In response to criticism over its decision to allocate up to 5.5% of its tokens to Binance, Scroll explained the strategic rationale behind the move.
The company noted that the partnership with Binance is more than just a listing; it said it is a calculated effort to expand the reach of the Ethereum ecosystem, especially in emerging markets.
“I don’t think partnering with Binance is ‘bowing to a CEX for a listing,’ it’s a strategic decision to build a partnership for growth and broader support,” said Scroll Co-Founder Ye Zhang. Zhang explained that the partnership is crucial for stablecoin support, especially in emerging markets like Africa. “After visiting Africa, I saw that everyone is using Binance, even for many locals, it has a stronger legitimacy than Ethereum,” he said.
By partnering with Binance, Scroll aims to accelerate this process and ensure long-term growth. “Strong CEX support is absolutely crucial if we want to build a competitive ecosystem with true global reach and attract different categories of users to the Ethereum ecosystem,” Zhang added.
Zhang acknowledged the challenges of timing in a fast-moving market where layer 2 solutions are becoming commoditized. He noted that it was easier to get exchange support when ETH, Arbitrum, and Optimism launched, but the current environment requires more effort: “Crypto users are generally not infrastructure-savvy, so it’s a tough timing to get the deep support we need. We can definitely be ambitious about listing without any deals, but other deeper support takes months,” he said.
*This is not investment advice.