CZ Appears at Nasdaq to Ring the Opening Bell: What Is BNC?

Written by: Biteye

On October 26, CZ@cz_binanceappeared at Nasdaq and attended the opening bell ceremony together with the management of BNB Standard (ticker: BNC).

A year ago, BNC became a star project in the crypto stock boom thanks to a financing plan of hundreds of millions of dollars. Since then, the company has experienced a stock price decline, governance disputes, and a board restructuring. Today, it has not only changed its name but also welcomed a new CEO from YZi Labs and begun exploring a new direction.

Taking this bell-ringing as an opportunity,we look back at what BNC experienced over the past year. Where is BNC headed after the bell?

BNC's Journey So Far

BNC's story begins in July 2025.

At the time, it was a U.S.-listed company operating an e-cigarette business. With YZi Labs@yzilabssupport, the company announced a partnership with 10X Capital, launching an approximately $500 million financing plan, transforming into a BNB treasury company, and changing its ticker from VAPE to BNC, briefly becoming a star project in the crypto stock boom.

But the story did not unfold as expected. What many people may not know is that during the year BNC gradually faded from market view, a battle over corporate control was actually underway.

As the stock price fell from its highs, tensions between YZi Labs and 10X Capital, which was responsible for asset management, gradually became public. According to SEC filings, the two parties had previously signed a 20-year asset management agreement with an annual management fee rate of 1.75%.

YZi Labs believed the management fees were too high and that there were corporate governance issues, and had previously accused the former management team of considering abandoning the BNB treasury strategy in favor of other assets such as SOL. The disagreement escalated and eventually turned into a boardroom battle.

In May 2026, BNC even sued 10X Capital, seeking to have the asset management agreement declared invalid and to recover related fees.

The turning point came this June. BNC and YZi Labs reached a governance agreement, with YZi Labs head Ella Zhang@ellazhang516, former investment partner Alex Odagiu, and one other joined the board. Alex then formally took over as CEO, the company was renamed BNB Standard, and it announced plans to operate BNB Chain validator nodes, seeking to move from simply holding BNB to deeper participation in ecosystem operations.

After a series of changes—from the crypto stock boom to governance disputes and then management restructuring—BNC finally entered a new stage of development this October. On October 26, CZ appeared at Nasdaq to ring the opening bell, writing a new chapter in this transformation story that has lasted more than a year.

From YZi Labs Investment Partner to BNC CEO: Who Is Alex?

In BNC's months-long governance adjustment, newly appointed CEO Alex Odagiu@odagiusis a figure worth paying attention to.

Alex Odagiu graduated from the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom. Early in his career, he worked in Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking Division before joining the technology investment firm LetterOne. In 2021, he joined the Binance Labs investment team, which then had only about 5 people, rising from investment manager to become a YZi Labs investment partner in 2025.

During his five years at YZi Labs, Alex was primarily responsible for token, equity, and strategic investments. He participated in investments in well-known projects such as Aptos, Mysten Labs (the developer of Sui), Canton, Hemi, and Concrete, covering DeFi, RWA, stablecoins, and blockchain infrastructure.

Beyond investing, he served for 10 consecutive seasons as a mentor and judge for the BNB Chain MVB accelerator, helping drive investments in ecosystem projects such as Avalon and Aspecta, and participated in YZi Labs' EASY Residency startup incubation program.

Interestingly, Alex did not first cross paths with BNC this year. As early as 2025, he participated in BNC's governance discussions and was recommended by YZi Labs to serve as interim CEO at the end of that year, but at the time did not receive support from the original board. He only joined the board and served as interim president after the two parties reached a governance cooperation agreement in June this year, and then formally assumed the role of CEO in October.

From participating in BNC's governance discussions to formally taking over the company, Alex spent nearly a year. Previously, he was mainly responsible for investing and incubating projects; now he must directly face the operations of a listed company and shareholder returns.

What is BNC's next step after ringing the bell?

On October 19, when Alex Odagiu formally assumed the role of CEO, he set out two goals: first, to increase the BNB per share; second, to build real business on BNB Chain, starting with operating validator nodes.

First, how else can BNC increase its BNB exposure?

Last year, BNC used the most common approach for crypto treasury companies: issuing shares to institutional investors to raise capital, then using the proceeds to buy BNB.

In August 2025, BNC completed a private financing of approximately $500 million, then quickly built a reserve of more than 510,000 BNB, becoming the largest listed-company BNB holder in the world.

Second, how can the BNB it holds generate revenue on its own?

BNC chose to start by operating BNB Chain validator nodes. According to the official plan, the company will bring in professional infrastructure service providers to run the nodes, while BNB will still be held by qualified custodians.

This approach differs from directly delegating BNB to other validators. BNC plans to operate its own nodes, which can not only earn rewards by staking its own BNB, but also attract delegations from other token holders and collect fees from delegation rewards.

BNB Chain validator nodes earn rewards mainly from network transaction fees rather than through continuous BNB issuance. Therefore, node revenue is related to fees generated by on-chain transactions, the scale of delegated stake received, and block production performance. If BNB Chain applications and trading activity continue to grow in the future, BNC's node business may also benefit.

Based on BNB Chain's current reference annualized staking yield of approximately 0.6%—1%, if BNC staked all of its existing reserve, it could theoretically earn an additional approximately 3,000—5,200 BNB per year, equivalent to approximately $2.3 million—$3.8 million at the current token price.

From exchange to Nasdaq, what can BNC bring to the BNB ecosystem?

The value of crypto treasury companies to public chains may go far beyond increasing token buying pressure. A case worth referencing is Solana treasury company Forward Industries, which not only holds SOL and operates validator nodes, but has also begun directly investing in Solana ecosystem projects.

In May 2026, Forward Industries and RockawayX co-led the $5 million Series A funding round of OnRe, an on-chain reinsurance project on Solana, and committed to providing up to $25 million in liquidity support.

Unlike simply buying SOL, this capital flowed directly into specific applications within the Solana ecosystem, offering the potential for company returns while also helping on-chain financial products obtain the funding needed for development.

This offers a new development path: listed treasury companies can attract capital through the capital markets, and also channel these resources back to public chains through staking, infrastructure development, and ecosystem investments.

This may be a noteworthy change in the crypto treasury model: moving from one-way holding of crypto assets to a two-way relationship between listed companies and public-chain ecosystems. Public-chain development brings asset value and business opportunities to listed companies, while listed companies use their financing capability, capital, and business resources to support ecosystem building.

BNC already holds a large BNB reserve, and CEO Alex Odagiu has years of investment experience at YZi Labs, making him familiar with the BNB Chain ecosystem. BNC is very likely to become an important participant connecting traditional capital markets with the BNB Chain ecosystem.

In closing

Looking back on this year's crypto stock boom, the sector is undergoing a shift: from initially competing to raise capital and buy crypto to now exploring staking, validator nodes, and ecosystem investments.

MicroStrategy demonstrated that traditional capital markets can be an important funding source for crypto assets, while a new wave of crypto stock companies has begun exploring how to generate sustained yield from these assets and even promote the development of public blockchain ecosystems.

This may be the longer-term opportunity for crypto stocks. Listed companies are no longer just holders of crypto assets; they can also become important bridges connecting traditional capital with the on-chain economy.

Source: TechFlow