BNB Is More Deflationary Than Bitcoin, Says Blockchain Expert

Highlights:

• Anndy Lian says BNB is more deflationary than Bitcoin because token burns keep reducing its total supply.
• CZ calls Bitcoin deflationary, citing its fixed 21 million cap and potentially lost or inaccessible coins.
• Lian argues Bitcoin is technically disinflationary because miners still create new BTC despite its slowing issuance.

Crypto commentator Anndy Lian says BNB is more deflationary than Bitcoin because BNB’s total supply keeps falling. Bitcoin, however, still adds new coins through mining. Lian made the comparison in an August 16 post on X. His comments came after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, called Bitcoin a deflationary asset on August 15.

According to Lian, Bitcoin is technically disinflationary, not fully deflationary. Miners still create new BTC, so Bitcoin’s total supply continues to grow. However, the growth rate is very low. Lian said Bitcoin’s current annual inflation rate stands at about 0.82%.

CZ said more than 20.07 million Bitcoin had been mined as of August. That leaves only about 4.4% of Bitcoin’s maximum 21 million supply left to enter circulation. CZ also estimated that 10% to 20% of existing Bitcoin may be lost, stuck, or impossible to recover. Based on that reduced usable supply, he described Bitcoin as a deflationary asset.

Strictly speaking, bitcoin:native is disinflationary, not purely deflationary.

New coins are still being created, so the total supply is still growing (albeit very slowly; the current annual inflation rate is only ~0.82%). True deflation requires the supply to shrink.… https://t.co/vcuadhKqBe

— Anndy Lian (@anndylian) August 16, 2026

Bitcoin Supply Still Grows Despite Strong Scarcity

Lian disagreed with the technical use of the word deflationary. “Strictly speaking, BTC is disinflationary, not purely deflationary,” Lian wrote. Bitcoin remains scarce because it has a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins. Its issuance rate also falls over time through Bitcoin halvings. Still, miners continue to receive newly created BTC as block rewards.

Lost Bitcoin creates another form of scarcity. Coins that owners can no longer access may never return to the market. However, lost BTC does not reduce Bitcoin’s official total supply. One X user pointed out that lost coins reduce usable supply, while new mining continues to increase overall supply. Lian agreed with the distinction and said Bitcoin remains scarce.

CZ also noted that many long-term Bitcoin holders rarely move or sell their coins. As a result, a large amount of BTC may stay unavailable to buyers for long periods.

BNB Burns Reduce Total Token Supply

Lian said BNB follows a different supply model. No new BNB is currently minted, according to his post. At the same time, BNB uses token burns to permanently remove coins from circulation. Lian highlighted BNB’s 36th quarterly burn, which took place on July 15. The burn removed 1,615,828 BNB from circulation.

BNB also uses the BEP-95 real-time burn system. The mechanism automatically burns part of the gas fees collected from transactions on BNB Chain. Lian said BEP-95 has already removed more than 290,000 BNB since its launch. These burns continue to reduce the total BNB supply over time.

Bitcoin and BNB therefore create scarcity in different ways. Bitcoin limits supply to 21 million coins and reduces new issuance over time. BNB uses zero new issuance and regular token burns to shrink its existing supply. For that reason, Lian argues that BNB fits the technical definition of a deflationary cryptocurrency more closely than Bitcoin.

According to CoinMarketCap, BTC is trading at around $63,001.91, up 0.03% over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, BNB is trading near $604.71, down 0.93% during the same period.