The Binance chain fell under severe scrutiny on the 24th of April, just a day after its supposed launch. Udi Wertheimer, an independent developer and Bitcoin enthusiast, tweeted out a few times criticizing Binance Chain after calling out Binance developers for not providing the source code of their alleged “open source” project.
What Exactly Is the Problem with Binance Chain
There is always speculation and criticism when it comes to cryptocurrency projects and mostly, those accusations towards a certain project turn out to be mostly FUDs (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). In the case of Binance Chain, Udi Wertheimer seems to have a solid point to bring out to the community. He states that Binance have not updated the binaries or source code for the new Binance Chain. He also states that he contacted the developers through Telegram and asked for the source code as they state that its “open source” and everyone can view it, but he was not provided with it.
It should also be noted that the full node source code for the chain is also nowhere to be found as Wertheimer stated in a tweet on 19th April after trying to find it. In another statement, he says that Binance gives recommendation to their users, who want to migrate their tokens to the new chain, to use the official SDK. This will be done via an HTTP API which uses the Binance trustless servers. He noted that also the Binance DEX which will use the new chain also has no source code or binaries available to the public, meaning they are not open source. In the eyes of the community this means that the new chain and DEX are not open source, only light clients and no full nodes at all.
Conclusion
Usually in the crypto sphere, the speculations that are being given out regularly don’t really affect the project themselves unless there is some ground to the criticism. In this case, what Udi Wertheimer found as facts that backup his allegations are resonating throughout the whole Binance community. The lack of source codes or binaries that were thought to be available as well as missing full node client source code might actually do some damage to the reputation of Binance. According to Udi himself as well as other community members, these issues could’ve been avoided easily if the Binance team reacted on time and kept the community in the loop.