Author: Olga Kharif, Boomberg; Translated by: Wuzhu, Golden Finance
Exchanges with large trading volumes (including tokens)
On exchanges with higher volumes, such as Binance and Bybit, the number of token listings in the first six months of the year grew 11.6% cumulatively to 2,066, according to an analysis of selected exchanges conducted by CCData for Bloomberg. On exchanges with lower volumes, such as CoinJar and BTC Markets, listings grew nearly 32% to 488, the researchers found.
That number comes from so-called centralized exchanges, such as Binance or Coinbase Global Inc., which custody users’ assets. It excludes the vast number of memecoins inspired by Internet memes or trends that trade on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, which allow users to control their own assets. More than 1 million memecoins have been issued this year.
Token listings surge on exchanges with high trading volume
Track listings on selected centralized exchanges
The surge in centralized exchange listings has been driven by rising cryptocurrency prices this year, with market leader Bitcoin up more than 50%. Expectations of looser regulation have been bolstered by the approval of bitcoin and ethereum ETFs in the U.S. this year and growing speculation that Donald Trump would adopt a friendlier cryptocurrency policy if elected president in November.
“I am optimistic that shifting political and regulatory stances toward cryptocurrencies will begin to drive positive change,” said Cosmo Jiang, a portfolio manager at digital asset firm Pantera Capital. “Specifically, I expect that as regulatory clarity improves, tokens with real value tied to strong fundamentals will stand out, while those without real value, such as memecoins, will be left behind.”
Startups are also starting to issue tokens again, from memecoins to tokens for gaming, as a way to finance operations or expand community support. This is a big change from 2022, when the cryptocurrency market collapsed after a series of scandals and bankruptcies, such as the collapse of the FTX exchange.
Researcher Kaiko said the surge in new listings on centralized exchanges is likely to still be lower than in 2021. Kaiko said the number of listings fell by more than 50% in 2022 and another 20% last year.
CCData found that among exchanges with larger trading volumes, Bybit has seen a surge in trading volume and market share, with the largest number of coin listings, up 83% since the beginning of 2023. CCData said Coinbase was the most conservative, with an 8.2% increase in coin listings over the same period.
Dessislava Aubert, senior analyst at Kaiko, said: “So far this year, we have a mixed picture, with Binance not listing as aggressively as before, but other platforms are stepping up their listing pace. So since the rally started, there has been an overall increase in listings, but not as fast as in previous cycles.”
New tokens often help increase spot trading activity. Bybit’s trading volume in June was 33% higher than in December, according to CCData. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, saw its trading volume fall slightly over the same period.
In November, Binance reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and several other agencies and agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine. Since then, Binance has tightened its listing requirements, making it more difficult for projects and market makers to work with the exchange.
