A report commissioned by Bloomberg has revealed a surge in the listing of crypto tokens in the first six months of 2024, rising by 11.6% to 2,066 on major exchanges.
According to the report, this suggests that crypto is back in vogue. The analysis of select exchanges that CCData conducted for Bloomberg shows that the 2,066 listings were recorded on higher-volume exchanges including Binance and Bybit.
For lower-volume exchanges including CoinJar and BTC Markets, crypto token listings were up by nearly 32% to 488, the researcher found.
The report noted that figure does not include the deluge of memecoins that are inspired by internet memes or trends that trade on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap that allow users to maintain control over their assets. It added that more than one million memecoins have been issued already this year.
Crypto prices rally
According to the report, the surge in listings on centralized exchanges has been driven by this year’s rally in crypto prices, led by market leader Bitcoin’s more than 50% increase. It added that expectations for more regulatory leeway have been bolstered by the US approval of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs this year, along with growing speculation that Donald Trump will be more crypto-friendly if he is elected president in November.
A portfolio manager at digital-asset firm Pantera Capital, Cosmo Jiang, was quoted in the report, stating,
“I am optimistic that the shifting political and regulatory stance toward crypto starts driving positive change. Specifically, I hope that with regulatory clarity increasing, tokens with real value tied to strong fundamentals will stand out, and those without real value such as memecoins will lose out.”
Bloomberg noted that startups have also once again begun launching tokens, from memecoins to coins used for gaming, as a way to finance operations or expand community support. It described that as a big change from 2022, when crypto markets crashed following a series of scandals and bankruptcies such as the collapse of the FTX exchange.
Still lower than 2021
Citing another researcher, the report noted that the spike in new listings on centralized exchanges is still likely smaller than it was in 2021, according to researcher Kaiko. In 2022, listings were down by more than 50%, and fell another 20% last year, Kaiko said.
Bybit, which has seen its trading volume and market share surge, has been the most prolific lister among higher-volume exchanges, with listings up 83% since the start of 2023, CCData found. Coinbase has been the most conservative, with its listings up 8.2% over the same period, CCData said.
What you should know
Another report just released by Coingecko, the leading crypto-tracking website in the industry revealed that Memecoins were the major market movers in the second quarter of the year and the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropped by 14% within the time frame.
The report revealed that memecoins were the center of attraction in the industry in Q2 and the S&P 500 outperformed the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies which declined by 14%.
The total crypto market capitalization lost $408.8 billion in the last three months closing the Q2 with a total market capitalization of $2.43 trillion. The market capitalization fell short and was unable to hit a new all-time high.