Changpeng Zhao conducted a 24.7 leveraged long trade on Mubarak to test for MEV issues, triggering a surge in the token’s price.
On Mar. 23, Binance founder and former CEO opened a 24.7x leveraged long position on Mubarak (MUBARAK) with 0.04 BNB as collateral on APX Finance. The transaction was reported on X by on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa, to which CZ replied “Doing a little on-chain testing on Sunday, as usual. Nothing to be excited about.”
Despite CZ’s downplaying, ai_9684xtpa reported that in the 7 minutes since opening the position, APX (APX) surged by 26%, from $0.64 to $0.081, while MUBARAK rose by 5.5%, from $0.146 to $0.154. The trade was conducted using a public donation address and the position has now been closed.
大表哥的周末测试系列 —— 七分钟前，CZ 用公开捐款地址在 APX Finance 上用 0.04 $BNB 开出了 24.7 倍的 $mubarak 多单（目前仓位已关闭🤣）
– $APX ：已短时上涨 26%($0.64 > $0.081)
– $mubarak ：已短时上涨 5.5%($0.146 > $0.154)本文由 #Gateio | @Gateio_zh 赞助 https://t.co/Cq6tK390MP pic.twitter.com/EyGl6LVJ6c
— Ai 姨 (@ai_9684xtpa) March 23, 2025
This market reaction aligns with a familiar trend—whenever CZ trades or tweets, buying pressure follows. Recently, Zhao purchased 20,150 MUBARAK for 1 BNB (valued at $600 at the time), which sent MUBARAK surging, briefly claiming the top spot on BNB Chain’s memecoin rankings by market cap and trading volume soaring past $180 million, as reported by Root Data.
However, Zhao’s perpetuals trade on MUBARAK was conducted as a test, as he later explained in his post on X, stating “Just trying the experience, also trying to see how if there is still MEV.”
First perps on-chain test today.😂 Just trying the experience, also trying to see how if there is still MEV.
You might find it hard to fathom, I have never traded Futures on Binance (CEX). Seen many product demos though.😂 https://t.co/frKsAhL03B
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) March 23, 2025
Zhao has yet to share any findings from his testing related to Maximal Extractable Value. His perpetuals test follows his Feb. 7 poll on X, where he asked whether BNB Chain should eliminate or significantly reduce MEV issues.
Although MEV is more commonly associated with the Ethereum (ETH) network, BNB Chain users have also faced significant losses due to MEV—where validators reorder or rearrange transactions waiting to be included in the block to maximize their profits. In 2024 alone, BNB users reportedly lost around $1.5 billion due to MEV.
