Initially intended only for educational purposes, TST unexpectedly took on a life of its own, soaring 1,100% within its first three days. The token hit an all-time high of $0.52 before crashing back down to $0.20, a 62% drop from its peak, according to Coinmarketcap.

The start of the TST pump can be traced back to a brief appearance of the token’s name in a single frame of the tutorial video. The video was briefly taken down after this was discovered, but Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao later instructed the team to put it back online. In his X post, CZ clarified that TST was not an official token and had no connection to BNB Chain beyond its role as a demonstration for the tutorial. 

However, although the token was created for educational purposes only, it had an unintended benefit as the resulting speculation on TST likely played a role in the recent surge of unique active addresses on the network.

As the number of active addresses on the Binance Smart Chain continues to rise, it brings its MEV issue into sharper focus. Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) refers to the extra profits made by validators by manipulating the order of transactions, often through front-running and sandwich attacks, which exploit the network’s vulnerabilities for financial gain.

The sandwich attack in particular has become a notorious exploit on the BNB Chain, with users losing millions of dollars as bots manipulate transactions to make a profit. In 2024 alone, BNB Chain users reportedly lost around $1.5 billion to these types of attacks, highlighting the vulnerability of the network as trading volume surges.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has recently surfaced the MEV issue on X by posting a poll on X asking if BNB Chain should eliminate/aggressively reduce MEV issues.