BNB Chain hackathon winner accuses Binance of stealing AI-powered NFT idea

by Arthur · March 5, 2023

Crypto exchange Binance has been accused of “blatantly” copying the winner of the BNB Chain hackathon after launching Bicasso – an AI-based non-fungible token (NFT) creation tool. Binance reportedly ripped off a tool created by Chatcasso just two months after awarding them first prize in a BNB Chain hackathon held in Seoul between December 17-19, 2022.

March 1, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao announced the launch of Bicasso, an artificial intelligence (AI) product that can be used to “turn your creative visions into NFTs with AI.” However, community member ggoma believes that Binance copied his project Chatcasso and submitted it as its own offering.

Binance, for its part, denied the accusations of stealing. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that Bicasso is an experimental project built by a small team at Binance as a test, and that NFTs and AI are common concepts that many industry players are working on.

Chatcasso won first prize in the BNB Chain hackathon for creating an AI-powered tool to create NFTs and won $5,000 in Binance USD (BUSD).

Chatcasso won first prize in BNB Chain hackathon, Seoul, December 2022. Source: Twitter

However, ggoma was shocked to see Binance launch a similar platform within two months, as he said:

“A big company like Binance copying everything down to the name? It’s not only unethical, but it’s also confusing for users. The names are so similar that it’s hard to tell them apart.”

In addition, ggoma shared screenshots of the two projects in an attempt to show the similarities between the user interface and the possibilities.

Screenshots showing similarities between the Chatcasso and Bicasso platforms. Source: Twitter

However, Binance claims that the similarities do not amount to theft of ideas. The exchange’s spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

“Despite the similarities, after conducting an internal review, we are confident that Bicasso was designed and developed independently more than two weeks before the BNB hackathon.”

Also, Binance and BNB Chain operate separately, and the Binance development team is not involved in BNB Chain hackathons, the crypto exchange said. On the other hand, ggoma expressed dissatisfaction with the similar names of the two platforms in question:

“A big company like Binance copying everything down to the name? It’s not only unethical, but it’s also confusing for users. The names are so similar that it’s hard to tell them apart.”

Binance clarified to Cointelegraph that the name Bicasso was inspired by the OpenAI tool ‘Dall-E’, which is a reference to the artist Dali, adding that “our team loved this concept.”

The whole episode made ggoma skeptical about participating in hackathons in the future, as he wondered if his ideas would be rebranded by a market leader at a later date. “We hope that Binance realizes the impact of their actions and takes steps to correct their mistakes,” ggoma added while warning builders that “there are companies out there that will try to take advantage of your hard work.”

Binance’s Bicasso became an instant hit among NFT investors as the AI-powered NFT generator registered 10,000 mints in 2.5 hours.

Related: Binance launches anti-fraud campaign after Hong Kong pilot run

CZ recently warned investors that a Photoshopped image with misinformation was being circulated on WeChat, a social media platform in China.

CZ further highlighted the importance of rejecting fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) and advised investors to ignore false claims that surface from time to time.