DailySun
Changpeng Zhao carried out a leveraged long trade of 24.7x on Mubarak to examine potential MEV issues, leading to an increase in the token’s price.
On March 23, the founder and former CEO of Binance set up a 24.7x long position on Mubarak (MUBARAK) using 0.04 BNB as collateral through APX Finance. This transaction was brought to light by on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa on X, to which CZ replied, “Doing a little on-chain testing on Sunday, as usual. Nothing to be excited about.”
Despite CZ’s casual response, ai_9684xtpa observed that just 7 minutes after opening the position, APX (APX) surged by 26%, increasing from $0.64 to $0.81, while MUBARAK experienced a 5.5% rise from $0.146 to $0.154. This trade was conducted using a public donation address, and the position has since been closed.
This market reaction aligns with a well-known phenomenon—whenever CZ is involved in trading or shares updates on social media, there is typically a surge in buying pressure. Recently, Zhao purchased 20,150 MUBARAK for 1 BNB (valued at $600 at the time), resulting in a spike in MUBARAK’s price that temporarily placed it at the top of BNB Chain’s memecoin rankings by market cap, with trading volume surpassing $180 million, according to Root Data.
Regardless, Zhao specified that his perpetuals trade on MUBARAK was merely experimental, as he conveyed in his post on X, stating, “Just trying the experience, also trying to see if there is still MEV.”
Zhao has yet to share any findings from his testing related to Maximal Extractable Value. His perpetuals trial follows a poll he conducted on X on February 7, asking whether BNB Chain should address or significantly diminish MEV issues.
While MEV is often associated with the Ethereum (ETH) network, users on BNB Chain have also faced significant losses attributed to MEV—where validators reorder or rearrange transactions pending inclusion in the block to maximize their profits. Reports suggest that in 2024 alone, BNB Chain users suffered losses of about $1.5 billion due to MEV.
