A long-term cryptocurrency investor transformed $1,000 into $1 million, showcasing the benefits of patient digital asset holding strategies.
The “diamond hand” investor turned their initial $1,000 BNB (BNB) investment into over $1 million, achieving a 1,000-fold return over eight years.
The investor acquired their holdings for just $1,000 when the Binance ecosystem’s native token was trading at around $1 back in 2017, according to data from blockchain platform Lookonchain.
Despite the impressive return, the trader continues to hold the BNB tokens instead of cashing out, according to information from blockchain intelligence platform Nansen.
The near $1 million profit comes as the BNB token reached a new all-time high of $1,005 on Tuesday, according to Cointelegraph data, indicating rising investor expectations for an upcoming altcoin season.
Three weeks ago, Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor, predicted that the crypto market is in the “waiting room” before the next phase of price discovery, which may extend the market cycle peak into the first or second quarter of 2026.
“Our analyses suggest (with probabilities) that the cycle could extend into Q1 2026 and possibly Q2 2026 due to a slow business cycle requiring more liquidity for longer,” he shared in an Aug. 29 X post.
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BNB all-time high driven by native utility
A mix of growth factors led to BNB’s new all-time high above $1,000, including its native “utility,” according to Marwan Kawadri, DeFi lead and head of EMEA at BNB Chain.
BNB serves as a “unique” network token with increasing utility across centralized exchanges, as institutional investors show more interest due to the “growing momentum of DATs focusing on quality assets like BNB,” Kawadri noted in remarks to Cointelegraph.
“[BNB] continues to show strong growth momentum: attracting more developers, more protocols, more capital, and more users.”
This fosters a “flywheel effect for the network and the native token,” he elaborated.
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“Watching #BNB rise from $0.10 during its ICO eight years ago to today’s $1000 is indescribable,” remarked Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao in a Thursday X post.
“We faced numerous challenges along the way, but we persevered, built, and held our ground,” he added.
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