The network identifiers
Every network compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine has a number, and wallets use it to know which chain they are talking to. Four of them appear across the BNB family, and only one is used routinely.
| Network | Chain ID | Fee currency |
|---|---|---|
| BNB Smart Chain mainnet | 56 | BNB |
| opBNB mainnet | 204 | BNB |
| BNB Smart Chain testnet | 97 | tBNB, with no value |
| opBNB testnet | 5611 | tBNB, with no value |
BNB Chain's documentation publishes the mainnet configuration as network name BSC Mainnet, chain ID 56, currency symbol BNB, and confirms that any Ethereum wallet works once those details are added (source: BNB Chain Docs). An independent registry of chain identifiers records the same values (source: ethereum-lists).
Chain 56 is the one that matters for almost everything, since it is where applications, tokens and staking all live. Adding a network manually also needs an endpoint the wallet connects through, and a public one for BNB Smart Chain is https://bsc-dataseed1.bnbchain.org, with https://bscscan.com as the block explorer. BNB wallet setup covers entering these values correctly.
Why one address works on several networks
This is the property behind most wrong-network losses, and it follows from how the addresses are generated.
Your address is derived from your key, and every network using the same standard derives it the same way, so the identical string beginning 0x identifies you on BNB Smart Chain, on opBNB, on Ethereum and on dozens of other networks. The balances behind it are entirely separate on each.
The practical effect is that an address always looks correct. Sending to the right address on the wrong network produces a transfer that succeeds, arrives somewhere real, sits under your control, and is useless for whatever you were doing. Nothing about the address tells you which network was used.
What determines the outcome is the network selected on the sending side, which means checking it on both sides before you send. Exchanges label BNB Smart Chain as BEP20 in their withdrawal menus. Sending and receiving BNB covers the checks that prevent this.
Token contract addresses
Anything on BNB Smart Chain other than BNB itself is a token, and every token is a contract with a unique address. That address is the only reliable way to know what you are holding, because names and symbols can be copied freely by anyone.
The one people meet most is wrapped BNB, or WBNB, which is BNB packaged as a standard token so that contracts can handle it like any other. Its contract on BNB Smart Chain is 0xbb4CdB9CBd36B01bD1cBaEBF2De08d9173bc095c (source: PancakeSwap token list). Decentralized exchanges wrap and unwrap it automatically during swaps, so most people hold it briefly without noticing.
The habit worth building is verifying a contract address against the project's own documentation or a major data provider you navigated to yourself, before trading any token you have not traded before. An address supplied by whoever is promoting the token establishes nothing. BNB scams and fake tokens covers why this matters.
BNB itself has no token contract on BNB Smart Chain, because it is the network's native currency. Anything appearing there as a BNB-branded token is something else by definition, which makes it one of the easier impostors to identify.
System contract addresses
A few addresses belong to the protocol rather than to any application, and two are worth recognizing.
Staking runs through the Stake Hub contract at 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000002002, which records validators and delegations and is where a delegation transaction is sent. How to stake BNB covers sending that transaction.
Burned coins go to 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD, an address with no known private key, so anything sent there is permanently removed from circulation while staying visible on the chain. You will see it written in all lower case as well, which is the same address in a different formatting convention. BNB burns covers the two mechanisms sending coins there.
Addresses beginning with a long run of zeros are a recognizable pattern for system contracts, since they were reserved rather than generated. That is a useful thing to know when reading a transaction, because it identifies protocol machinery at a glance.
The retired identifiers
One format belongs to a network that has stopped, and it is worth recognizing because coins sent to it arrive nowhere.
BNB Beacon Chain used addresses beginning bnb1, which look nothing like the 0x format used everywhere else in the family. That network shut down at block height 385,251,927 on December 3, 2024 (source: BNB Chain Docs), so anything showing a bnb1 address in an old note, backup or contact list belongs to a chain that no longer produces blocks.
Its token standard, BEP2, is retired along with it, and tokens left there need recovering through a specific process. Exchange withdrawal menus offering BEP2 are referring to that retired network, and BEP20 is the current one. The Beacon Chain sunset covers the dates and the recovery route.
The checks that use all of this
- Confirm the chain ID your wallet is set to before copying an address anywhere, since the selector holds whatever you last chose.
- Match the network on both sides of a transfer, because the address will look right whichever one is picked.
- Choose BEP20 for BNB Smart Chain in an exchange withdrawal menu, and treat BEP2 as a retired option.
- Verify a token's contract address against official documentation before trading it, since names and symbols carry no guarantee.
- Compare the first and last four characters of any address after pasting it, which defeats clipboard-hijacking malware.
- Treat a bnb1 address as unusable, because the network behind it stopped producing blocks in December 2024.
Getting coins to a wallet in the first place comes before any of this, and BloFin lists BNB/USDT on spot with a minimum order size of 0.001 BNB. How to buy BNB covers the purchase and withdrawal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the chain ID for BNB Smart Chain?
Fifty-six for mainnet, which is the network almost everything uses. The test network is 97, opBNB mainnet is 204 and opBNB testnet is 5611. Wallets use the number to know which chain they are talking to, and most now include BNB Smart Chain as a preset, so you rarely have to type it in.
Why is my address the same on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain?
Because the address is derived from your key, and every network following the same standard derives it identically. The balances behind it stay entirely separate on each network. That is exactly why sending to the right address on the wrong network is so common: the address looks correct either way, and only the network selection decides where the coins arrive.
What is the WBNB contract address?
On BNB Smart Chain the WBNB contract sits at 0xbb4CdB9CBd36B01bD1cBaEBF2De08d9173bc095c. WBNB is BNB packaged as a standard token so contracts can handle it like any other, and decentralized exchanges wrap and unwrap it automatically during swaps. It is worth the same as BNB and converts back one for one, and it has to be unwrapped before it can pay a transaction fee.
Does BNB have a token contract?
Not on BNB Smart Chain, because it is the network's native currency rather than a token. That makes any BNB-branded token appearing on the chain something else by definition, which is a useful shortcut for spotting impostors. On other networks a wrapped or bridged version of BNB does exist as a token, with its own contract address.
What is the BNB burn address?
0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dEaD, an address with no known private key, so anything sent there can never be moved again. It holds around 16.5 million BNB, which is a large part of the destroyed supply rather than all of it, since earlier burn programs retired coins by other routes. You will see the address written in all lower case too, which is the same address under a different formatting convention.
Should you send BNB to a bnb1 address?
That format belonged to BNB Beacon Chain, which stopped producing blocks in December 2024. Coins sent to one of those addresses arrive nowhere at all. Current BNB addresses begin with 0x, in the same format as Ethereum, and any bnb1 address in an old note, backup or saved contact should be treated as unusable.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. Updated September 2026. Primary sources include BloFin's Help Center, the BNB Chain documentation, the ethereum-lists chain registry and the PancakeSwap token list. All facts independently verified against cited documentation current as of September 2026.
This article is educational and general in nature, not financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrencies like BNB carry real risks, including price volatility, venue risk, smart-contract exploits in ecosystem applications, issuer and chain risk, and the chance of losing funds sent on the wrong network. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. Do your own research, and consider speaking with a licensed professional before making financial decisions. BloFin does not provide investment advice.