BNC TOKEN: Cross-Chain Liquid Staking Protocol

What is BNC TOKEN

Friends, imagine we deposit money in a bank, and the bank gives us interest, right? In the blockchain world, there’s a similar operation called “staking.” You lock up your cryptocurrency to help maintain the network, and in return, you get some rewards. But the problem is, once your coins are locked, you can’t use them for anything else—just like money in a fixed-term deposit, you can’t withdraw or spend it. This is called a lack of “liquidity.”

BNC TOKEN (abbreviated as BNC) is a project whose core is the Bifrost protocol, which acts like a smart financial tool designed to solve this problem. It’s a Web3 derivatives protocol aiming to provide “liquidity” for staked crypto assets. Simply put, it lets you earn staking rewards while still being able to use your assets flexibly.

Its main users are crypto holders who want to earn yield through staking but don’t want their assets locked up for long periods, as well as DeFi applications that need these liquid assets. The typical process is: you stake your PoS (Proof of Stake) tokens (such as coins on Polkadot or Kusama) via the Bifrost protocol, and you receive a special “virtual token” called vToken. This vToken acts like a receipt proving you’ve staked assets, but it can be freely traded or used in other DeFi applications, while your original staked assets continue earning staking rewards for you.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

The vision of the Bifrost protocol is to maximize the utility of cryptocurrencies, serving as a bridge between staking and the application layer, enabling participants to earn more rewards. It aims to aggregate over 80% of PoS consensus chain staking liquidity, becoming an “Omnichain Liquid Staking Layer1.” Its core value proposition is to solve the “liquidity dilemma”—allowing users to earn staking rewards without sacrificing asset liquidity.

Compared to similar projects, Bifrost’s unique feature is that it provides standardized cross-chain yield derivatives for the Polkadot ecosystem and its connected chains.

Technical Features

Technically, the Bifrost protocol is a “liquid staking app-chain.” It’s built on the Substrate framework (the foundational development toolkit for Polkadot blockchain) and is compatible with Ethereum’s API, meaning it can interact with the Ethereum ecosystem. Its core technology is vToken technology, the virtual token mentioned earlier. The entire system is designed to support decentralized cross-chain interoperability, allowing assets from different blockchains to participate.

As a parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem, Bifrost’s underlying architecture benefits from Polkadot’s security and consensus mechanisms. Its derivatives logic runs through the Bifrost parachain’s “runtime pallet” and evolves via governance mechanisms. The Polkadot network itself uses technologies like WebAssembly, LIBP2P, and GRANDPA consensus, and Bifrost, as part of it, shares these underlying technologies.

Tokenomics

Token Basic Information

• Token Symbol: BNC
• Issuing Chain: Bifrost (a parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem)
• Total Supply: 80,000,000 BNC
• Inflation/Burn: The project claims there is no inflation.
• Current Circulating Supply: As of December 2025, about 45,114,975 BNC are in circulation.

Token Utility

The BNC token plays multiple roles in the Bifrost ecosystem, like a multifunctional key:

• Transaction Fees: BNC is required as a fee for transfers, trades, and other operations on the Bifrost network.
• Governance: BNC holders can participate in protocol governance, such as proposing and voting on important decisions like parameter adjustments, treasury allocation, and protocol upgrades. The more BNC you hold, the greater your voting weight.
• Staking Rewards: Users can stake BNC tokens to earn additional BNC rewards, helping to maintain network security.
• Collateral: In certain complex DeFi operations, BNC can be used as collateral.
• Slash Collateral: Nodes participating in network validation must stake some BNC as collateral to prevent malicious behavior, known as “slash collateral.”
• Boosting Yield: By minting vBNC and locking bbBNC, users can earn higher yields.

Token Distribution and Unlocking

The total supply of BNC tokens is 80 million, and its distribution plan is designed to ensure long-term sustainability and decentralization:

• Ecosystem Fund: 50% (40,000,000 BNC), these tokens are locked for governance and used for Kusama and Polkadot crowdloan incentives, vToken and protocol incentives, collator incentives, and slash insurance fund.
• Initial Development Team: 20% (16,000,000 BNC), these tokens start linear unlocking 6 months after the token generation event (TGE) and are fully unlocked within 24 months.
• Seed Round Investors I: 6% (4,800,000 BNC), 25% unlocked at TGE, the remaining 75% unlocked linearly over 10 months.
• Seed Round Investors II: 4% (3,200,000 BNC), 25% unlocked at TGE, the remaining 75% unlocked linearly over 10 months.
• Strategic Round Investors: 2% (1,600,000 BNC), 30% unlocked at TGE, the remaining 70% unlocked linearly over 10 months.
• Private Round Investors: 3% (2,400,000 BNC), 30% unlocked at TGE, the remaining 70% unlocked linearly over 10 months.
• Marketing and Community Building: 3% (2,400,000 BNC), these tokens are not locked.
• Mint Drop: 2% (1,600,000 BNC), these tokens are not locked.
• Foundation: 10% (8,000,000 BNC), these tokens are locked for governance.

Team, Governance, and Funding

Although specific team member names are not detailed in public sources, the Bifrost project is a member of the Substrate Builders Program and Web3 Bootcamp, indicating official support and recognition from the Polkadot ecosystem. It has also received funding from the Web3 Foundation and multi-million dollar backing from institutions such as NGC, SNZ, DFG, and CMS.

The project’s governance mechanism is decentralized. BNC token holders can participate in voting via the OpenGov system, making decisions on major matters such as the protocol’s future direction, parameter adjustments, treasury allocation, and protocol upgrades. This mechanism ensures the community has a voice in the project’s development.

In terms of fund management, Bifrost has a treasury for paying BNC transaction fees and for management and allocation. Additionally, the project has set up a “slash insurance fund,” consisting of 4 million BNC and 20% of vToken commission fees, to compensate users in the event of staking slashing, reducing risk.

Roadmap

Since its inception, the Bifrost project has made significant progress. It has become a member of the Substrate Builders Program and Web3 Bootcamp and successfully launched in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Future plans include: enhancing interoperability features to enable Bifrost to collaborate better with other blockchain networks; improving governance mechanisms for more efficient community participation; and expanding DeFi functionality to offer more diverse financial services.

Common Risk Reminders

Investing in any cryptocurrency project comes with risks, and Bifrost is no exception. Here are some common risks to be aware of:

• Technical and Security Risks: Although Bifrost has a slash risk sharing mechanism and insurance fund to address staking “slashing,” smart contracts themselves still carry vulnerability risks. Any DeFi protocol may face technical failures or hacking attacks.
• Economic Risks: The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile. The price of BNC tokens may be affected by market sentiment, macroeconomic factors, and the performance of competing projects. The overall health of the Polkadot/Kusama ecosystem also impacts Bifrost.
• Compliance and Operational Risks: Global regulatory policies for cryptocurrencies are still evolving, and future regulations may impact project operations. In addition, there are other competitors in the market offering liquid staking services, so Bifrost must continue to innovate to remain competitive.

Verification Checklist

When researching a project in depth, here are some links and information you can verify yourself:

• Block Explorer: You can view on-chain activity such as transactions, blocks, and address information via Bifrost’s block explorer: bifrost.subscan.io and dash.bifrost.finance.
• GitHub Activity: Although search results do not directly provide a GitHub link, the project’s official website or whitepaper usually offers a source code repository link, where you can check code update frequency and community contributions. CoinEx mentions a source code link.
• Audit Report: The Bifrost project has been audited by Certik, receiving a security score of 87.23%. In addition, it has a bug bounty program on Immunefi, encouraging security researchers to discover and report potential vulnerabilities.
• Official Website and Whitepaper: Refer to Bifrost’s official website and whitepaper for the most authoritative and detailed project information.

Project Summary

BNC TOKEN, more precisely Bifrost Native Coin, is a Web3 derivatives protocol in the Polkadot ecosystem dedicated to solving the liquidity problem of staked assets. By issuing vTokens, it allows users to enjoy staking rewards while flexibly using their assets, which is significant for the DeFi sector. The project has a clear tokenomics model, with BNC tokens playing a central role in governance, fee payments, and incentives. The team is supported by the Web3 Foundation and several institutions, and has invested in security audits.

However, it’s important to emphasize that the cryptocurrency market is full of uncertainties, and BNC TOKEN (Bifrost) faces multiple risks including technology, market, and regulation. This introduction is for informational sharing only and does not constitute investment advice. Before making any investment decisions, be sure to conduct thorough personal research (DYOR - Do Your Own Research) and consider your own risk tolerance.

Important Note: It’s worth noting that in the cryptocurrency space, several projects use “BNC” as their token abbreviation, such as Brave New Coin’s BNC Pro platform token, Bionic project token, FourMeme BSC Memecoin, and Bitnet Chain. This article is mainly based on publicly available information about Bifrost Native Coin (BNC), as its information is the most detailed and prominent. Please be sure to verify project names and backgrounds when reviewing information to avoid confusion.