON (later the TON Foundation).

Toncoin (TON) is a decentralized [layer-1 blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary) developed in 2018 by the encrypted messaging platform Telegram. The project was then abandoned, taken over by the TON Foundation, and renamed from "Telegram Open Network" to "The Open Network". Since 2020, the technology has been developing thanks to a non-commercial group of supporters and an independent community of enthusiasts who called themselves the TON Foundation. Toncoin, formerly known as Gram, is the native cryptocurrency of the TON network. The original idea was to integrate TON into an easy-to-use application that allows users to buy/send/store funds. Clients pay transaction fees and use TON to settle payments or validate transactions. Toncoin utilizes the [proof-of-stake](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos) (PoS) consensus model for network scalability and reliability. According to the project website, the platform provides its customers with fast, transparent and secure payment services, facilitating transactions with minimal fees and third-party applications. The developers’ mission is to build a full-fledged ecosystem with decentralized storage, decentralized services, a domain name system (DNS equivalent), an anonymous network, an instant payment platform, and affordable/fast transaction processing. The Open Network is a community-driven blockchain with a flexible architecture and focus on serving a typical consumer. TON stands out due to the fast processing/validation of [transactions per second](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/transactions-per-second) (TPS). In September 2021, the network processed a then-world record of 55,000 TPS during a contest, although the current TPS could be in the hundreds of thousands or even millions. This feature allows the project to grow rapidly while avoiding performance losses. At the same time, the project does not harm the environment.

SOL tokens can be purchased on most exchanges. One choice to trade Solana is on [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), as it has the highest [SOL/USDT](https://www.binance.com/en/how-to-buy/solana) trading volume, $753,103,225 as of September 2021. Next is [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/), with a trading volume of $343,872,841. Other options to trade Solana include [Bilaxy](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bilaxy/) and [Huobi Globa](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/)l. Of course, it is important to note that investing in cryptocurrency comes with a risk, just like any other investment opportunity. To check Solana price live in the fiat currency of your choice, you can use CoinMarketCap’s converter feature directly on the [Solana currency page](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solana/), or the dedicated exchange rate [converter page](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/). Popular Solana price pairs include: [SOL/USD](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/sol/usd/), [SOL/GBP](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/sol/gbp/), [SOL/AUD](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solana/sol/aud/), [SOL/JPY](https://coinmarketcap.com/converter/sol/jpy/) and [SOL/EUR](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solana/sol/eur/).

Solana relies on a unique combination of proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake ([PoS](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/proof-of-stake-pos)) consensus mechanisms. Proof-of-history is the main component of the Solana protocol, as it is responsible for the bulk of transaction processing. PoH records successful operations and the time that has passed between them, thus ensuring the trustless nature of the blockchain. The proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus is used as a monitoring tool for the PoH processes, and it validates each sequence of blocks produced by it. The combination of two consensus mechanisms makes Solana a unique phenomenon in the blockchain industry.