Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has been accused of copying the idea of an artificial intelligence-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform from a hackathon winner. Cho Young-hwi, the co-founder of Hunt and the designer of Chatcasso, took to Twitter to voice his concern after Binance launched its eerily similar project, Bicasso. He claimed that he presented his idea during Binance’s BNB Chain Hackathon and was shocked that the exchange had copied it. Young-hwi even shared the original pitch to support his case.
However, one Twitter user suggested that Binance could claim ownership of ideas submitted at the hackathon. According to the rules of the Binance Hackathon, submissions are only made on Binance Smart Chain, and judges from the company evaluate the open-source submissions to invite them to later rounds.
Despite the controversy, NFTs are increasing in popularity, with more people showing interest in digital collectibles. Young-hwi believes that NFTs will be used more often in everyday life beyond web3. His platform, Chatcasso, solves the design issue, allowing anyone to implement their ideas as NFTs. Bicasso also uses AI technology to mint NFTs.
Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of Binance, launched the beta version of Bicasso on March 1, where users can mint one of 10,000 NFTs in the current version of the program. The NFT market experienced a revival following the FTX crash, with the Ethereum blockchain exceeding $2 billion in NFT volume for the first time since May 2022. However, research by DappRadar suggests that the launch of the Blur marketplace took the market back to a pre-LUNA era, with Blur dominating the market with $1.3 billion in trading activity.
The controversy surrounding Binance and Chatcasso has ignited a debate about intellectual property and ethics in the cryptocurrency industry. It remains to be seen how this issue will be resolved and what impact it will have on the NFT market.