BNB Chain's test memecoin surged to a $52 million market cap minutes after CZ posted about it

A BNB Chain test memecoin (TST) surged past $52 million in market cap before dropping to its current level of over $15 million within minutes of a post by Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, Binance's founder and former CEO, on X (formerly Twitter).

Zhao posted that the BNB Chain team created a tutorial video on launching memecoins via the Four.Meme platform, using TST as an example. The video briefly revealed TST's name, prompting unexpected trading activity, particularly from Chinese crypto key opinion leaders (KOLs) — influencers known for driving market trends.

The BNB Chain team later deleted the video and the private key for the creator address, which held 0.13% of TST's supply, according to Zhao. However, he recommended reinstating the tutorial, noting, "It is what it is. This is NOT an endorsement from me for the token," though he said, "Happy trading!"

Zhao clarified that TST is not an official BNB Chain token, and neither Binance nor the BNB Chain team holds any of it.

TST's price has spiked over 22,500%. Based on its peak price of $0.0517, the highest market cap of TST was around $52 million. ​

Earlier this month, Zhao returned to Binance Labs, now rebranded as YZi Labs, to take an active role in its investment activities after serving four months in U.S. prison on money laundering charges. Named after Binance co-founders Zhao and Yi He, YZi Labs is now positioned as a "purely family office investment vehicle."