Two-thirds of BNB supply held by the public, CZ owns less than 1%: YZi Labs

New data has revealed that public holders dominate BNB distribution.

Blockchain analytics firm YZi Labs reported that ownership of Binance Coin (BNB) has become widely “dispersed” across the network.

More and more tokens were moved into self-custodial public wallets and held by exchanges.

BNB Ownership Profile

According to the latest data from YZi Labs, approximately 66-67% of the total BNB supply is held by public participants, including exchange users and those with self-custody wallets. Approximately 27% of the supply is controlled by the BNB Foundation, which maintains a burn reserve used for programmatic token burns, a mechanism designed to reduce supply and gradually strengthen BNB’s deflationary model.

Meanwhile, Binance’s treasury represents approximately 4-5% of the BNB in ​​circulation, which serves operational and custody functions. Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao personally owns less than 1% of the total supply.

YZi Labs estimated that the largest labeled wallets are primarily associated with burning, mining, or custody purposes, rather than controlling or speculative holdings. The company said this distribution structure suggests that BNB has become a transparent and widely held asset, and that a majority of its supply is managed through open on-chain mechanisms rather than centralized ownership.

In terms of price action, BNB has traded primarily between $1,000 and $1,300 over the past month and has faced significant volatility while maintaining a generally sideways trend. The token started the month near $1,008 and rose sharply in the first half of October to reach an all-time high above $1,300. However, this rally was followed by a steady correction as prices declined towards the $1,050-$1,100 range.

Even though BNB has struggled to regain previous highs, the token’s exposure to US markets appears to be expanding as new financial instruments such as digital asset treasuries (DATs), ETFs, and listings on major exchanges like Robinhood and Coinbase provide indirect access to US-based participants.

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These developments allow investors to gain exposure to BNB using fiat currencies without direct purchases.

The return of CZ

Relatedly, CZ recently received a “full and unconditional” pardon from US President Donald Trump, a move that many industry observers believe could ease some regulatory constraints on Binance related to past US government affairs. However, this pardon quickly sparked controversy.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren called the decision “corruption” and alleged that he funded crypto projects linked to Trump before seeking clemency. CZ denied the accusations and clarified that there was no charge of money laundering, only a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, and accused Warren of spreading false information. He also suggested that the Biden administration’s political biases influenced his prosecution.