Binance destroys nearly $640 million worth of BNB tokens in its largest-ever burn

Crypto exchange operator Binance announced Monday that it has burned nearly 1.4 million BNB tokens (worth about $640 million at current prices) in its largest-ever burn.

Burning refers to the process of permanently removing a crypto token from circulation, thereby reducing its supply and potentially increasing its price. When Binance launched BNB in 2017, it committed to burning a total of 100 million BNB, i.e., 50% of its total supply. BNB's 40% supply was originally allocated to the Binance team.

The latest burn — Binance's 17th quarterly BNB burn — is the largest ever in dollar terms, though not by the number of tokens. This is because the price of BNB jumped 58% during the third quarter, from around $305 to around $480.

The company has burned 16.60% of the BNB supply to date, according to The Block Research. Binance burns BNB each quarter based on its trading volumes of the previous quarter.