Exchange Listing Observation: Shrinking Native Supply of Cryptocurrencies, Stock Assets Become a New Arena

Author: Hu Tao, ChainCatcher

The cryptocurrency exchange listing ecosystem in 2026 is undergoing an unprecedented structural transformation. On one side, the issuance of native cryptocurrencies has plummeted, with leading exchanges entering a state where "delistings exceed listings." Popular categories such as DeFi and GameFi are being systematically removed; on the other side, traditional financial assets like stock perpetual contracts and stock spot trading are rapidly expanding on major trading platforms, becoming a "second growth curve" to fill product gaps and attract new users.

I. Dramatic Decline in Listing Frequency

The significant shrinkage in new coin supply is the core underlying reason for the decline in listing frequency on exchanges. As the primary market cools and the reserve of quality projects dries up, the industry faces a common challenge of "no coins to list," leading to a wave of asset delistings across the sector.

According to statistics from RootData, most leading exchanges have entered a net contraction state where "delistings exceed listings." Gate.io has delisted as many as 257 tokens this year, while only listing 80, resulting in a net decrease of 177, making it the platform with the most significant delisting efforts; Binance has delisted 42, and Bybit 59, both significantly higher than their respective new listings of 16 and 23; Kraken has delisted 64, also in the net delisting range. Only OKX, Upbit, and Coinbase have maintained a positive expansion with more new listings than delistings.

This large-scale delisting is not coincidental. During the previous bull market cycle, many second-tier exchanges survived by employing a "massive listing" strategy: by listing hundreds or even thousands of long-tail tokens, they attracted niche community users and speculative funds, creating a facade of trading volume through thin trading depth.

However, as we enter this bear market, market liquidity has significantly shrunk, with many long-tail tokens dropping over 99% from their peak prices, and trading depth nearly exhausted. The technical and risk control costs of maintaining trading pairs have far exceeded fee income. Mass delisting of low-quality assets and shrinking spot trading lines have become a practical choice for second-tier exchanges to control costs and mitigate risks.

From the current total token supply perspective, within the statistical scope, Gate.io still ranks first with 1,721 tokens, while Binance, Kraken, and Bybit maintain scales of 814, 767, and 755 respectively.

In the context of widespread contraction across the industry, Kraken's performance is particularly unusual. This U.S. exchange, known for its strict compliance and conservative listing practices, has listed 95 new tokens this year, far exceeding peers like Binance and Coinbase, making it the leading platform in terms of new listings.

This strategic shift may be closely related to its capital market process. The market generally believes that at this critical IPO juncture, Kraken has a stronger demand for trading volume, fee income, and performance growth. By accelerating the listing pace and covering more "old coins" and niche assets, Kraken aims to enhance platform trading volume and user activity within a compliant framework, providing stronger performance support for its valuation at the time of listing.

In contrast, Binance and Coinbase continue to maintain a relatively restrained listing pace, with only 16 and 18 new tokens listed this year, focusing more on asset quality and compliance risk control; OKX and Upbit maintain moderate expansion, slightly supplementing asset categories while controlling delisting risks. The strategic differentiation among leading exchanges essentially reflects survival choices under different compliance environments and development stages.

II. Second Growth Curve: Stock Assets Become a New Arena for Exchanges

In the context of insufficient supply of native crypto assets, traditional financial assets, especially stock-related products, are becoming a new arena for exchanges to compete for, with both stock spot trading and stock perpetual contracts expanding simultaneously.

In the stock spot trading market, Binance occupies a leading position with an absolute advantage, leading with a comprehensive score of 84.54, with a 24-hour open order book trading volume of $284 million and a market share of 49.83%, nearly half of the market.

Gate and OKX follow closely, with market shares of 13.27% and 15.36%, and 24-hour trading volumes of $75.67 million and $87.64 million respectively; Bitget ranks in the second tier with a 7.95% market share. In terms of asset richness, Gate has over 12,500 real securities, and Kraken exceeds 11,400, giving them an advantage in the breadth of coverage.

The competition in the stock perpetual contract arena is even more intense. Compared to stock spot trading, stock perpetual contracts provide an excellent opportunity for mid-tier exchanges to achieve a leapfrog advantage: on one hand, contract trading inherently carries leverage and allows for both long and short positions, which aligns well with the trading habits of crypto users, resulting in low migration costs; on the other hand, stock perpetual contracts do not require integration with traditional brokerage clearing and settlement systems, lowering the product launch threshold and allowing for faster iteration, enabling quick responses to market trends.

RootData shows that five exchanges—BingX, MEXC, Gate, Bitget, and Ourbit—have listed more than 180 stock perpetual contracts, ranking them among the top five in the industry. During periods of subdued native crypto market activity, contracts for popular tech stocks like Nvidia and Tesla have become crucial for activating user trading enthusiasm and driving platform fee income.

The collective push by exchanges into stock assets is essentially a necessary choice after the peak of incremental growth in the native crypto sector. By introducing global mainstream stock targets like U.S. stocks, exchanges can fill the product gaps caused by the scarcity of new crypto coins, attract traditional financial users, broaden user boundaries, and achieve a positioning upgrade from "crypto exchanges" to "comprehensive asset trading platforms," while smoothing out performance fluctuations caused by a single crypto cycle.

III. Changes in Wealth Effect: From "New Listing Wealth Creation" to "Diverse Speculation"

The deep-seated shift in listing logic has also fundamentally rewritten the path of wealth effects in the crypto market, marking the end of the once-popular myth of "new listing wealth creation," as the focus of market speculation is shifting.

In recent years, new coin listings have been one of the core paths to wealth creation in the crypto market. During the hot phase of the bull market in 2025, the average first-day increase of new coins listed on leading exchanges generally exceeded 100%, with popular star projects even achieving returns of over ten times, making "snatching primary quotas" and "ambushing listing announcements" the core profit strategies for market participants. However, with the significant shrinkage in new coin supply and the overall market liquidity remaining weak, the rate of new coins breaking below their listing price has significantly increased, marking the end of the era of wealth creation solely relying on listing bonuses.

IOSG Ventures tracked the spot trading of six major exchanges—Coinbase, Binance Spot, ByBit, OKX, Bithumb, and Upbit—from 2026 to mid-May, totaling 207 listing records covering 92 independent tokens. The data shows that, based on the average returns 30 days after listing, no trading platform recorded positive returns, with "listing at peak, buying at loss" becoming the norm in the new coin market.

According to RootData, among new coins that have been traded for at least 30 days this year, only a handful—LIT, ZAMA, CAP, BTW, MARSCOIN, etc.—remain in positive growth, accounting for no more than 8% of all new coins.

In this bear market, new listings no longer signify broad profit sharing; they have become an exit window for early holders—including project parties, institutions, and early players. More often, listings serve as a liquidity release window for early holders rather than a starting point for new funds to flow in.

What is even more concerning is that the current market has formed a highly structured and solidified price transmission chain for new listings, with the value discovery cycle of new coins being severely compressed: Coinbase and Bybit undertake early price discovery, often accompanied by favorable news to drive prices up, creating short-term profit effects; Binance Perps validate liquidity within days, testing the real acceptance strength through the contract market; Binance spot usually confirms after a pullback, completing the credit endorsement of top platforms; while Korean exchanges systematically occupy the high-end acceptance at the tail end.

A token typically takes just over 20 days to move from its debut to Korean exchanges, and its price generally completes a full cycle. Data confirms this transmission pattern: the peak return at debut is significant (ByBit +86%), the premium for entry on Korean exchanges is high (Upbit +27.4%) but the 30-day decline is steep (-25.7%). Behind this is a standardized exit path in the primary market: early funds complete most of their sales during the debut phase, and by the time the token lands on top exchanges and Korean markets, the chips have gradually shifted to retail investors, leading to inevitable price declines due to a lack of new funding support.

At the same time, the introduction of stock assets brings a new paradigm of wealth effects to the market. On one hand, mainstream U.S. stocks like Tesla, Nvidia, and Apple have mature fundamental pricing logic, with relatively controllable volatility, providing crypto users with low-correlation asset allocation options that enhance the risk resistance of investment portfolios; on the other hand, the leveraged trading attributes of stock derivatives also extend the high-speculation characteristics of the crypto market, becoming an important supplement for traders to seek profits during periods of subdued native crypto market activity.

Conclusion

From the mass delisting of native cryptocurrencies to the collective expansion of stock assets; from the "broad net" quantity expansion to structured exit transmission; from the era of wealth creation through public listings to the bear market norm of stock-based speculation, the changes in the exchange listing landscape reflect the cyclical transformation of the entire crypto industry.

As the supply dividend in the primary market fades, the rough growth model relying solely on the expansion of listing quantities can no longer be sustained. Refined asset selection, diversified category layouts, and compliant product designs will become the core of competition for exchanges in the next stage.

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