BNB at $860 lags broader market as scrutiny of Binance grows

• The price of BNB rose 1.7% in 24 hours, breaking past the $860 resistance level, despite underperforming the wider cryptocurrency market.
• The underperformance came amid an FT investigation alleging Binance failed to stop suspicious transactions, despite agreeing to pay $4.3 billion to settle a U.S. criminal case in 2023.
• BNB is currently 32% below its all-time high of $1,360, while other exchange tokens like KCS and LEO have shown more resilient performance, down far less from their all-time highs.

The price of BNB moved up over 1.7% in the last 24 hours amid a cryptocurrency market rise that saw the wider CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index move up 2.2% in the same period.

The price broke past the $860 resistance level that had capped recent rallies and briefly touched $868 before seeing a slight pullback.

BNB underperformed the wider cryptocurrency market at a time in which the Financial Times published an investigation saying Binance “failed to stop hundreds of millions of dollars of cryptocurrency from flwoing through suspicious acccounts.” These failures, it says, came even after it agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle a U.S. criminal case.

Trading volume jumped 192% above the daily average, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis data model, with several peaks seen as the price approached support levels.

Three separate bursts of volume above confirmed momentum behind the move and helped establish new support around $856–$858.

The hourly chart revealed a V-shaped recovery after an early dip to $851, with buyers stepping in aggressively and pushing prices back above $863. From there, an ascending triangle formed between $864.00 and $865.80, a pattern often linked with bullish continuation.

BNB remains 32% below its all-time high of $1,360. Other exchange tokens, KCS and LEO, are down far less from their all-time highs, showing resilient performance according ot CryptoQuant data.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

2025 was defined by a stark divergence: structural progress collided with stagnant price action. Institutional milestones were reached and TVL increased across most major ecosystems, yet the majority of large-cap Layer-1 tokens finished the year with negative or flat returns.

This report analyzes the structural decoupling between network usage and token performance. We examine 10 major blockchain ecosystems, exploring protocol versus application revenues, key ecosystem narratives, mechanics driving institutional adoption, and the trends to watch as we head into 2026.

• VanEck data shows that in the past 30 days bitcoin’s hashrate dropped by the most since April 2024
• Hashrate declines are historically aligned with miner capitulation and markets closer to local bottoms than tops.
• According to VanEck, periods of negative 90-day hashrate growth have delivered positive 180-day bitcoin returns 77% of the time.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.