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How Hyperliquid's HLP Vault Turns Market Chaos Into Profit

2026-07-02T06:57:02Z

HLP’s Profit Bursts and Notable Incidents

Hyperliquid's community-owned market-making vault, HLP, has generated $136.9M in cumulative profit since its May 2023 launch, growing total value locked from zero to a peak of $603.9M in September 2025. While TVL has swung between roughly $150M and $600M across repeated boom-bust cycles, cumulative PnL has climbed in a near-staircase pattern, long flat stretches punctuated by sharp jumps that tend to arrive precisely when market volatility is at its peak.

Two of those jumps account for a disproportionate share of the vault's lifetime earnings. The October 10, 2025 market-wide flash crash added an estimated $41.5M to HLP's PnL in a single weekend, resulting in a ~10% gain for depositors. On January 31, 2026, the liquidation of trader Garrett Jin's leveraged ETH long added another $15M, a single-event return of 5.8% to depositors. Combined, these two events account for roughly 41% of HLP's all-time profit, despite covering a combined span of less than two weeks out of the vault's nearly three-year history. This highlights HLP’s antifragile design where HLP's best days are the market's worst.

The vault has also been deliberately targeted on multiple occasions, and has absorbed every attack without its cumulative PnL ever turning negative. Two separate manipulation attempts in 2025, the March 26 JELLYJELLY incident and the November 12 POPCAT attack, were each engineered by traders exploiting how the vault inherits liquidated positions. Both failed to break it.

TVL Decline Reflects Growing Depositor Caution

Despite its general success, HLP's total value locked peaked at $603.9M in September 2025 and has since fallen to roughly $268.6M by June 2026, a decline of more than 55% over nine months. While cumulative PnL has continued its gradual climb across the same period, the gap between new deposits coming in and existing depositors withdrawing has widened noticeably.

Two factors likely explain the outflow. First, the vault's manipulation incidents have become increasingly visible and increasingly patterned. JELLYJELLY in March 2025, followed by POPCAT in November 2025, and a separate Fartcoin-related incident in April 2026, demonstrated that HLP's role as backstop liquidator makes it a predictable and repeatable target for coordinated attacks. Each incident renewed scrutiny of whether the vault's passive depositors are adequately compensated for the tail risk they are absorbing.

Second, HLP's PnL profile is not a steady yield. The chart makes clear that the vault can go weeks or months generating little to no measurable profit, with meaningful returns concentrated in a small number of high-volatility events. For depositors expecting consistent returns, those long flat stretches offer little incentive to keep capital locked in the vault when manipulation risk remains an open question.

What HLP actually is

HLP, short for Hyperliquidity Provider, is Hyperliquid's protocol-owned vault. Anyone holding USDC on Hyperliquid can deposit into it, and in return depositors share proportionally in the vault's PnL from three sources: market-making spreads across the exchange's 100-plus listed perps, funding rate capture, and backstop liquidations. When a trader's position falls below maintenance margin and the order book cannot absorb the full size of the close, HLP becomes the counterparty of last resort, taking over the position and unwinding it over time. This dual role, liquidity provider in normal markets, backstop absorber in stressed ones, is precisely what makes the vault most profitable when volatility spikes. There is no performance fee. Profits, and losses, flow entirely to depositors.

The JELLYJELLY Incident

On March 26, 2025, a trader shorted the low-liquidity memecoin JELLYJELLY, then pumped its spot price across exchanges until HLP, which had inherited the losing short through the liquidation engine, faced unrealized losses that peaked between $12M and $13.5M. Two centralized exchanges briefly listing JELLY futures during the squeeze added further pressure on the vault. Rather than let the position run, Hyperliquid's validator set voted within minutes to delist the JELLY contract and force-settle every open position at the attacker's original entry price rather than the manipulated market price. HLP's position ultimately closed at a profit of about $703,000 meaning that the attack failed.

The governance precedent, however, was controversial as it showed that a protocol marketed as decentralized used a centralized validator vote to override market pricing during an active attack, a decision that drew comparisons to centralized exchange bailouts and renewed scrutiny of how much control Hyperliquid's validator set actually holds. In the end, Hyperliquid’s swift action has worked in depositors' favor.

The POPCAT Attack

By November 12, 2025, attackers had a clear playbook. An anonymous trader withdrew $3M in USDC from a centralized exchange, split it across 19 wallets, built a roughly $26M to $30M leveraged long position in the memecoin POPCAT behind a fake $20M buy wall, then pulled the wall (removed $20M worth of limit buy orders). The resulting price collapse triggered cascading liquidations that left HLP with approximately $4.9M in bad debt, the third manipulation event targeting the vault within the year. Hyperliquid temporarily paused its Arbitrum bridge as a precaution before resuming normal operations. The $4.9M loss represented less than 1% of HLP's TVL at the time, and cumulative PnL continued climbing in the weeks that followed.

October 10 Was HLP’s Single Best Day

A tariff announcement triggered the largest single-day deleveraging event in crypto history on October 10, 2025, with roughly $19B liquidated across the market in 24 hours. Hyperliquid alone accounted for more than $10B of that figure, the highest of any venue. HLP, acting as the market's backstop liquidator, is estimated to have earned $40M to $41.5M in fees that weekend, a roughly 10% return to depositors in under 48 hours. The event also triggered Hyperliquid's first cross-margin auto-deleveraging event in over two years, as liquidations briefly outran available counterparties. Where most participants were nursing losses, HLP was collecting them. While the event was devastating for most traders, Hyperliquid’s technical design was showcased as it handled record liquidations (the highest of any platform on 10/10) without incurring any bad debt.

Methodology

HLP vault data was sourced from Hyperliquid's public info API via the vaultDetails endpoint, queried against the HLP vault address (0xdfc24b077bc1425ad1dea75bcb6f8158e10df303) on June 30, 2026. The API's allTime portfolio bucket returns a fixed downsampled series of approximately 93 data points spanning the vault's full history. To ensure consistent spacing, this series was resampled to a biweekly cadence by selecting the nearest available snapshot to each 14-day target interval, resulting in 83 data points used in the chart.

Cumulative PnL figures are drawn from the pnlHistory field, which represents the vault's all-time accumulated profit since inception rather than a daily or periodic measure. TVL figures are drawn from the accountValueHistory field of the same response, representing total USDC deposited in the vault at each snapshot.

Figures for individual incidents, including the October 10 flash crash, JELLYJELLY manipulation, POPCAT attack, and Garrett Jin liquidation, were sourced from on-chain analysts including MLM, and from crypto media including CoinDesk and The Block. Where figures vary across sources, ranges are stated. Incident dates reflect the date of the on-chain event as reported, not the snapshot date nearest to that event in the biweekly series.

If you cite these insights, we would appreciate a link credit to this article on CoinGecko, which allows us to keep supplying you with useful data-led content.

Related article: Hyperliquid Top Builders

This study is for illustrative and informational purposes only, and is not financial advice.

VARA, ADGM or Bahrain: Middle East Exchange Licensing Guide

2026-07-01T19:10:17Z

The Middle East has become one of the most closely watched regions for crypto exchange expansion.

Dubai’s VARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) licensing regime, in particular, has attracted strong industry attention as major exchanges look for regulated footholds in the UAE. For many operators, it is now one of the first jurisdictions that comes up in any serious licensing roadmap discussion.

However, visibility alone is not a sufficient basis for choosing a licensing jurisdiction. Exchanges should assess whether VARA, ADGM, or Bahrain best matches their customer base, service model, operating structure, compliance capacity, and long-term regional strategy.

A crypto license is not just a market-access credential. It shapes how the business will operate, who it can serve, what infrastructure it needs, what counterparties it can work with, and what standards it must continue to meet after approval.

Middle East licensing should therefore be treated less as a jurisdiction-shopping exercise, and more as an operating model decision.

Disclaimer: This article is adapted from CoinGecko’s webinar, Global Expansion Playbook for Exchanges: Where to Get Licensed Next & Common Bottlenecks. It is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, regulatory, or compliance advice. Exchanges should seek qualified legal counsel for jurisdiction-specific guidance.

Licensing Starts with the Business Model

When exchanges evaluate where to get licensed next, the discussion often begins with geography, market access, and competitor activity. These are important inputs, but they are not sufficient on their own.

A licensing decision should begin with the exchange’s operating model. This includes the customer segment it intends to serve, the services it plans to offer, the entity structure it will use, the level of local presence it can support, and the counterparties it expects to work with.

A retail exchange, an institutional brokerage, a custody provider, an OTC desk, and a trading venue serving regulated counterparties may all evaluate the Middle East differently. Each model creates different regulatory, operational, and commercial requirements.

The right jurisdiction is therefore not always the most visible one, but the one that best supports the business the exchange is trying to build.

This distinction is important because licensing is not limited to approval. Once a license is granted, the exchange must continue operating under the regime’s governance, compliance, reporting, and operational expectations. Exchanges should therefore assess whether they can sustain the obligations attached to the license, rather than focus only on whether they can obtain it.

Middle East Licensing

VARA, ADGM, or Bahrain: Which Licensing Regime Fits Your Business Model?

Each regime supports different business models. The right choice is the one that matches your Exchange's operating model, from customer base, service scope to counterparties.

VARA

Dubai, UAE

ADGM

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Bahrain

Kingdom of Bahrain

Regulatory model

Activity-based virtual asset framework

Common-law financial services environment

One of the earliest Middle East crypto regimes

Best-fit profile

Retail / B2C exchanges with a clearly defined service model

Institutional venues, OTC desks and professional-investor access

Firms early in their regional roadmap; cost-sensitive entrants

Strategic edge

Dedicated VASP regime inside an established Dubai digital-assets hub

Legal familiarity that reassures banks, TradFi partners and risk teams

Lower cost of entry; Sharia-law alignment where commercially relevant

Consider when

You can map each service to a regulated activity and build a Dubai-centred presence

Growth depends on institutional credibility and regulated counterparties

You want a regional foothold before committing to a larger footprint

Ongoing reality

Complex product suites need careful activity mapping and per-category governance

Trust is earned through governance and legal alignment, not brand visibility

Evaluate on cost, customer relevance and legal fit — not as a lesser option

Disclaimer: This content is adapted from a CoinGecko webinar with legal and regulatory professionals and is intended for informational purposes only, not legal, regulatory, or compliance advice.

VARA Crypto License: When It's the Right Fit

The VARA license has become one of the most prominent crypto regulatory regimes in the Middle East, with its appeal understandable. Dubai has positioned itself as a digital assets hub, and VARA provides a dedicated regulatory framework for virtual asset service providers.

However, exchanges should evaluate VARA based on business fit rather than market visibility.

VARA operates through an activity-based framework. This means exchanges need to understand how their services map to specific regulated activities, such as exchange services, broker-dealer services, custody, advisory, management, or investment services. The more complex the product suite, the more important this mapping becomes.

For example, an exchange offering spot trading, custody, staking, earn products, launchpads, institutional execution, and advisory-like services may need to assess whether these activities sit within one licensing scope or require additional permissions, controls, or operational separation.

VARA may be particularly relevant for companies that can clearly define their activities and are building a Dubai-centered operating presence. It may also be suitable for firms with a retail or B2C focus, especially where the business model aligns with VARA’s activity-based structure.

Before applying, exchanges should assess whether they can support the obligations attached to the relevant activity categories. This includes governance, compliance resources, operational processes, reporting obligations, and the infrastructure needed to run the licensed activities on an ongoing basis.

ADGM Crypto License: When It May Be More Suitable

The ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) crypto license should be evaluated separately from VARA, rather than treated as a direct substitute.

For some firms, ADGM’s relevance lies in its common law framework and broader financial services environment. This can be important for exchanges and crypto businesses that work with institutional clients, professional investors, OTC desks, regulated counterparties, or traditional finance partners.

In these contexts, licensing is not only about access to end users. It is also about the level of comfort the regime provides to counterparties, banks, payment partners, and internal risk teams.

Institutional clients may place significant weight on legal familiarity, contracting standards, governance expectations, and the broader financial regulatory environment. For exchanges pursuing institutional flows or regulated counterparty relationships, these considerations may be as important as the crypto-specific licensing framework itself.

ADGM may therefore be more relevant for firms whose growth depends on institutional credibility, professional investor access, execution services, OTC activity, or broader financial services alignment.

The practical implication is that exchanges should assess the type of trust they need to establish. A retail-focused exchange may prioritize brand visibility and customer access. An institutional venue may prioritize counterparty confidence, legal familiarity, and alignment with traditional financial services expectations.

Bahrain Crypto License: Where It May Fit

Bahrain should also be considered on its own terms—while it may not have the same visibility as Dubai, but it can be relevant for firms with different strategic priorities.

As one of the earlier Middle East regimes, Bahrain has a potentially lower cost of entry and relevance for firms beginning their regional licensing journey. This may matter for exchanges that are earlier in their regulatory roadmap, more cost-sensitive, or seeking a regional entry point before committing to a larger operating footprint.

Bahrain may also be relevant where Sharia law alignment is important to the firm’s target customers, products, or financial services positioning. This will not apply to every exchange, but it may be a meaningful consideration for businesses serving specific customer segments or counterparties in the region.

Comparing the Relative Cost of Entry Across VARA, ADGM and Bahrain

While cost is rarely the only factor in a licensing decision, it is often the first question a management team asks.

Across VARA, ADGM, and Bahrain, cost of entry is shaped by several components rather than a single license fee: application and licensing fees, minimum capital requirements, the cost of establishing local substance (office space, licensed personnel, governance infrastructure), and the ongoing cost of compliance once licensed.

VARA's cost profile tends to reflect the breadth of its activity-based framework. Firms with a wider service mix, from spot trading, custody, staking, to advisory-like services, which may face a higher combined cost of entry than firms applying for a single, narrowly defined activity.

ADGM's cost profile is often tied to its institutional and common law positioning. Firms building for institutional counterparties may find that the cost of meeting counterparty and governance expectations is comparable to, or exceeds, the direct licensing cost itself.

Bahrain is generally positioned as a lower-cost regional entry point relative to Dubai, which may make it more relevant for firms earlier in their licensing journey or operating with a leaner regional footprint.

Regardless, these are directional comparisons, not fixed figures. Actual costs shift with regulatory updates, activity scope, and firm-specific structuring, so exchanges should confirm current fee schedules and capital requirements directly with each regulator or with qualified local counsel before budgeting a licensing roadmap.

A Practical Framework for Evaluating the Middle East Path

A practical licensing review should evaluate VARA, ADGM, and Bahrain across several dimensions:

Customer Profile: Exchanges should clarify whether their priority is retail users, institutional clients, professional investors, high-net-worth individuals, regulated counterparties, or a combination of these groups.
Service Scope: Firms should map their actual and planned activities against the relevant regulatory framework. This is especially important for exchanges with multiple business lines, such as trading, custody, brokerage, advisory, staking, earn products, derivatives exposure, or institutional execution.
Operating Presence: Exchanges should assess whether they can maintain the necessary personnel, governance, decision-making, compliance resources, and local substance required by the regime.
Counterparty Strategy: Exchanges should consider which jurisdiction is most likely to support banking relationships, payment rails, liquidity partnerships, listing partners, institutional relationships, and broader financial services integrations.
Infrastructure Readiness: Firms should evaluate whether their systems can support regulated operations, including market data methodology, operational resilience, reporting, audit trails, surveillance, and historical reconstruction.

In other words, this framework helps exchanges avoid treating licensing as a branding exercise or a race to approval.

Licensing Readiness

Five Dimensions to Consider When Selecting a Jurisdiction

Each license is an operating-model decision. Work through these five dimensions before optimising for speed, cost, or the odds of approval.

Customer profile — Who are we actually serving?

Retail usersInstitutional clientsProfessional investorsHigh-net-worth individualsRegulated counterparties

Service scope — What activities are we really running?

TradingCustodyBrokerageAdvisoryStakingEarn productsDerivativesInstitutional execution

Operating presence — Can we sustain the local substance?

Personnel & relocationGovernanceLocal decision-makingCompliance resourcesLocal substance

Counterparty strategy — Which regime unlocks the partners we need?

Banking relationshipsPayment railsLiquidity partnersListing partnersInstitutional infrastructure

Infrastructure readiness — Can our systems withstand scrutiny?

Market-data methodologyOperational resilienceReportingAudit trailsSurveillanceHistorical reconstruction

Choosing the Jurisdiction that Matches Your Business Model

VARA, ADGM, and Bahrain should not be evaluated as interchangeable licensing options. Each regime may support a different customer profile, operating model, compliance burden, and regional strategy.

In sum, the VARA crypto license may be relevant for firms seeking a Dubai presence and an activity-based virtual asset framework, particularly where the business has a clearly defined service model and a retail or B2C orientation. ADGM may be more suitable for firms prioritizing institutional counterparties, common law familiarity, professional investor access, OTC activity, or broader financial services alignment. Bahrain may be relevant for firms seeking a different regional entry point, a potentially lower cost base, or alignment with customer segments where Sharia considerations are commercially important.

The appropriate choice depends on the business the exchange intends to operate, not only the jurisdiction it wants to enter.

A license may provide market access, but the sustainability of that access depends on whether the exchange can operate under the regime’s ongoing governance, compliance, counterparty, and infrastructure expectations. For exchanges evaluating the Middle East, the licensing roadmap should therefore begin with a clear assessment of business fit, operating readiness, and long-term regulatory defensibility.

Market Data as Part of Licensing Readiness

While jurisdiction selection is the first step, exchanges also need to consider whether their operating infrastructure can support the standards expected after approval.

For regulated exchange operations, market data is not used only for price display. It can support trading, settlement, reconciliation, portfolio valuation, surveillance, reporting, and historical reviews. These workflows may be reviewed not only by regulators, but also by banks, payment providers, auditors, and institutional counterparties.

This makes data defensibility an important part of licensing readiness. Exchanges should be able to explain where their pricing data comes from, how it is validated, how historical data can be reconstructed, and how pricing methodologies support customer-facing and risk-sensitive workflows.

For exchanges evaluating VARA, ADGM, Bahrain, or other licensing paths, the broader question is therefore not only which jurisdiction best fits the business model, but whether the exchange has the infrastructure to operate credibly once licensed.

Need Defensible Market Data for Regulated Exchange Operations? Book a Data Consultation Today

As regulatory expectations rise, exchanges need market data infrastructure that is reliable, auditable, and defensible. Speak with CoinGecko’s API team to explore how our data can support your pricing, reporting, and compliance workflows.

Crypto Exchange Licensing: Why Approval Is Only the Starting Point

2026-07-01T12:13:19Z

For crypto exchanges, securing a license is often treated as the major milestone in a regulatory roadmap. It can unlock market access, improve banking conversations, support institutional partnerships, and give the business a clearer path to operate in regulated markets.

However, approval is not the end state. Once licensed, an exchange must continue to meet the governance, reporting, operational resilience, and infrastructure expectations attached to the regime.

This means licensing readiness should not be assessed only by whether the business can submit an application. It should also be assessed by whether the exchange can operate credibly after approval.

Exchanges Should Avoid Optimizing Only for Speed

Many firms begin the licensing process by asking which jurisdiction is fastest, cheapest, or most likely to approve an application. These factors are understandable, particularly when competitors are announcing licenses and management teams are under pressure to demonstrate regulatory progress.

However, speed should not be the primary decision criterion.

A license that is obtained quickly but poorly matched to the business model may create longer-term operational constraints. It may limit product development, complicate counterparty relationships, increase compliance burden, or require a level of local presence that the exchange is not prepared to maintain.

Exchanges should instead evaluate whether the license can support the business over time. This requires a more practical set of questions.

The exchange should assess whether it can maintain the required local substance, hire or relocate the right personnel, support ongoing compliance obligations, explain its product suite clearly to the regulator, and operate the relevant governance and reporting processes after approval.

Licensing should also be assessed against the firm’s counterparty strategy. For many exchanges, the value of being licensed is not only customer acquisition. Licensing can also improve access to banks, payment institutions, regulated counterparties, corporate accounts, listing partners, and institutional infrastructure. Essentially, licensed exchanges may gain access to opportunities and ecosystems that unlicensed firms increasingly struggle to access.

This means the relevant question is not only which license is easiest to obtain. The more important question is therefore which license supports the commercial relationships the exchange needs to build.

Licensing Increases Expectations Beyond Legal Approval

A major license can create commercial advantages, but it also changes how the business is evaluated.

Once an exchange becomes regulated, it is assessed against higher standards of governance, operational resilience, customer protection, and market integrity. These expectations may come from regulators, but they may also come from banks, payment providers, institutional clients, auditors, liquidity partners, and board stakeholders.

This is where licensing becomes a cross-functional exercise. Legal and compliance teams may lead the application, but the underlying readiness depends on the broader organization.

Product teams need to define services clearly. Engineering and security teams need to support operational resilience. Finance and operations teams need reliable reporting and reconciliation processes. Risk teams need visibility into trading, liquidity, and market surveillance. Data teams need to ensure that pricing, historical records, and market data workflows can be explained and audited.

Exchanges that treat licensing as a legal project may underestimate the level of internal coordination required. A more mature approach is to treat licensing as an operating model transformation, where legal approval is one milestone within a broader readiness process.

Infrastructure Should Be Part of the Licensing Assessment

Infrastructure is often treated as an implementation detail after the jurisdiction has been selected. This creates risk because licensed operations depend on production systems that can withstand regulatory, operational, and counterparty scrutiny.

For exchanges, this includes systems supporting onboarding, trading, custody, settlement, surveillance, reporting, incident management, and pricing. It also includes the data infrastructure that feeds those systems.

Market data is particularly important because it is embedded in core exchange workflows. Prices influence trading interfaces, portfolio valuations, collateral calculations, liquidation engines, settlement processes, market surveillance, customer reporting, and historical analysis.

If an exchange cannot explain how its pricing data is sourced, validated, governed, and audited, it may face challenges in demonstrating the reliability of the systems built on top of that data.

This is especially relevant for exchanges seeking regulated status in order to work with institutional counterparties. Institutional partners are likely to care not only about whether the exchange is licensed, but also whether its data and infrastructure can support reliable execution, reporting, reconciliation, and audit requirements.

Market Data Should Be Defensible, Not Only Accessible

Most exchanges already have access to market data—but the more important question is whether that data is defensible.

Crypto markets are fragmented across centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, liquidity venues, derivatives markets, and onchain activity. This fragmentation creates operational challenges, especially during periods of volatility or when trading activity shifts across venues.

Exchanges should be able to explain where their pricing data comes from, how sources are selected, how outliers are handled, how fallback logic works, and how historical prices can be reconstructed after a market event.

These questions are relevant because market data is not used only for display purposes. It supports operational and compliance-critical workflows. It can affect execution quality, settlement, liquidation outcomes, surveillance alerts, fair value reporting, customer statements, and post-incident reviews.

Market Data

Accessible Data Isn't the Same as Defensible

Regulators, banks, and institutional counterparties will assess whether an exchange’s pricing data can withstand scrutiny

One pricing feed touches every compliance-critical workflow

Execution qualitySettlementLiquidation enginesCollateral calculationsMarket surveillanceFair-value reportingCustomer statementsPost-incident reviews

Five Questions Your Data Infrastructure Must Answer

Sourcing

Where does pricing come from, and how are venues selected across fragmented CEX, DEX, derivatives and onchain markets?

Outliers & fallback

How are anomalies filtered and fallback logic triggered when activity shifts across venues during volatility?

Lineage & governance

How is data validated, governed and audited end-to-end, from raw source to the number in the interface?

Reconstruction

Can historical prices be reconstructed after a market event to support a post-incident review?

Explainability

Can you explain the methodology clearly to a regulator, an auditor or an institutional counterparty on request?

A Defensible Data Foundation

A provider with a transparent methodology helps establish a foundation you can defend. CoinGecko API's data is built around the exact angles regulators and counterparties probe.

Transparent methodology

Documented source selection and aggregation logic

Data lineage

Traceable from raw venue data to reported price

Auditability

12+ years of historical data for reconstruction and review

Explainability

Coverage you can defend to regulators and partners

In practice, data providers with transparent methodologies, like the CoinGecko API, can help exchanges establish a more defensible foundation.

Conclusion: Licensing Readiness is Operating Readiness

A license can provide market access, but it does not by itself make an exchange institutionally ready.

For regulated exchanges, credibility depends on the operating model behind the license. This includes governance, compliance capacity, resilient infrastructure, reliable reporting, and defensible market data.

Exchanges that treat licensing as a legal milestone may secure approval but still face operational challenges after launch. Exchanges that treat licensing as an operating readiness exercise are better positioned to meet the expectations of regulators, counterparties, and institutional clients over time.

Planning Your Exchange's Licensing Roadmap? Book a Data Consultation Today

Warsh's Debut: Expectations Reversed — Why Crypto Can't Ignore Macro

2026-07-01T04:43:27Z

This article is brought to you by Bitget.

Warsh's Debut: A Sharp Shift in Fed Sentiment

On June 17, Kevin Warsh presided over his first interest rate meeting as the new Chair of the Federal Reserve.

Three months earlier, the March meeting minutes had most officials leaning toward one or two cuts by year-end. Many crypto investors expected Warsh to extend that trajectory: he was Trump's pick, and Trump had long pushed for lower rates, so the assumption was simple — Trump appointee, therefore rate cuts. But even Wall Street's own surveys never bore this out as consensus. Just over half of economists expected him to lean dovish on rates, while a clear majority expected him to be hawkish on the Fed's balance sheet, and confidence in his independence from the White House was close to a coin flip. The dovish read crypto investors leaned on was a real, if narrow, lean — not the consensus it was treated as.

In three months, the median projection had flipped from implying a cut to implying a hike — even with the committee itself still split, eight holding steady, one still expecting a cut, nine leaning toward a hike. Warsh offered little elaboration beyond the statement itself. Asked to explain the shift, he told reporters, "I can't do much better than the committee just did."

The three major U.S. stock indices plummeted, with the Nasdaq falling more than 1%. The cryptocurrency market reacted even more violently; Bitcoin had been rebounding above $65,000, but once the meeting results were out, it fell directly to around $64,000, a drop of nearly 3%.

Looking through the interpretations from various financial media outlets, crypto investors hoping for a plain explanation ended up stepping into an even deeper fog of terminology.

Professional jargon was thrown around everywhere: one moment it was about CPI year-on-year hitting a new high even as the monthly pace actually slowed, and PPI production-side prices not yet fully transmitted; the next it was about May NFP far exceeding expectations, with data from the previous two months getting an upward revision. What frustrated crypto investors most was the Fed's own updated Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) — filled with terms like PCE, core PCE, and dot plot medians, with little explanation of what any of it actually meant.

Looking at the dense professional analysis, instead of gaining clarity, one felt a strong sense of helplessness. To financial media, these data points are intertwined with clear cause-and-effect relationships. But for many readers without a finance background, these abbreviations and logic flows can feel like a brand-new foreign language: every word is recognizable, but the sentence as a whole doesn't add up to meaning.

To truly understand this meeting, it seems one must grasp the entire TradFi (traditional finance) framework, including inflation, interest rates, and how the Fed's decision-making mechanism operates. But today, a crypto investor, just like an investor in traditional financial markets, has to keep an eye on Fed meetings, international situations, the U.S. Dollar Index, and the tightening or loosening of global liquidity. After all, as the integration between crypto and traditional finance becomes increasingly tight, crypto is no longer an isolated island; it is part of the global asset landscape, rising and falling in tandem with the dollar, U.S. Treasuries, and risk appetite.

In the Multi-Asset Era, Crypto Investors Need to Learn TradFi

In the early years, the rise and fall of the crypto market were not closely linked to the tides of the global economy. In recent years, with the popularity of ICOs and the prevalence of meme coins, crypto investors became more accustomed to observing on-chain fund movements, the buying and selling operations of whales, and following current industry technical trends to find investment targets.

Information that traditional financial investors paid attention to, such as Fed interest rate meetings, NFP data, and CPI, was not that important to crypto investors.

However, starting in 2024, the correlation between cryptocurrency price movements and the macroeconomy has become increasingly tight. In January of this year, Bitcoin spot ETFs were officially approved for listing in the U.S., and half a year later, Ethereum spot ETFs followed suit. For the first time, Wall Street money could buy Bitcoin and other virtual currencies through regulated channels at scale.

After traditional asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity entered the market, crypto assets became part of mainstream institutional portfolios, increasingly correlated with stocks and bonds and responsive to the same macro forces — interest rates, the dollar, risk appetite — that move traditional markets. The bond between crypto and macro finance is deepening, and crypto investors increasingly need at least a working knowledge of TradFi to make sense of it.

For most crypto traders, this is not an easy task. For example, before the June 17 meeting, many crypto players defaulted to labeling Warsh as a "dove" simply because he was nominated by Trump, who had spent years pushing for lower rates — Trump appointee, therefore dovish, or so the logic went. But hawkish and dovish aren't political labels; they describe how an official weighs inflation against growth when setting policy: lean toward raising rates to control prices (hawkish), or toward cutting them to support a weak economy (dovish). With inflation running at 4.2% year-over-year just before the meeting, and a committee already leaning hawkish on the data, Warsh's own personal preferences mattered less than many assumed. The misread wasn't just missing a vocabulary term — it was weighing who nominated him over what the data showed.

Financial Education Should Be Simpler

If crypto investors want to learn what these concepts actually mean after a meeting concludes, a quick search often turns up dense, thesis-style analyses or textbook-level explanations full of abbreviations. What many ordinary investors are looking for is simpler: a plain-language explanation of what something is and why it matters.

The barrier to entry for traditional financial education is often high. Dense terms pile up, and the tone tends to be academic, written as if the reader already has some financial foundation to follow along. For many who came up in the on-chain world, that foundation — shaped by traditional financial education — is exactly what's missing.

The best education often comes from the simplest questions, such as: What is a stock? Why do companies go public? Why does gold rise when there is a war? What does a rate cut actually mean? What exactly is an ETF? These questions sound basic, almost childish, but learning new knowledge often works this way: the more complex logic only clicks once these simpler questions are answered first.

One answer to this gap is "TradFi 101," an investment education series launched by Bitget in collaboration with industry partners. Rather than assuming a financial background, it starts from these basic questions and builds up — exactly the kind of foundation many crypto-native investors are missing.

TradFi is becoming increasingly integrated with crypto. Major exchanges have already launched traditional financial assets like U.S. stocks and gold via RWA; the barriers between crypto and traditional finance are dissolving, and cross-asset trading is a clear trend. Yet most platforms in the industry focus only on expanding trading categories and product lines, with few willing to address the core pain point: most native crypto players lack a complete, accessible foundation in traditional financial knowledge. Building that kind of systematic education may not bring quick traffic or revenue, but it's the harder, more necessary thing to do.

According to the official introduction, "TradFi 101" breaks down traditional financial learning into 100 specific small questions, categorized into six modules: from the most basic "Re-understanding Money and Markets," to "What Exactly Are Assets Like Stocks and ETFs," to "How Order Books, Margin, and Market Makers Operate," followed by macroeconomics, trading psychology, and finally, the state of deep integration between TradFi and Crypto. Accompanied by animated videos, it breaks the content of a thick financial textbook into vivid, bite-sized segments.

The crypto industry has moved past the era of relying solely on on-chain data, with institutional capital from ETFs and real-world assets connected through RWA pulling crypto firmly into the global liquidity cycle. The financial markets of the future will likely run both ways: traditional assets moving on-chain, and crypto folded into mainstream asset allocation.

As the line between TradFi and crypto keeps blurring, the real advantage will belong to investors who know how to navigate both.

The Day and Night Difference in USDC Usage Across EVM Chains

2026-06-30T06:25:02Z

The Five USDC Usage Profiles

In this study, we examined USDC usage across the five most popular EVM chains: Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon — to understand how USDC is deployed depending on where it is held. Using on-chain transfer data from Circle's deployed contracts and address classifications from the Dune Spellbook label set, we find that the chain a user is on is a stronger predictor of how their USDC is deployed than any other single factor. The differences are stark: from exchange-dominated custodial chains to DeFi-native networks where USDC functions as productive capital, each chain tells a distinctly different story.

Author’s Note

Of each usage category where the absolute USDC figures are quoted, those figures are lower than its true values due to a majority of USDC usage being unclassified. More on this will be discussed in our methodology section.

Ethereum

Ethereum is the largest USDC chain by a wide margin, holding $51.3B in total supply as of June 25, 2026. Among classified addresses, centralized exchanges dominate at 68.0% ($4.05B), with major platforms including Binance, Coinbase, OKX, and Kraken accounting for the bulk of that share. Custody services add a further 12.7% ($767M), reflecting Ethereum's role as the default settlement layer for institutional holders and OTC desks. Regarding Ethereum’s on-chain DeFi usage, Lending is recorded at 6.6% ($424M) and DEX liquidity at 6.0% ($353M). This showcases that DeFi on Ethereum is present but secondary, as much of Ethereum's DeFi activity has migrated to cheaper L2 networks. Ethereum's USDC profile is best understood as an institutional and exchange reserve chain rather than an active DeFi ecosystem.

BNB Chain

BNB Chain shows the highest concentration of centralized exchange USDC usage at 88.1% ($791M). This is structurally driven: BNB Chain's USDC functions primarily as settlement and withdrawal infrastructure for Binance and other centralized exchanges. DeFi usage appears minimal in relative terms due to the dominance of the CEX share, but BNB Chain is in practice a prominent DeFi ecosystem — its 2.9% ($46.9M) DEX allocation and 1.5% ($23.1M) lending share is misrepresented by the fact that BNB Chain features higher USDT ($9.1B TVL) adoption rates as compared to USDC ($1.6B TVL). This contrasts Base, which favors USDC more than USDT.

Base

Base stands out as the most DeFi-native USDC chain in this study. Lending protocols account for 49.0% ($225M) of classified supply — the highest of any chain — driven primarily by Aave V3 and Morpho, while DEX liquidity pools hold a further 36.0% ($139M). Together, lending and DEX usage account for 85.0% ($364M) of Base's classified USDC, with centralized exchanges accounting for just 13.0% ($72M). This profile reflects Base's user base: the chain attracted a disproportionately DeFi-literate cohort of early adopters, many of whom migrated from Ethereum mainnet to access lower-cost on-chain applications. On Base, USDC behaves as productive capital rather than a custodial reserve. One caveat worth noting: Base's strong preference for USDC over the other stablecoins may be partly amplified by Coinbase's close institutional ties with Circle, which could influence USDC distribution patterns on a chain Coinbase itself operates.

Arbitrum

Arbitrum presents the most diversified USDC profile of the five chains, with no single category exceeding 29% of classified supply. Lending leads at 28.8% ($62M), followed by centralized exchanges at 25.0% ($51M), DEX liquidity at 15.1% ($31M), custody services at 12.6% ($30M), and yield vaults at 11.0% ($25M). Perpetuals protocols — primarily GMX — contribute a further 3.9% ($9.5M), a category that barely registers on any other chain in this study. This balanced distribution reflects Arbitrum's maturity as a general-purpose DeFi L2, having developed deep infrastructure across the full stack: spot DEXes, lending markets, perpetual exchanges, and yield aggregators have all accumulated meaningful TVL. Arbitrum's USDC profile most closely resembles a diversified DeFi portfolio.

Polygon

Polygon's USDC profile is the most distinctive of the five chains, featuring a variety of USDC use cases. Centralized exchanges lead at 35.2% ($41M), but the most notable finding is the 24.8% ($27M) share held by casino and gambling platforms — the highest of any chain in this study and a category that barely appears elsewhere. This is almost entirely attributable to a single entity: Stake.com, one of the largest crypto gambling platforms globally, accounts for 99.72% of the casino classification ($26.91M out of $26.98M), holds USDC on Polygon as an operational settlement float. Payment processing adds a further 8.4% ($3M) — again the highest of any chain — reflecting Polygon's early positioning as a low-fee payments chain before the current L2 landscape matured.

On USDC Usage Classification

To categorize how USDC is held across each chain, we classify addresses using Dune Spellbook's labels.owner_addresses and labels.owner_details tables. Addresses that do not match any label are excluded from the chart. The nine classifications used in this study are:

Centralized Exchanges: Hot wallets and deposit addresses belonging to centralized trading platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, OKX, and Kraken. USDC held here represents exchange-custodied user balances and operational float.
Custody Services: Addresses belonging to institutional custodians and prime brokers such as Copper and BitGo. Distinct from exchange wallets, these hold USDC on behalf of institutional clients rather than retail users.
Lending: Smart contracts belonging to on-chain lending protocols such as Aave, Compound, and Morpho, where USDC is deposited to earn yield or used as borrowing collateral.
Decentralized Exchanges: Liquidity pool contracts on AMM-based DEXes such as Uniswap, Curve, and PancakeSwap, where USDC is paired against other assets to facilitate spot trading.
Yield Vaults: Yield-aggregator and vault contracts such as Convex and Yearn that deploy USDC into underlying strategies to optimize returns, distinct from direct lending deposits.
Casino: Addresses belonging to crypto gambling platforms. On Polygon, this classification is almost entirely attributable to Stake.com, which holds substantial USDC reserves on the network as an operational settlement float.
PaymentFi: Addresses associated with payment processors and merchant settlement rails that use USDC for real-world payment flows.
Other: Labelled addresses that do not fall into the above categories, including protocol treasuries, DAO multisigs, bridge contracts, perpetuals platforms, and privacy services.
Unclassified: Externally-owned accounts and smart contract addresses with no matching label. This is the largest category on every chain and includes retail wallets, unlabelled institutional holders, and any address not covered by the Spellbook label set.

Chain, Category, Classification: A Methodology Note

We note a data limitation as shown in the chart above, a significant majority of USDC supply on every chain sits in unclassified externally-owned wallets — ranging from 83.1% on Polygon to 91.8% on Arbitrum.

However, because this classification bias is consistent across all five chains, the relative cross-chain comparison remains valid: the unclassified share is a systematic error term rather than a chain-specific one, and cancels out when comparing proportional distributions across chains. The labelled slice — while a minority of total supply — is representative enough for cross-chain comparison purposes, since the same labelling methodology and coverage gaps apply equally to every chain. All figures reflect a point-in-time snapshot as of June 25, 2026. Overall, this analysis reconstructs USDC balances by summing all Transfer events from Circle's deployed contracts on each chain, netting inflows against outflows per address to derive current holdings. While this study only examines USDC usage, its original intention was to approximate stablecoin behavior broadly, on the basis that deployment decisions — whether to hold in a CEX, deploy into lending, provide DEX liquidity, or use for payments — are largely instrument-agnostic across USDT, USDS, and USDC. However, in the interest of data precision and not wanting to speculate, we have decided not to assume similar usages across USDT and USDS.

If you cite these insights, we would appreciate a link credit to this article on CoinGecko, which allows us to keep supplying you with useful data-led content.

This study is for illustrative and informational purposes only, and is not financial advice.

USDC Usage by Chain and Category (June 25, 2026)

Chain	Category	Balance (USD)	% of Classified Supply
Ethereum	Centralized Exchange	$4.05B	68.0%
Ethereum	Custody Services	$767M	12.7%
Ethereum	Lending	$424M	6.6%
Ethereum	Decentralized Exchange	$353M	6.0%
Ethereum	Yield Vaults	$34M	0.6%
Ethereum	Casino	$51M	0.9%
Ethereum	PaymentFi	$65M	1.1%
Ethereum	Other	$257M	4.3%
BNB Chain	Centralized Exchange	$791M	88.1%
BNB Chain	Decentralized Exchange	$47M	2.9%
BNB Chain	Lending	$23M	1.5%
BNB Chain	Custody Services	$16M	1.0%
BNB Chain	Other	$10M	6.5%
Base	Lending	$225M	49.0%
Base	Decentralized Exchange	$139M	36.0%
Base	Centralized Exchange	$72M	13.0%
Base	Other	$8M	2.0%
Arbitrum	Lending	$62M	28.8%
Arbitrum	Centralized Exchange	$51M	25.0%
Arbitrum	Decentralized Exchange	$31M	15.1%
Arbitrum	Custody Services	$30M	12.6%
Arbitrum	Yield Vaults	$25M	11.0%
Arbitrum	Other	$18M	7.5%
Polygon	Centralized Exchange	$41M	35.2%
Polygon	Casino	$27M	24.8%
Polygon	Custody Services	$16M	12.6%
Polygon	Lending	$12M	10.4%
Polygon	PaymentFi	$3M	8.4%
Polygon	Decentralized Exchange	$5M	3.8%
Polygon	Other	$6M	4.8%

Classified addresses only. Unclassified EOA wallets excluded. Figures rounded to one decimal place. Source: Dune Analytics / CoinGecko Research, June 25, 2026.

Stablecoin Depeg: Causes, Risk Signals, and Real-Time Detection

2026-06-30T02:50:46Z

TL;DR

A stablecoin depeg occurs when its price drifts away from the $1.00 peg. Monitoring systems typically trigger alerts at a 0.5% – 1% deviation, and recent depegs have unfolded within hours rather than days. This makes real-time monitoring essential for timely risk detection and effective protection for all market participants exposed to stablecoins.
The CoinGecko API provides three data delivery methods to monitor for stablecoin depegs: REST endpoint (/simple/price) for polling, WebSocket (CGSimplePrice) for real-time streaming price updates, and cg.coin.info.updated webhook event for automated notifications.
Use the CoinGecko Stablecoins category (390+ coins) to build a dynamic watchlist of all stalecoins beyond just USDT and USDC.

TerraUSD (UST) collapsed from $1.00 to under $0.10 in May 2022, erasing tens of billions in combined UST and LUNA market value. On November 6, 2025, Stables Labs USDX broke its peg, with CoinGecko price data showing a drop from $0.99 to $0.04 within four days. The trigger was a $93M loss at DeFi lending protocol Stream Finance, which cascaded through stablecoins that used it as collateral.

If your protocol, treasury, or wallet holds stablecoin exposure, faster detection of a depeg reduces downside risk and helps prevent capital loss during extreme market stress. In this guide, we’ll explain what causes stablecoin depegs, which assets to monitor, and how to detect them in real time using the CoinGecko API, where you’ll build three detection approaches: REST polling, WebSocket-based streaming, and webhook-driven alerts.

What Is a Stablecoin Depeg?

A stablecoin depeg occurs when a stablecoin’s market price deviates from its target peg, typically $1.00 for USD-pegged assets. In practice, the industry often treats a 0.5% – 1% deviation as an early warning threshold, while severe events can exceed 10% within minutes.

Depegs generally fall into two categories:

Soft depeg: A temporary deviation that recovers once arbitrage activity or reserve mechanisms restore the peg, such as USDC’s recovery over three days during the March 2023 banking stress event.
Hard depeg: A sustained or permanent loss of the peg, as seen in TerraUSD in May 2022.

Why Do Stablecoins Depeg?

Stablecoin depegs can stem from a few common causes:

Collateral failure: The reserves backing the peg become frozen or lose value. USDC fell to ~$0.87 in March 2023 after $3.3B of its reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank. The peg recovered once the FDIC announced a backstop for the deposits.
Algorithmic design failure: The supply mechanism enters a reflexive death spiral. In May 2022, TerraUSD lost its peg as LUNA, the paired token designed to absorb redemptions, hyperinflated and failed to absorb sustained sell pressure.
DEX liquidity shock or exploit: A large trade or smart contract exploit drains a DEX pool faster than arbitrage can restore the price. Stables Labs USDX fell from peg to $0.04 in November 2025 after a Balancer V2 pool exploit drained the collateral backing the system.

Stables Labs USDX price, October 31 – November 14, 2025 (US Eastern Time). Source: CoinGecko.

What Are the Top Stablecoins to Monitor?

The CoinGecko API tracks all available stablecoins (390+ stablecoins and growing) under the stablecoins category, which you can pull as a self-refreshing watchlist using the Coins List with Market Data endpoint. This approach is more reliable than hardcoded coin IDs because the list updates automatically without manual maintenance, and it also includes lower-market-cap stablecoins that are statistically far more likely to depeg than USDT or USDC.

To retrieve your stablecoin watchlist in a single API call, pass category=stablecoins to the /coins/markets endpoint.

Here’s what the output looks like:

Paginate (page=2, page=3, …) for full coverage. For risk-targeted watchlists, filter by sub-category:

usd-stablecoin removes non-USD pegs
fiat-backed-stablecoin and algorithmic-stablecoin segment by backing mechanism
yield-bearing-stablecoins flags tokens that trade above $1 by design.

Refer to the full list via the /coins/categories/list endpoint.

How Do You Detect a Stablecoin Depeg in Real Time?

The CoinGecko API offers flexible data delivery methods for detecting stablecoin depegs: REST, WebSocket, and webhooks.

Method	How It Works	Best for
REST polling	Real-time (cacheless): detection latency matches your polling interval.	Bulk watchlists of up to 515 coins per API call.
WebSocket	Stream for real-time price updates	Live dashboards, low-latency triggers, and push-driven workflows.
Webhook	Server posts only when relevant events fire	Event-driven monitoring of coin metadata changes

Poll For Live Prices via REST API

The CoinGecko API’s /simple/price endpoint is the simplest way to detect stablecoin depegs. Poll the endpoint at a fixed interval, compare each stablecoin’s price against its target peg (e.g., $1.00 for USD-pegged assets), and trigger an alert when the deviation exceeds your defined threshold.

The endpoint supports up to 515 coin IDs per request. Since API usage is charged per request rather than per coin returned, batch your watchlist into one call per polling cycle instead of sending individual requests for each asset. This reduces request overhead and makes monitoring workflows extremely efficient.

Note: CoinGecko prices update in real-time (cacheless). For stablecoin depeg detection, a 10 – 30 second polling interval is often sufficient.

Here’s what the output looks like:

For lower-latency price monitoring, CoinGecko offers WebSocket streaming. Webhooks complement price monitoring by notifying applications about relevant metadata changes, such as public notices or asset information updates.

Stream Live Prices via WebSockets

CoinGecko’s WebSocket shifts data delivery from a pull-based polling model to a push-based event stream. Instead of repeatedly polling endpoints, it maintains a persistent connection and streams real-time price updates via the CGSimplePrice channel.

This approach is well suited for applications that require continuously fresh, low-latency data such as alerts, live dashboards, monitoring systems, and real-time market data applications. It improves responsiveness and data continuity compared to periodic snapshot-based approaches where updates only arrive after each request cycle.

To use the WebSocket, subscribe to the channel first, then send a set_tokens action containing the coin IDs from your watchlist.

Example response:

Note: CoinGecko WebSockets is available exclusively on the Analyst plan and above.

Layer Quality Signals via Webhook Notices

The CoinGecko API provides a cg.coin.info.updated webhook event that triggers on coin metadata changes, including contract migrations, symbol or logo updates, category changes, and public notices. These signals complement REST or WebSocket by adding a metadata-driven quality layer.

A public_notices update on a CoinGecko’s stablecoin’s page indicates that the CoinGecko data team has flagged a notable event, such as a redemption pause, reserve incident, or contract migration. These metadata signals can provide additional context during monitoring workflows.

Example response:

Note: CoinGecko webhook is available exclusively on the Analyst plan and above.

If you need to receive push-based price-threshold events, the cg.coin.price.updated webhook event triggers when a tracked coin crosses a configured price threshold or exhibits abnormal volatility, such as USD-pegged stablecoins deviating from $1.00. This webhook event is currently in private beta – join the waitlist for early access.

Conclusion

The CoinGecko API enables a flexible monitoring architecture for stablecoin price and event tracking built on three complementary data layers: REST polling for fixed-interval checks, WebSocket streams for real-time price updates, and webhooks for metadata signals that can precede market movements. These signals support multi-layer monitoring with threshold-based alerts and depeg detection.

If you want a simple no-code workflow to route depeg alerts to your Telegram, the crypto price alert Telegram bot n8n template sends alert payloads in just a few steps. For earlier depeg detection, the pulling crypto prices from DEXs guide explains how to use DEX data as a cross-validation layer, as stablecoin depegs often appear on decentralized exchanges before aggregated CEX prices adjust. To understand the reason behind a depeg or price volatility event, fetch relevant crypto news with Python and attach headline context to your alert workflow.

Ready to start building? Sign up for a free Demo API plan today to start monitoring stablecoin prices and market movements in real time. As your stablecoin depeg detection pipeline scales, upgrade to a CoinGecko API Analyst plan to access more concurrent WebSocket and webhook connections, higher API call credits and rate limits, along with exclusive endpoints.

H1 2026 Global Crypto Hiring Market Analysis Report

2026-06-29T01:24:16Z

Tiger Research looks at how compliance hiring is growing even as overall crypto hiring declines. What has changed in a market where new postings have fallen sharply?

Key Takeaways

The crypto job market has not recovered to its 2022 peak. According to Coincub, new crypto jobs reached 66,494 in 2025, a 47% rebound from the prior year, but still below the 2022 high.

The contraction deepened in 2026, with new postings on major job boards falling roughly 80% year-over-year in January.
Among 2,932 active postings in H1 2026, engineering ranks first at 34.1% and compliance/legal ranks second at 10.4%. Active postings are concentrated in regulatory compliance and technical development.
By sector, CEX (30.8%) and stablecoins/payments (13.4%) together account for nearly half of all postings. Gaming and NFTs represent 2.4%.
In a market driven by token sales, demand was concentrated in community and token sale roles. As the market has shifted toward institutional participation, the ability to manage product operations and regulatory compliance has become more important.

1. The 2021-2022 Hiring Peak and Where the Market Stands Today

The most active hiring period in crypto was the stretch from late 2021 through the first half of 2022. Bitcoin and Ethereum reached all-time highs, NFT trading volumes surged, and DeFi TVL reached hundreds of billions of dollars.

Centralized exchanges expanded aggressively to support global operations. At the time, Coinbase had more than 250 open roles, Kraken more than 300, and Binance more than 600. DeFi protocols and NFT marketplaces absorbed engineers and marketers simultaneously, and the GameFi boom drew game studios into the hiring pool as well. Expansion took precedence over proving profitability.

New postings fell sharply from the second half of 2022 onward. Crypto-related jobs declined roughly 40% between 2022 and 2023 across most countries in North America and Europe. The collapse of FTX in November 2022 deepened the slowdown, and the market has not recovered to its peak since.

To assess the current state of crypto hiring and read market direction from the data, Tiger Research compiled a proprietary dataset of 2,932 active postings as of June 2026. The data was collected through manual tracking of web3.career, cryptocurrencyjobs.co, direct career pages of major firms (Greenhouse, Ashby, and Lever), and Korean local job platforms (Wanted and Jobkorea). DAO contributor roles, freelance positions, and contractor arrangements are excluded.

2. Major Crypto Firms Continue to Cut Headcount in H1 2026

Restructuring had been underway well before the first half of 2026. Wemade and Consensys carried out layoffs in the second half of 2025, and the trend extended into 2026 across major exchanges including Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com, and Kraken.

March saw the highest concentration of layoff announcements in H1 2026, with six firms: Gemini, Crypto.com, Algorand, OP Labs, PIP Labs, and Messari all disclosing cuts in the same month. The first quarter of 2026 brought a combination of rising geopolitical tensions stemming from Iran and broader market weakness, and firms that needed to reset their strategic direction appear to have converged on March as the moment to act.

The stated rationale varied by firm: Algorand cited the macro environment and declining token prices, Crypto.com and Gemini pointed to AI integration, while Coinbase announced a pivot toward becoming an “AI-native company.”

For some firms, repeated rounds of cuts ended in an acquisition at a fraction of their former valuation. Messari conducted three consecutive rounds of layoffs beginning in 2023 and was acquired by Blockworks in June 2026 for approximately $10 million. Having once been valued at $300 million, Messari’s trajectory captures the reality of the market in concentrated form.

3. Hiring Is Concentrating in Specific Regions

Crypto remains an industry with a high proportion of remote work. Among active postings in H1 2026, remote positions account for the largest share at 40.2%, or 1,180 postings.

Excluding remote roles, office-based hiring is concentrated in jurisdictions with established regulatory frameworks or limited regulatory unpredictability, including the United States (21.8%), Singapore (5.9%), and Hong Kong (4.2%).

The crypto industry once positioned itself as borderless, but as it has evolved into one that requires active regulatory engagement and local operations, its hiring structure is gradually consolidating around established regulatory hubs.

4. Compliance Roles Are on the Rise

Engineering ranks first among H1 2026 active postings at 34.1%, or 999 postings, indicating that demand for technical development has held up even as the broader crypto market has contracted.

The more notable shift is compliance and legal settling into a clear second place. This category was not tracked as a separate line item in the Tiger Research 2023 Global Crypto Jobs Report, yet within three years it has grown to account for one in ten of all active postings.

The pattern is sharper within exchanges. Among 904 exchange postings, engineering leads with 275 openings (30.4%), followed by compliance and legal at 145 (16.0%) and BD/sales at 61 (6.7%). Compliance postings outnumber BD/sales by a factor of 2.4, suggesting that exchanges are allocating more headcount to regulatory defense than to business expansion.

The compliance hiring trend can be traced in part to the full implementation of the EU’s MiCA framework, which made CASP licensing mandatory as of December 30, 2024. European exchanges and asset managers have been expanding their compliance teams around the same period.

The same dynamic is visible in Korea. Following the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act in July 2024, domestic exchanges have seen rising demand for compliance personnel. This helps explain why Korea’s share of compliance postings (18.4%) is nearly double the global average (10.4%).

The roles workers most want to see automated are equally clear.

In a survey conducted by CryptoJobsList, content creation and community management were most commonly identified as the functions workers want to see automated. Both involve repetitive tasks and emotional labor rather than high technical complexity, making them candidates for early displacement. Survey data also identifies them as the roles practitioners believe should be displaced by AI agents first. Hiring demand for these functions is declining at the same time that those already in the field identify them as prime automation targets.

5. CEX Dominance and the Rise of the Stablecoin Sector

CEX accounts for 904 postings, or 30.8% of the total, representing close to one-third of all active roles. Major exchanges including OKX (267 postings), Bybit (138), and Binance (135) drive this sector.

Stablecoins and payments ranks second at 392 postings (13.4%). However, Tether alone accounts for 224 of those postings (57.1%), with Ripple contributing a further 104 (26.5%). Together the two firms hold 83.6% of the sector, which means the figures reflect concentration among a small number of large firms rather than broad-based hiring growth across the sector. The second half of the year may look different. With stablecoin-related legislation advancing in the United States, the hiring environment for this sector is expected to shift materially in H2.

Market making and trading has reached 101 postings (3.4%), enough to constitute a standalone sector. Key firms include B2C2, GSR, Keyrock, and Wintermute. This category did not appear as a separate classification in the 2023 report. Its emergence reflects the entrenchment of institutional liquidity provision and asset management within crypto market infrastructure.

Gaming and NFTs account for just 71 postings (2.4%). This sector led hiring across the market during the GameFi boom of 2022 and 2023, but its share has since fallen below that of market making, which was a minor category at the time.

Hiring within the market is no longer driven by cyclical sensitivity. It has consolidated around sectors that emphasize structural stability: exchanges, payments, and regulatory infrastructure.

6. The Crypto Hiring Market After AI Adoption

The AI industry points in the opposite direction over the same period. The PwC 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, which analyzed more than one billion job postings across six continents, found that U.S. postings requiring AI-related skills reached approximately 1.12 million in 2025, up 66% year-over-year and representing 2.8% of all postings.

Crypto is following a similar pattern. The share of crypto job postings that mention AI skills rose from 23% in early 2025 to 53.1% by March 2026.

Taken together, AI is generating new roles across industries broadly, while the crypto market is restructuring toward higher productivity with a smaller workforce.

7. Contraction and Selectivity in the Crypto Hiring Market

The global crypto hiring market has not simply contracted in scale; the nature of the work being hired for has changed fundamentally.

The center of gravity has shifted from marketing to regulatory compliance and infrastructure operations. Roles focused on promoting tokens and growing communities, which were prevalent during the bull market, have declined sharply. Demand for people who work with operating systems directly, whether in exchange operations, stablecoin infrastructure, or on-chain risk management, has remained stable or grown.

Conversations with practitioners in the field reflect the same shift. Projects no longer describe themselves as looking for “degen” hires. Having moved past the early stage when few understood the industry, the blockchain sector is now applying the kind of rigorous, exacting hiring standards long associated with traditional finance and fintech.

The changes underway in the crypto hiring market reflect an industry that has passed through a speculative phase and is settling into the institutional mainstream. The market no longer seeks people who build elaborate illusions; it seeks specialists who can construct and demonstrate real infrastructure.

Appendix: Data Sources

Proprietary Data (2,932 postings) — web3.career / cryptocurrencyjobs.co / direct career pages (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, Polymer) / manual tracking of Korean platforms / manual LinkedIn sample / collection date: June 18, 2026

External Sources

LinkedIn, January 2022: crypto job postings up 395% versus 2020
CFTE, 2022: crypto and Web3 accounted for 67% of new tech hires
Coincub Blockchain Jobs Report 2023: blockchain hiring in North America and Europe down approximately 40% between 2022 and 2023
LinkedIn Jobs on the Rise 2026
LinkedIn 2026 Grad’s Guide: AI Engineer ranked first in growth; U.S. AI postings up 639,000 (AI Engineer up 75,000)
WEF/LinkedIn 2026: AI created 1.3 million new jobs; AI expert roles exceeded 3% of all LinkedIn postings
CoinDesk, March 21, 2026 (original data: Up Top, William Burleson): new postings in January 2026 down approximately 80% year-over-year, averaging 6.5 per day
Coincub Web3 Jobs Report 2025: 66,494 postings, up 47% year-over-year, below 2022 peak
CryptoJobsList 2026 Web3 Workforce Report: share of postings mentioning AI rose from 23% to 53.1%
web3.career 2025 Intelligence Report: remote postings down 50% year-over-year
GENIUS Act: signed into law by President Trump on July 18, 2025
Tiger Research 2023 Global Web3 Jobs Report
Official layoff announcements by individual companies (2025–2026)
Blockworks acquisition of Messari announced June 12, 2026; Surf: layoff data verification

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Disclaimer

This report has been prepared based on materials believed to be reliable. However, we do not expressly or impliedly warrant the accuracy, completeness, and suitability of the information. We disclaim any liability for any losses arising from the use of this report or its contents. The conclusions and recommendations in this report are based on information available at the time of preparation and are subject to change without notice. All projects, estimates, forecasts, objectives, opinions, and views expressed in this report are subject to change without notice and may differ from or be contrary to the opinions of others or other organizations.

This document is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Any references to securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or an offer to provide investment advisory services. This material is not directed at investors or potential investors.

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The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart: Your Complete Guide to Market Cycle Navigation

2026-06-26T00:00:00Z

What is the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart?

The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart is a long-term valuation model that uses rainbow-colored, logarithmic bands to visualize Bitcoin's price and indicate potential trading opportunities.

Origin: The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart is a Bitcoin price valuation tool made in 2014 by Bitcointalk user "trolololo" and Reddit user "azop".
How to read it: The rainbow colored bands help to identify the market cycles of Bitcoin, with Red being overbought periods and Blue being oversold periods.
Best used: The chart is best used in conjunction with other Bitcoin financial models such as the Stock-to-Flow model and other traditional methods of valuations.
Key limitation: The main criticism of the model is its retrospective bias. it relies heavily on past performance and cannot predict unprecedented market events like black swan crashes.
Recent history: The chart has been updated multiple times, most recently in 2023, though even the recalibrated model's floor was breached in 2026 for only the second time in Bitcoin's history.

Understanding the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart

Source: https://www.blockchaincenter.net/en/bitcoin-rainbow-chart/

The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart is a best-fitted logarithmic chart that accounts for the highs and lows of Bitcoin’s historical price values. There is no industry wide accepted formula for the graph, but the general consensus is that it aims to identify the price zones that have historically represented market cycle highs and lows. By extrapolating this historical channel into the future, the model offers a perspective on where these zones might lie if Bitcoin maintains its past, uptrend trajectory.

Why Use a Logarithmic Chart?

The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart’s iconic shape (curved) is a special type of scale used to represent data called "logarithmic" (or "log" for short). The chart shows percentage changes rather than absolute dollar amounts, thus allowing better visualization of growth.

For instance, when Bitcoin first went from $1 to $10, that’s a 10x increase, when it went from $10,000 to $100,000, that’s also a 10x increase. However, on a linearly scaled chart, the second price jump looks massive while the first jump will not be visible. A log chart fixes this by showing both 10x moves as the same size visually.

Notice how Bitcoin's price appears almost flat from 2013 to 2017 on a linear chart? That's misleading.

How to Read the Rainbow Chart: What the Colors Mean

Traders can use the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart by using the colored bands to support their trading decisions, potentially identifying entry and exit points for Bitcoin.

Color Band	Signal	What It Means	Typical Action	Risk Level
🟦 Dark Blue	Fire Sale	Bitcoin is extremely undervalued	Strong Buy - Excellent long-term entry	Low
🔵 Blue	Buy!	Significantly undervalued	Buy - Good accumulation opportunity	Low
🟢 Green	Accumulate	Undervalued but recovering	Buy/Hold - Continue building position	Medium
🟡 Light Green	Still Cheap	Slightly undervalued	Hold - Fair value territory	Medium
🟡 Yellow	HODL!	Fairly valued	Hold - Neutral zone, stay patient	Medium
🟠 Light Orange	Bubble?	Potentially overvalued	Caution - Consider taking some profits	High
🟠 Orange	FOMO Zone	Likely overvalued	Reduce - Good time for partial selling	High
🔴 Red	Sell Territory	Significantly overvalued	Sell - Strong profit-taking signal	Very High
🔴 Dark Red	Maximum Bubble	Extremely overvalued	Strong Sell - Historical crash warning	Very High

The exact number of color bands vary depending on which Bitcoin Rainbow Chart model you use, but generally the graph follows the color scheme of a rainbow, with blue colors representing periods of accumulation and red colors representing periods to take profits.

Disclaimer: The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart is a long-term visualization of price action using historical price values. Past performance is not indicative of future results, this chart is best used to gauge market sentiment in conjunction with other traditional, evidence-based valuation methods you may have. You should not blindly buy or sell Bitcoin solely on the basis of the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart.

Understanding the Psychology Behind Each Zone

Dark Blue: Basically a Fire Sale

When the price of BTC is in the dark blue zone, the market is in a significant correction or bear market trough. A colloquial indicator for when Bitcoin is in this zone is when public media declares "Bitcoin is dead!" — hence the label on the original model.

Historically, dark blue has been rare. Bitcoin spent time in this zone during the 2022 bear market, bottoming near $15,500, before eventually recovering. As of 2026, Bitcoin has entered the zone again following a roughly 50% drawdown from all-time highs. In the 2022 instance, the zone preceded a recovery, though the timing and magnitude of any similar move from the current level remains to be seen.

It's worth noting that the dark blue zone is a sentiment reading, not a guarantee of a bottom. Analysts are divided on whether a breach of this band signals extreme undervaluation and a long-term buying opportunity, or whether it reflects a structural shift in Bitcoin's market dynamics that the model wasn't designed to capture. As always, use this signal alongside other indicators rather than in isolation.

Blue-Green: Buy!

The blue-green zone on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart represents a slight recovery from a dip or correction. The market is showing signs of strength, and it may present an opportunity for investors to buy as the price rises.

Green: Accumulate

The green zone suggests that BTC is oversold and bullish investors can consider accumulating more coins. It signifies that BTC is in a stable phase and may be poised for more growth.

Light Green: Still Cheap

The light green zone suggests that BTC is still undervalued relative to its historical price trend but only slightly so.

Yellow: HODL!

The yellow zone on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart represents a market phase where the focus changes from accumulating to holding onto BTC as an investment. The color suggests that the asset is expected to remain stable.

Light Orange : Is This a Bubble?

The light orange zone indicates that the market may enter a speculative phase. It signals that Bitcoin's price is increasing at an accelerated rate, where critics are labeling it a bubble. Investors should be cautious in this phase and may consider taking profits, especially in the case of active traders.

Orange : FOMO Intensifies

The orange zone on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart represents a phase of the market where investors should be cautious. It signifies that bitcoin's price is rising at an unsustainable rate, and investors may be tempted to buy due to FOMO (fear of missing out) as the price rises. This phase is usually accompanied with a significant increase in new investors, especially investors who might not be well aware of what Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are.

Red: Sell!

The red zone on the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart represents a market phase where investors may consider selling their bitcoin investments if they're not looking to HODL long term. The band signals that Bitcoin's price has reached an unsustainable level, and a market correction is expected. There is an opportunity here for investors to consider taking profits in this phase, especially if they have a significant amount of bitcoin.

Dark Red: Maximum Bubble Territory

The dark red zone indicates that the market is in a bubble and the price of bitcoin is significantly overvalued. The band suggests that investors should be extremely cautious and may consider selling their Bitcoin investments if they have invested for short-term gains. The market may experience a significant correction or crash, and investors who hold bitcoin in this phase may experience considerable losses.

The Origins of the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart

The chart first came to life in 2014 when Reddit user azop shared an image of Bitcoin’s price chart with a straight, rainbow layered over it. It was nothing more than a joke at that moment with azop sharing that he first visualized it as a rainbow to show that “it was not professional advice”.

The first Bitcoin Rainbow Chart.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2ehery/bitcoin_price_with_overundervalued_bands/

The graph was generally not taken seriously, with users calling it an “advertisement to buy Bitcoin”. That was until Bitcointalk forum user “Trolololo” merged and made use of the rainbow color scheme in his logarithmic regression model, that aims to map out Bitcoin market cycles.

Trolololo’s initial log model.

Source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=831547.0

The combination of their efforts resulted in the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart which was widely used, both seriously and unseriously by the Bitcoin community for years to come.

A Practical Guide: Using the Rainbow Chart with Other Bitcoin Models

The rainbow chart becomes most effective when combined with complementary Bitcoin valuation models, such as the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model.

The Stock-to-Flow Model

Created by PlanB in 2019, the S2F model is another popular Bitcoin price prediction model that uses scarcity mechanics to predict the future price of Bitcoin. The S2F measures the ratio of existing Bitcoin supply (stock) to new Bitcoin production (flow), similar to how precious metals like gold are valued.

The two models create an interesting dynamic. The S2F model is supply-based, whereas the Rainbow Chart is market sentiment-based, making it more demand-focused. Both models complement each other well because they capture different aspects of Bitcoin's valuation.2F excels at identifying multi-year trends driven by supply shocks (halvings), while Rainbow Chart better captures market psychology and cyclical behavior.

Smart analysts often use both, S2F is used for understanding fundamental scarcity value and Rainbow Chart for timing market cycles. Neither should be used in isolation, but together they provide a more complete picture of Bitcoin's complex valuation dynamics.

A practical application involves cross-referencing both models for validation. For instance, the rainbow chart was in the red zone in early 2018, while the S2F model indicated Bitcoin was significantly overvalued relative to its scarcity-based fair value. Both models signaled overvaluation, providing higher confidence in a bearish outlook.

Conversely, when the models disagree as they did in parts of 2019, it suggests that investors should exercise greater caution and potentially wait for clearer signals before making significant position changes.

The rainbow chart for years 2017 to 2020, 2018 shows undervaluation.

BitBo’s Stock-to-Flow chart for years 2017 to 2022, 2018 similarly shows undervaluation.

Source: https://charts.bitbo.io/stock-to-flow/

Other Indicators

Besides the S2F model, you can also make use of other indicators to employ a similar strategy, to strengthen your analysis and boost confidence in your trading decisions.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index

This index measures the market sentiment in the crypto markets, based on the two emotions, fear and greed. The index considers market volatility, volume, dominance and social media to determine a numeric figure between 0 to 100, with 0 being extreme fear, and 100 for extreme greed.

Bitcoin Halving Cycles

Bitcoin halvings refers to the built-in feature of the Bitcoin blockchain, that cuts mining rewards in half approximately every four years. Each halving event is considered a significant market milestone with heavy implications on Bitcoin’s supply dynamics. Traders should make a note of when each halving is expected to take place, as there is usually an increase in market volatility during those periods.

The Limitations of the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart

While the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart provides an easy visualization of when BTC appears to be under or overvalued, here are some limitations to keep in mind:

Retrospective Bias

The Rainbow Chart's biggest weakness is its retrospective nature:

Fits historical data perfectly but can't predict unprecedented events such as major exchange hacks, coordinated whale liquidations.
It relies on historical volatility, causing the chart’s accuracy to decline as asset volatility changes (more on this later).

Unsuitability for Short-term Trading

The logarithmic chart explicitly smooths out daily volatility:

Designed for multi-year holding periods
Provides no guidance for daily or weekly moves
Can remain in one band for months during consolidation.

Lack of Fundamental Analysis

The Rainbow Chart is purely technical, ignoring:

Macroeconomic factors (inflation, interest rates)
Regulatory developments
Technological upgrades (Lightning Network, Taproot)

Black Swan Vulnerability

Historical examples of chart failures:

2020 COVID crash: Price briefly pierced below the rainbow before recovering sharply within weeks
2022 FTX collapse: Extended period below the "Fire Sale" band, with BTC bottoming near $15,500
2026 bear market: Bitcoin broke below the floor of the updated 2023 model and has continued falling through the original "Bitcoin Is Dead" zone, trading at approximately $59,679 — around 9.8% below even the lowest band of the original Rainbow Chart as of June 2026. The model now shows no floor, meaning it offers no lower reference point if prices fall further.
Cannot anticipate sudden market shocks or macro-driven regime changes
Assumes continued adoption and exponential growth that may no longer reflect Bitcoin's maturing market structure

Lack of Model Consensus

As there is no universally accepted standard for modelling the Bitcoin Rainbow Chart, which color zone Bitcoin occupies varies from platform to platform. This lack of consensus diminishes the reliability and usability of the model.

The June 2026 situation illustrates this well. Blockchain Center's original model places Bitcoin in the "Bitcoin is dead" zone, with BTC trading approximately 10% below the floor of that model's lowest band as of June 2026.

BitBo's version, which includes an additional "Low" band below the standard rainbow, similarly places Bitcoin outside its main colored range. Notably, BitBo flags the current zone as having "No Floor," meaning the model offers no lower reference point if prices continue to fall.

Source: https://charts.bitbo.io/rainbow/

The two platforms agree that Bitcoin is in an extreme zone, but their band structures, thresholds, and labels differ enough that a reader checking one without the other would get an incomplete picture. This is precisely why the Rainbow Chart should always be used alongside other indicators rather than in isolation.

The Future of the Rainbow Chart

As Bitcoin matures, the Rainbow Chart faces the challenge of adapting to a changing market. In 2023, Blockchain Center updated their model with a flattened curve to reflect Bitcoin's slowing growth rate as it approaches mainstream adoption. The bands were narrowed to account for decreasing volatility and recalibrated using additional price data from recent cycles.

This update highlights a critical question, can any historical model remain accurate as Bitcoin transitions from a speculative asset to institutional infrastructure? The original Rainbow Chart assumed continued exponential growth, but as Bitcoin's market cap approaches that of major asset classes, percentage gains naturally diminish. Without periodic recalibration, Bitcoin risks remaining in lower bands indefinitely, potentially invalidating the model's usefulness.

2025 Bitcoin prices in the old rainbow chart versus the 2023 updated rainbow chart on Blockchain Center.

Conclusion

The Bitcoin Rainbow Chart has evolved from a forum meme into one of the most recognisable long-term visualisation tools in crypto — and in mid-2026, it finds itself at a genuinely interesting crossroads.

For only the second time in its history, Bitcoin has broken below the chart's lowest band, falling through the original model's "Bitcoin Is Dead" zone to around $59,679 as of June 2026 — roughly 50% below the October 2025 all-time high of $126,000. The breach has reignited a debate that has been building for years: is this a historic buying signal, or has the market simply outgrown the model?

The honest answer is probably both. The Rainbow Chart's value has always been as a sentiment gauge — a way to visualise where the crowd's psychology sits relative to Bitcoin's long-run trajectory. In that sense, the current reading is meaningful: it reflects a period of extreme pessimism. But as institutional capital, ETF flows, and macro forces play a larger role in price discovery, the precise band boundaries carry less weight than they once did.

Whether Bitcoin recovers back into the chart's historical range or continues to trade outside it may ultimately say more about the model than the market. Either way, the Rainbow Chart remains a useful starting point for long-term perspective — just not a tool to rely on in isolation.

As always, this article is not intended as financial advice and is only provided for information purposes.

What Are Tokenized Pokémon Cards and Top Platforms to Trade Them

2026-06-25T04:48:02Z

What Are Tokenized Pokémon Cards?

Tokenized Pokémon cards are NFTs backed by physical Pokémon cards in secure vaults. Unlike conventional NFTs that only exist digitally, these are redeemable for the physical card.

Tokenized Pokémon cards are NFTs representing real Pokémon cards stored in secure vaults, enabling digital trading with physical redemption rights.
Market growth: The sector hit a record $7.4 million in weekly revenue in May 2026, up 337% year-over-year, driven by Pokémon's 30th anniversary in the broader trading card market.
How it works: Cards undergo professional grading, secure vault storage, and NFT minting with 1:1 backing ratios maintained through smart contracts.

Tokenized Pokémon cards represent a significant development within the real world assets (RWA) sector, transforming how collectors interact with physical trading cards through blockchain technology. This emerging market processed over $124.5 million in trading volume during August 2025 and has continued to grow into 2026. A notable competitive shift has also emerged: Courtyard dominated the space through most of 2025, but by June 2026, Collector Crypt had overtaken it in weekly revenue.

The tokenization of Pokémon cards operates within the broader trading cards market, projected to reach $23.5 billion by 2030, offering solutions to issues including authentication challenges, shipping risks, geographical limitations, and liquidity constraints that have historically hindered the efficient trading of physical collectibles.

Understanding Tokenized Trading Cards

Tokenized Pokémon cards are blockchain-based digital representations of authenticated physical Pokémon trading cards stored in secure, third-party vaults. Unlike purely digital NFTs, these tokens maintain a verifiable 1:1 relationship with physical cards, enabling global trading without the risks associated with physical shipment while preserving the option for holders to redeem the actual cards.

The tokenization process transforms traditional card collecting into a hybrid model that combines digital efficiency with physical asset backing, where the corresponding NFT contains comprehensive metadata about the specific card.

Key Benefits of Tokenized Pokémon Cards

Tokenized Pokémon cards offer several advantages over traditional physical card trading by leveraging blockchain technology and secure custody solutions:

Instant Global Trading: Digital transactions complete within seconds, compared to traditional sales requiring days or weeks for physical delivery. There are no geographic barriers as collectors worldwide can participate without shipping restrictions or regional availability constraints.

Enhanced Security and Authentication: Professional grading services like PSA, BGS, and SGC establish condition and authenticity before tokenization, while blockchain verification and secure vault storage eliminate concerns about counterfeit cards that plague secondary markets.

Transparent Price Discovery: Real-time market data and complete transaction history provide clear pricing mechanisms that may be absent in fragmented physical markets. Users can access comprehensive metadata on the platform, including condition details, rarity information, and provenance records.

Improved Liquidity Options: Platforms offer instant buyback features (typically 85-90% of market value) providing immediate exit opportunities for cards attained through gacha/”pack opening.” High-value cards can be divided into fractional ownership shares, democratizing access to premium collectibles that might otherwise be unaffordable.

Lower Transaction Costs: On-chain marketplaces typically charge 2-4% (including redemption fees) compared to traditional trading card marketplaces such as eBay, which charges 13.25% of the total sale price (up to $7,500).

Interoperability: Standard NFT formats enable trading across multiple marketplaces and platforms, enhancing overall market liquidity and providing more trading venues for collectors.

Understanding the RWA Context and Market Dynamics

Tokenized Pokémon cards represent a specific application within the real world assets (RWA) space, where physical assets gain digital representations on blockchain networks.

The collectibles segment has emerged as a distinct RWA category, alongside more established areas like tokenized treasuries and stocks. In particular, Pokémon cards specifically benefit from certain characteristics that make them suitable for tokenization:

Established Valuation Systems: Professional grading services like PSA and BGS provide standardized condition assessment and pricing benchmarks, creating transparent value references that support digital trading. Users can enter the grading ID to check the card in the grading service’s database like https://www.psacard.com/cert, which also offers more details around the card, including an estimated market value.

High Transaction Friction: Traditional Pokémon card trading may involve challenges like shipping delays, authentication concerns, and geographic limitations, which blockchain solutions can address through instant settlement and verified provenance.

Nostalgic Demand: The millennial demographic driving crypto adoption also represents the primary market for Pokémon card collecting, creating natural user overlap between traditional collectors and blockchain-native traders. This overlap has been amplified in 2026 by Pokémon's 30th anniversary, which has driven Google searches for "Pokémon cards" to near all-time highs worldwide and is set to culminate in an all-foil "30th Celebration" set with a global same-day release in September 2026.

Liquidity Constraints: Physical card markets may suffer from limited buyer pools and slow price discovery, particularly for more common cards. Meanwhile, tokenization of high-value items can unlock liquidity through fractional ownership,, inviting broader participation.

The Tokenization Process: From Physical to Digital

The transformation of physical Pokémon cards into tradeable digital assets generally follows a process designed to ensure security, authenticity, and regulatory compliance.

Authentication and Vaulting

A collector first sends their physical cards to a secure, third-party vaulting partner. Before submission, cards must have received professional grading from recognized authentication services, which establishes their condition and authenticity. Leading platforms partner with established security providers—Courtyard works with Brink's security services while Collector Crypt utilizes PWCC vault facilities—ensuring institutional-grade custody standards.

Upon arrival at secure facilities, each card undergoes comprehensive documentation including high-resolution photography, detailed condition assessments, and assignment of unique identification numbers. These physical cards are then stored in climate-controlled environments with full insurance coverage, addressing traditional concerns about card preservation and security.

Digital Minting and Smart Contract Implementation

The digital representation emerges through smart contract deployment, typically utilizing ERC-721 NFT standards containing metadata linking to specific physical cards. This metadata includes grading information, serial numbers, storage locations, and complete provenance history. This NFT acts as a digital certificate of ownership, or a "digital IOU," cryptographically tied to the specific physical card held in storage.

Platforms implement real-time verification systems to ensure 1:1 backing between tokens and physical assets. Critical ownership and transaction data remains on-chain for permanence, while supplementary information like detailed imagery may utilize IPFS decentralized storage for cost efficiency.

Redemption Mechanisms

The system's value is anchored by the promise of redeemability, which is automated by smart contracts. The owner of the NFT can, at any time, choose to "burn" the token through the platform's interface. This action permanently removes the NFT from circulation and signals the vault to prepare the physical card for shipment back to the owner.

The user typically pays a withdrawal fee plus shipping costs to complete the process. This physical-digital-physical loop ensures every token is backed by a tangible asset, though it introduces a critical risk: the entire system's integrity rests on the trust placed in the centralized vaulting partner.

On-Chain Marketplaces: Recreating the Pack-Opening Experience

Once minted, these card-backed NFTs can be traded on specialized on-chain marketplaces that offer significant advantages over Web2 platforms like eBay, including lower fees, instant settlement, and interoperability with larger NFT ecosystems.

However, the most explosive growth has been driven by gamified features that replicate the thrill of opening a fresh pack of cards, as seen from the popularity of Courtyard, Collector Crypt, Phygitals, and RIP.FUN.

Collector Crypt's Gacha Feature

A leading example on the Solana blockchain is Collector Crypt, whose most popular product is its "Gacha Machine". This feature allows users to buy randomized NFT packs using crypto, digitally recreating the ritual of opening booster packs. A key innovation is an instant buyback feature, which gives users the option to immediately sell their revealed NFT back to the platform, providing instant liquidity. The platform's ecosystem is powered by its native utility token, CARDS.

Since launch, Collector Crypt has hit several major milestones: cumulative trading volume sits at around $1.3 billion at time of writing (June 2026), and cumulative protocol revenue surpassed $64 million, according to Dune. More than 30% of users have redeemed physical cards from the vault, and the project distributed a quarterly airdrop of 15 million CARDS tokens on June 14.

The platform has also expanded its utility: it partnered with Loopscale to launch a Collectibles Vault, enabling users to borrow USDC against their vaulted cards — an entry into "Collectibles-Fi." It also integrated with Solflare to bring pack-opening directly in-wallet to Solflare's 4 million monthly active users, and expanded to BNB Chain (BSC) to reach broader EVM ecosystems.

Courtyard.io's Digital Packs

Operating on the Polygon network, Courtyard.io has seen tremendous success with a similar model centered on "digital pack" drops from its "Vending Machine". The platform drives liquidity through these gamified pack-ripping experiences, which also include an instant buyback mechanic, typically offering 90% of the card's fair market value.

Courtyard has since expanded to support coins and watches, alongside cards.

Phygitals: The Hybrid Model

Also operating on Solana, Phygitals leans heavily into a "phygital" (physical + digital) hybrid model. Like the others, the platform's core experience involves users opening digital packs to instantly reveal a real, physical Pokémon card. From there, collectors have the choice to hold the card digitally, trade it, redeem the physical version, or sell it back to the platform for 85% of its market value—a feature that provides immediate liquidity.

Phygitals also has a strong emphasis on gamification, offering interactive games like a "Claw Machine" for users to choose card packs.

Considerations and Risks Around Tokenized Pokémon Trading Cards

Tokenized Pokémon cards present unique risk-reward profiles.

Regulatory Environment

The regulatory landscape remains evolving, with the SEC maintaining that "tokenized securities are still securities" subject to federal oversight. Most tokenized collectible offerings likely qualify as securities under existing frameworks, requiring proper registration or applicable exemptions.

Intellectual property considerations add complexity, as The Pokémon Company maintains strict control over Pokémon trademarks and generally prohibits commercial use of their intellectual property without explicit licensing agreements.

Technology and Operational Risks

Platform concentration risk emerges from the centralized nature of physical custody, creating single points of failure where operational issues, security breaches, or regulatory actions could affect all tokenized assets.

Market Dynamics

Volatility: Token prices can experience significant fluctuations driven by speculation, limited liquidity, and broader crypto market sentiment rather than underlying collectible values.

Market Manipulation: Low liquidity in specialized segments creates susceptibility to coordinated manipulation, though traditional market benchmarks provide some price anchoring.

Platform Sustainability: The emerging nature of tokenized collectibles creates platform mortality risks, particularly during market downturns when user activity and revenue may decline substantially.

Conclusion

The tokenized Pokémon cards market represents an innovative application of blockchain technology to traditional collectibles, offering enhanced functionality while introducing new risk categories. As regulatory frameworks develop and technology matures, this sector may serve as a model for broader tokenization of physical assets across various categories.

The continued evolution of this market will depend on successful navigation of regulatory requirements, maintenance of robust security standards, and development of sustainable business models balancing innovation with participant protection.

This article is only for informational purposes and should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Always do your own research before investing or depositing any capital on any platform.

How LI.FI Prices Cross-Chain Swaps for 2M+ Assets Across 40+ Networks

2026-06-24T11:31:09Z

LI.FI is the universal liquidity layer that connects any application to all onchain liquidity across chains, bridges, DEXs, solvers, and yield protocols through a single integration. Its API and SDK abstract the complexity of bridging, swapping, and executing transactions across 40+ blockchain networks, enabling developers to move any asset seamlessly. Today, more than 1,000 B2B integrators rely on LI.FI's infrastructure, including consumer wallets such as MetaMask, Phantom, Ledger Live, and Rabby, fintech platforms such as Robinhood, Kraken, and Circle, and institutional trading desks operating at enterprise scale.

By integrating CoinGecko's API, LI.FI powers its token service architecture with accurate, real-time price data across more than 2 million tokens, delivering the pricing freshness its integrators and their end users demand.

Key Metrics at a Glance

By integrating CoinGecko’s API, LI.FI's token service delivers real-time, accurate pricing across 2M+ tokens spanning 40+ blockchain networks, giving its 1,000+ B2B integrators a single, reliable pricing source for every asset they support.
LI.FI leverages CoinGecko's WebSocket API to deliver price updates every second for thousands of the most traded tokens, eliminating the need for aggressive REST polling on assets where real-time freshness matters most.
LI.FI's 8-tier bucketing system, which uses Coingecko's REST and WebSocket capabilities as the main token price oracles, processes approximately 1 billion token price updates per month while using 80% fewer API calls than a uniform polling approach, keeping API costs efficient at enterprise scale without compromising on price freshness.

The Challenge: Pricing 2M+ Tokens Accurately at Scale

LI.FI operates one of the most complex token pricing environments in DeFi. Its universal liquidity protocol spans 40+ blockchains and serves more than 1,000 B2B integrators, each with different latency tolerances, liquidity profiles, and user-facing SLA requirements.

The core engineering challenge was designing a pricing system capable of serving those 2 million tokens simultaneously, where each token carried a different freshness requirement depending on its trading activity, volatility, and how frequently end users interacted with it. A single uniform polling cadence was not viable at that scale. Applying the same update frequency to every token would either exhaust API rate limits on high-activity assets or leave low-liquidity tokens underserved during periods of market stress. LI.FI needed an architecture that could dynamically match data freshness to token behavior, maintain rate efficiency across the full token universe, and hold up under production load without manual tuning.

Why LI.FI Chose CoinGecko API

LI.FI built its token service to be provider-agnostic with a standardized oracle adapter layer that can run multiple price sources in parallel. After evaluating more than a dozen oracles on network coverage and data freshness, the team chose CoinGecko as its primary reference provider for four core reasons:

Broadest token coverage: CoinGecko tracks the long tail of tokens across 40+ chains, which is critical for a protocol that must price any asset a user wants to swap.
WebSocket streaming: CoinGecko’s real-time price delivery via WebSocket allows LI.FI to update volatile token prices every second, eliminating the need for aggressive REST polling on high-activity assets.
Consolidation without lock-in: CoinGecko's breadth of coverage allowed LI.FI to consolidate its primary oracle to a single provider, reducing operational overhead.
Onchain token discovery: CoinGecko's onchain data endpoints help LI.FI discover new tokens as they begin trading, feeding directly into its automated token discovery pipeline.

What LI.FI Says About CoinGecko API

"We evaluated over a dozen token price oracles before choosing CoinGecko as our reference provider. Our token service architecture is designed to be provider-agnostic — we can integrate any oracle — but no other API matched CoinGecko's combination of coverage across 250+ chains, real-time WebSocket delivery, and the depth of onchain data we need for automated token discovery. CoinGecko's API is what allows us to deliver enterprise-grade price freshness to clients like Robinhood, Ledger, and MetaMask."

— Clément Bihorel, Product Lead at LI.FI

How LI.FI Leverages CoinGecko API

CoinGecko is the primary data source powering LI.FI's token service, which handles all token pricing, discovery, and classification for the entire protocol. Every cross-chain quote, swap, and bridge transaction depends on accurate, fresh token prices, making the data central to the product. The integration spans both REST and WebSocket layers, with CoinGecko connected through a standardized oracle adapter that supports parallel operation with additional providers, automatic fallback chains, and circuit breaker logic for resilience under production conditions.

Batch Price Data via REST API

For the majority of its token universe, LI.FI queries CoinGecko's REST API in batches of up to 50 tokens per call. The /onchain/networks/{network}/tokens/multi/{ids} endpoint handles the heaviest share of this volume, retrieving price and market data for multiple onchain tokens in a single query across supported networks. Alongside it, the /simple/token_price/{id} endpoint handles batch price lookups for tokens identified by contract address on a specific blockchain, complementing the onchain endpoint across different query patterns.

In aggregate, LI.FI processes approximately one billion individual token price updates per month through these two endpoints, equating to roughly 22 million API calls at 50 tokens per batch.

Real-Time Price Streaming via WebSocket

CoinGecko's WebSocket API delivers real-time price updates every second for thousands of the most traded tokens. Rather than polling for price changes at a fixed interval, the WebSocket connection pushes updates as they happen.

The widget below illustrates this in practice. When a user compares swap routes across liquidity providers like Hyphen, Across, and Circle CCTP, LI.FI's routing engine evaluates those options against WebSocket-streamed price data from CoinGecko, returning the most accurate and up-to-date quote for each path in real time.

LI.FI swap widget showing live route comparison with real-time price quotes.

Additional REST endpoints support supplementary data needs across the token service. The /coins/markets endpoint provides market cap and volume context for tokens. The /coins/{id}/market_chart/range endpoint supports historical price lookups where needed.

Onchain Token Discovery

LI.FI’s token database covers over two million assets across 40+ networks, a scale that makes manual token curation impossible. To keep the database current as new tokens launch, LI.FI runs an automated discovery pipeline built on CoinGecko’s onchain endpoints.

When LI.FI’s system detects activity around an unrecognized contract address, it queries CoinGecko’s /onchain/networks/{network}/tokens/multi/{ids} endpoint to retrieve verified token metadata, pricing context, and network classification. Tokens that qualify are automatically added to the token service, assigned a pricing tier, and begin receiving price updates.

Data Infrastructure Optimization

Across both data streams, LI.FI's token service applies an 8-tier bucketing system that classifies every token by its trading activity and volatility. High-activity tokens refresh every second, with WebSocket streaming used where possible. Dormant tokens refresh at a lower cadence matched to their actual demand. This tiered architecture is what allows LI.FI to process approximately one billion monthly price updates with 80%+ fewer API calls than a uniform polling approach would require, while maintaining enterprise-grade price freshness on the assets that users trade most.

Business and User Outcomes

Building a token service that prices 2M+ assets at enterprise scale is a tough infrastructure challenge. CoinGecko's API gave LI.FI the data foundation to overcome it, delivering measurable results across price freshness, API efficiency, and automated token discovery.

Real-Time Price Freshness at Scale

By building its token service around CoinGecko's API, LI.FI delivers price updates every second on its most-traded assets while maintaining full pricing coverage across 2M+ tokens. For integrators like Robinhood, Ledger, and MetaMask, this translates directly into more accurate swap quotes, tighter slippage, and a better end-user experience at enterprise scale.

API Efficiency Through Intelligent Tiering

The 8-tier bucketing system, designed specifically around CoinGecko's REST and WebSocket capabilities, achieved an 80%+ reduction in API call volume compared to a uniform polling approach. For LI.FI, the result is a leaner API cost structure at enterprise scale. The protocol prices over two million tokens monthly without the infrastructure spend that uniform polling demands.

Automated Token Discovery at Scale

LI.FI’s token database expands automatically as new assets launch across 40+ networks. For enterprise integrators like Robinhood and Ledger, this means that new token coverage arrives without any action required on their end. Furthermore, CoinGecko's coverage of over 250+ networks with normalized data allows LI.FI to easily extend its token service to new chains without rebuilding its data layer.

What’s Next On The Roadmap

With its token pricing infrastructure in place, the LI.FI team is extending its use of CoinGecko’s real-time data into the universal liquidity execution stack through Smart Slippage v2. This new service calculates dynamic, per-token slippage recommendations by combining real-time price data from CoinGecko with LI.FI’s own DEX aggregation layer and volatility signals. Smart Slippage v2 provides high-precision, per-token slippage that replaces the static defaults common across the industry. The feature went live in June 2026 alongside their new token service updates and is built to meet ongoing requirements from enterprise clients like Robinhood.

Get In Touch

Ready to supercharge your crypto project? Fill in the form below to connect with our API Sales team for a custom CoinGecko API plan tailored to enterprise needs.

This article was written in collaboration with LI.FI team.

Onchain Risk Curators: $147T vs $7B Market Gap

2026-06-24T02:06:01Z

Tiger Research looks at how authority in DeFi lending is shifting from protocols to curators, and why market entry comes down to one choice: borrow this judgment, supply it, or own it.

Key Takeaways

A distinct asset manager role has taken shape in DeFi, displacing the era when protocols and governance owned all decision-making.
The market is in its early stages, yet capital and distribution are already concentrating around top curators — their track records setting the emerging institutional standard.
There are three entry paths: Distribution (curator as backend), Supply (post assets onchain), and Operator (become a curator).
The path chosen determines the control gained, the capabilities required, and the risks taken on.
The strategic question is not whether to enter DeFi, but where to draw the line between outsourcing and ownership.

1. Risk Curators: Onchain Asset Management Specialists

Just as traditional finance has long separated judgment from execution, the crypto market has matured to the point where specialized players own each function. Traditional finance divides the work as follows.

Asset Manager: The fund’s “brain.” Sets strategy and gives specific instructions to the custodian.
Custodian: Holds assets, executes investments per the manager’s instructions, and oversees them.
Distributor: Distributes fund products to investors and gathers capital.

Crypto has its own version of each role. DeFi was originally built to rely entirely on smart contract code, but over time it became clear that code alone cannot fully control onchain risk.

To run onchain lending safely, a new class of specialists emerged to assess and coordinate these complex risks. They are called Risk Curators, and they have effectively taken on the asset manager role in the onchain ecosystem.

2. Early DeFi Had No Specialists

Early DeFi protocols like Aave and Compound bundled lending infrastructure and risk standards into a single structure. Risk curators existed at the time, but with every asset sitting in one giant pool, their role stayed at the level of a system-wide “risk manager” tuning the protocol’s overall risk parameters. As volatile assets flowed in, the single-pool design meant one bad asset could spread losses across the entire system, and someone had to manage that contagion risk.

That changed with Morpho, which split collateral assets and lending terms into separate markets. Replacing the single giant pool with a multi-vault structure modularized the asset management strategy, and the role of risk curators flipped entirely. Instead of defensively managing within a single protocol’s fixed framework, external specialists could now design and operate their own independent lending vaults under their own standards.

With infrastructure and risk judgment fully separated, risk curators evolved from system-wide risk managers into the crypto market’s “asset managers,” actively running multiple vaults.

3. Who Leads the Market

As of May 2026, the risk curator market manages roughly $7B in assets, and the top three teams hold 70% of that $7B. The market only took off in 2025, yet capital is already concentrating, a sign that capital is following teams with proven track records. Each of the three reached the top through a different path.

Steakhouse: A conservative curator that has led the adoption of high-grade real-world assets (RWA) such as US Treasuries. It serves as the backend for Coinbase’s lending service, opening a distribution channel, and ranks #1 with $1.53B AUM (as of February 2026). Beyond AUM, this team sets the standard for which real-world assets qualify as legitimate DeFi collateral.
Sentora: A team built on AI risk models and institutional data infrastructure. Wired into Kraken as a backend, it has secured a pipeline for institutional capital. #2 at $1.34B AUM — its edge is the distribution channel connecting exchanges to institutional capital.
Gauntlet: Originally an onchain quantitative analysis firm that simulated risk parameters. In October 2025, when $775M flooded one of its pools, the team normalized the collapsed APY within 10 days, proving its capability. #3 at $1.29B AUM, and recognized as the team with risk defense and crisis response for large capital inflows.

At this stage, the risk curator market is no longer a simple TVL race. It is a fight to claim the standards first: collateral criteria, distribution channels, and risk response capability.

4. Traditional Asset Management vs. DeFi Risk Curators

As Morpho fragmented the market, each collateral type needed a specialist to make the call. Professional risk teams like Steakhouse stepped in as DeFi risk curators. Through this shift, DeFi is starting to resemble the traditional asset management process.

Reading the diagram from top to bottom shows how today’s DeFi infrastructure replicates the division of labor in traditional finance onchain.

Capital sourcing and distribution (top): Institutional investors sit at the top as the capital source. Their large pools flow into the onchain ecosystem through major CeFi exchanges and platforms, which take the role of TradFi distributors (brokerages).
Strategy design and risk control (middle): Below sit the DeFi risk curators, who decide how the incoming capital is managed. Like the portfolio managers (PMs) and risk committees of traditional asset managers, they set asset eligibility and limits and design the overall investment strategy.
Product assembly and custody (bottom): The curator’s strategy becomes an investable onchain product through the vault infrastructure beneath it. At the very bottom, the lending protocol primitive holds the assets and executes settlement in code, taking the place of TradFi’s custody and trading infrastructure.

From capital sourcing through management and custody, the entire process now mirrors the division of labor seen in traditional finance. For incumbent TradFi institutions, onchain lending is no longer unfamiliar territory but a structured market they recognize, and the opening for entry follows naturally.

5. A TradFi-Like Industry: Where Is the Opportunity?

As onchain lending infrastructure adopts a division of labor similar to TradFi asset management, the door has opened for institutional entry. But not every layer carries the same barrier.

Distribution layer: Customer-facing market, already saturated by major crypto firms. It is inefficient for TradFi firms to fight head-on at the point of contact.
Management layer: A field driven entirely by financial expertise and manpower. Evaluating, controlling, and packaging asset risk matches the core work of traditional asset managers. Without building complex systems, they can apply their existing risk management capability onto already-built modular infrastructure and immediately secure a business model.
Custody and infrastructure layer: Asset custody and trade processing, a technology-intensive business that demands deep blockchain engineering capability. It is unrealistic for TradFi firms to build their own systems and compete here.

Unlike the other layers, which require technology or platform incumbency, the management layer is the clearest window of opportunity, where TradFi firms can take market leadership using only the risk management capability they already hold.

Institutions currently enter the DeFi market through three paths: Distribution, Supply, and Operator. Whichever path is chosen, the engine driving the market is the asset manager’s “risk curation” capability.

5.1. Distribution: Curator as Backend

Connect a proven external curator as the backend and enter the market quickly. This fits exchanges and fintechs with customer channels but no in-house management capability. Strategy is outsourced, but reputational risk and accountability for the curator chosen stay in-house.

This is the route chosen by centralized exchanges with strong customer touchpoints but no appetite for managing the complex risks of onchain lending directly. They have connected verified external risk curators as the backend and launched lending services. The exchange distributes large pools of capital through its own platform, while collateral evaluation and risk management are handed off entirely to the partner risk curator

5.2. Supply: Push Assets onto Onchain Rails

Asset managers holding RWAs or credit assets supply those assets directly to the market. Like Apollo, they can supply assets while acquiring Morpho governance tokens, shaping the standards (such as collateral criteria) of the infrastructure that will carry their assets. The hard parts are asset standardization and regulatory infrastructure build-out.

Large private equity funds or institutions holding real-world assets (RWAs) place their own capital directly onto onchain rails. Apollo went beyond simple asset supply and acquired governance tokens of major lending protocols. The move aims to drive the rules and standards so that its real-world assets are recognized as more favorable and safer “official collateral” in the onchain market.

But asset suppliers cannot register just any asset as collateral. Someone has to coldly assess whether the asset is genuinely safe and whether it can be liquidated immediately when an onchain liquidation event hits. That requires the rigorous evaluation capability of a risk curator who vets and vouches for asset eligibility. In the end, the supply path also stands only when an asset manager’s risk validation capability backs it.

5.3. Operator: Become the Curator (Bitwise)

An asset manager designs its own strategy and runs its own vaults. Bitwise defined the onchain vault as “ETF 2.0” and jumped in directly. This path holds the strongest controls over fees and collateral standards, but the manager also bears full responsibility for any operating failure. It fits asset managers with an in-house risk team.

This is the path where a traditional asset manager steps out as a risk curator itself, without relying on external platforms. Bitwise defined the onchain lending vault structure as “ETF 2.0” and entered the market directly. Drawing on its own portfolio construction capability and risk control system, it designs and controls the vaults itself, securing the management fee model directly onchain.

6. Before Big Capital Arrives

Looking at the trajectory so far, traditional asset managers are likely the best positioned as onchain lending matures. As the DeFi ecosystem modularizes and divides labor, the capability the market actually needs has shifted. Not the ability to write code, but the traditional finance expertise of underwriting collateral and setting risk limits. The competitive edge of institutions that have done this work for decades carries over onchain.

But today’s DeFi market is too small for global mega-managers to step in directly. The global traditional asset management market is roughly $147T. BlackRock alone runs $14T in AUM. By contrast, the entire DeFi market is about $80B, and the slice handled by risk curators is just $7B. That is 1/2,000th of BlackRock’s AUM.

But the sheer scale gap is what shows the runway for growth. Institutional capital does not enter places where risk is not controlled. Once risk curators lay rails for capital to run safely onchain and the regulatory outline takes shape, the story changes. Even a sliver of the $147T flowing in expands the $80B market quickly.

Some opportunities exist only while the market is small. The main players in the risk curator market today can be counted on one hand. Rails are required for institutions to come onchain, and the teams that lay them first set the standards.

Institutions that arrive later will get a safer, clearer market. They will also be one of many participating inside standards that have already been set.

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What Are Tokenized Stocks and Top Platforms to Get Started

2026-06-19T10:10:36Z

What Are Tokenized Stocks?

Tokenized stocks are digital representations of traditional company shares on blockchain networks – think of them as crypto versions of Tesla or Apple shares.

Fastest-growing coin category on CoinGecko: Tokenized stocks surged +3,314% from just 14 to 478 listed coins between January 2024 and May 2026, outpacing even AI and RWA categories. The market is split into spot tokens and perpetual futures. Spot tokenized stocks are backed 1:1 by real shares held in regulated custody; perps track prices via oracle feeds with no underlying share held.
Market size and platforms: The tokenized stock spot market reached $487 million by end of Q1 2026, with total RWA perps volume hitting $524.8 billion in the same quarter alone, according to CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026. Leading platforms span the full custody spectrum: Kraken and Ondo Finance for equity-backed spot tokens, Hyperliquid (via trade.xyz) for permissionless perpetuals, and Robinhood EU for a beginner-friendly custodial experience.
Benefits and risks: Main benefits include 24/7 trading, fractional ownership, global accessibility, and instant settlement – but users sacrifice voting rights (though proxy voting is emerging), may face regulatory uncertainties, and depend on issuer and custody intermediaries.
SpaceX IPO stress test: The SpaceX IPO in June 2026 exposed a key structural risk: multiple exchanges were forced to cancel tokenized SpaceX offerings and refund over $1 billion in customer orders after xStocks, their shared intermediary, could not secure allocations in the massively oversubscribed IPO. However, Ondo's liquidity model that connects to traditional markets enabled it to successfully offer tokenized SpaceX on IPO day.

Imagine buying Tesla stock at 3 AM on a Sunday, paying just $10 to own a fraction of a share, instead of purchasing the full share at $200+, and holding it in the same wallet as your Bitcoin. This is tokenized stocks, and it's growing fast. According to CoinGecko Research, the tokenized stock category grew +3,314% in coin count between January 2024 and May 2026, making it the fastest-growing category tracked on the platform.

The global stock market is worth over $134 trillion, but accessing it traditionally involves geographical restrictions, high minimum investments, and limited trading hours. Investing in U.S. stocks from other continents, for example, can be challenging due to regulatory barriers and capital requirements.

Web3 projects are solving this through tokenization. Two distinct models have emerged: equity-backed spot tokens, where real shares sit in regulated custody and a 1:1 token is minted on-chain, and perpetual futures, which track stock prices via oracles without any underlying share held. Both are growing rapidly, though they serve different use cases and carry different risks.

Understanding Tokenized Stocks

Tokenized stocks are crypto tokens on the blockchain that track real stock prices, giving you exposure to companies like Apple or Tesla without going through traditional brokers. There are three main types, each with different risk profiles and use cases.

Types of Tokenized Stocks

Equity-backed tokenized stocks are the more conservative option, backed 1:1 by real shares held in regulated custody. Companies like Backed Finance (xStocks) and Ondo Finance create tokenized stocks this way, offering lower risk and greater regulatory compliance. Some platforms such as Kraken xStocks also offer up to 3x margin on these.

Synthetic tokenized stocks track stock prices using oracle data and smart contracts without any actual shares backing them. Platforms like Synthetix previously offered these but they are less common today due to higher oracle manipulation risk.

Perpetual futures on tokenized stocks have emerged as the dominant instrument by traded volume. As CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026 shows, total RWA perps volume reached $524.8 billion in Q1 2026 alone – more than the $313.0 billion recorded for all of 2025. Platforms including Hyperliquid (via HIP-3) and Binance offer up to 20x leverage on these instruments. Unlike spot tokens, perps have no expiry date and use a funding rate mechanism to keep prices anchored to the reference asset.

Most retail-facing platforms now lead with equity-backed spot tokens for regulatory reasons, while perps have gained dominant market share in raw trading volume.

What Are xStocks?

xStocks are tokenized stocks created by Swiss company Backed Finance. They represent a significant share of the current equity-backed spot token market and were among the first tokenized stocks to achieve wide CEX distribution. At time of writing, the total onchain transaction volume of xStocks has surpassed $8 billion.

These tokens are issued across multiple blockchains — primarily Solana, with Ethereum and TON also live and further integrations planned — which enables fast, low-cost transactions and broad DeFi composability. They maintain 1:1 backing by real shares held in regulated custodians like Alpaca Securities in the US and InCore Bank in Switzerland. Chainlink provides Proof of Reserves verification so you can independently verify that tokens match actual assets.

Unlike some tokenized stock models that keep tokens locked on platforms, xStocks function as true blockchain tokens. You can withdraw them to your personal wallet, use them in DeFi protocols like Raydium and Meteora, and trade them on major exchanges including Kraken and Bybit. This flexibility is why xStocks have gained such widespread adoption in the crypto community.

What Is Ondo Global Markets?

Ondo Finance's Global Markets platform has grown to become one of the largest tokenized equity issuers in the world. Launched in September 2025, it crossed $1 billion in total value locked in less than eight months — a first for any tokenized equity platform, and a pace Ondo itself says outstripped stablecoin growth in 2026.The platform offers more than 260 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs across Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, with each token fully backed by the underlying security held inside a U.S.-registered broker-dealer, tracking total return including dividends.

According to CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026, Circle has emerged as the single largest tokenized stock by market cap at $171 million, spanning both Ondo's CRCLON ($130 million) and xStocks' CRCLX ($41 million) versions – illustrating how the same underlying equity can be tokenized by multiple competing issuers on the same chain.

Ondo partnered with Broadridge Financial Solutions in April 2026 to enable proxy voting for holders of over 250 tokenized stocks and ETFs – the first instance of on-chain shareholder voting at meaningful scale, partially addressing one of the longstanding criticisms of tokenized equities.

How Do Tokenized Stocks Work?

The process of creating and managing tokenized stocks involves several carefully orchestrated steps to ensure security and regulatory compliance.

Issuer Licensing

Companies must obtain regulatory approval before they can create tokenized stocks. For example, Backed Finance received approval from Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority (FMA), which specified their permissions for issuing, managing, and facilitating tokenized stock trading. Ondo Finance holds relevant regulatory authorizations across multiple jurisdictions, including approvals to offer tokenized stocks across 30 European countries.

Stock Acquisition

Once licensed, the issuer purchases real company shares through traditional brokers and places them in regulated custody. These custodians maintain secure facilities and must adhere to securities laws in their operating regions. They also provide regular audits and proof of reserves to verify token backing and enhance investor trust.

Issuance and Backing

The issuer mints an equal number of tokens on the blockchain as shares held in custody, maintaining a strict 1:1 backing ratio. The token value tracks the real stock price through market mechanisms and arbitrage.

Trading Mechanisms

Trading happens through both centralized exchanges like Kraken, and decentralized exchanges on the blockchain like Hyperliquid. Smart contracts enable near-instant settlement, and tokens can be transferred between wallets like any cryptocurrency. This eliminates the T+1 settlement cycle standard in traditional stock markets since May 2024.

Redemption

Token holders can convert their tokens back to stablecoins or fiat based on the value of the underlying stock. After redemption, tokens are burned to maintain the 1:1 backing ratio.

Benefits of Tokenized Stocks

An HSBC report estimates that up to 10% of global GDP will be stored and transacted via blockchain technology by 2027, potentially creating a $24 trillion tokenized market. Here's why tokenized stocks play a key role in driving this growth:

Convenience: 24/7 Trading

Traditional stock markets operate on limited schedules, typically 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on weekdays. Tokenized stocks break free from these constraints entirely. You can trade anytime, whether it's 2 AM on a Sunday or during a holiday when traditional markets are closed.

This flexibility provides significant advantages. Tiger Research found that when stock markets close overnight, tokenized perpetuals become a genuine price discovery mechanism rather than simply mirroring a closed market. Overnight perp moves for Korean equities predicted the next-day spot open with 85%+ directional accuracy, and weekend perp moves matched the following Monday's open 93% of the time for Samsung Electronics.

Fractional Ownership

One of the biggest barriers to stock investing is high share prices. Tokenized stocks solve this by allowing fractional purchases. Instead of needing the full price of one share, you could buy a small dollar amount of tokenized stock and still benefit from the same percentage price movements. This opens investment opportunities to people with smaller budgets and enables better portfolio diversification.

Global Accessibility

Tokenized stocks eliminate traditional barriers to international investing. All you need is a crypto wallet and internet access to trade U.S. stocks from anywhere in the world. There are no traditional brokerage accounts to set up, no complex international wire transfers, and on DEXs, no geographical restrictions.

Instant Settlement

Traditional stock trades settle T+1 (one business day after the trade). Tokenized stocks settle near-instantly through smart contracts, reducing capital lock-up and counterparty risk during the settlement window.

DeFi Integration

With equity-backed platforms like xStocks and Ondo Global Markets, you can withdraw tokenized stocks to your personal wallet and deploy them across DeFi. You can use tokenized Apple stock as collateral for a crypto loan on Kamino, or provide liquidity on Raydium to earn trading fees. Ondo's integration with MetaMask now allows eligible users to access 200+ tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs directly within the MetaMask mobile wallet. These use cases are impossible with traditional stock ownership.

Risks and Challenges of Tokenized Stocks

While tokenized stocks offer compelling benefits, investors should understand the limitations and risks involved.

Counterparty and Intermediary Risk

Tokenized stocks rely on multiple parties – the custodian must securely hold the underlying stocks, the issuer must maintain proper backing ratios, and the platform must operate reliably. If any of these parties fail, your investment could be at risk.

The SpaceX IPO in June 2026 provided a vivid stress test. SpaceX's $75 billion Nasdaq IPO was more than four times oversubscribed, with approximately $250 billion in total demand. Binance, Bybit, Bitget, and MEXC had all launched tokenized SpaceX IPO campaigns promising customers IPO-price access, collectively aggregating over $1 billion in customer orders (including $557 million in USDC deposits on Binance alone), all routed through xStocks as the shared intermediary. When xStocks could not secure meaningful allocations from the underwriters, those four exchanges cancelled their campaigns entirely and issued full refunds. Kraken, also using xStocks, did partially deliver — but only at a thin pro-rata fill of 4.2786 SPCXx shares per subscriber, far below what most customers had committed.

The episode exposed a specific form of intermediary dependency risk: the promise each exchange made to customers was only as good as xStocks' relationship with the IPO underwriters, which had no obligation to allocate to a crypto intermediary in an oversubscribed deal. Platforms that ultimately offered tokenized SpaceX exposure — Backpack, Ondo, and Dinari — did so not by securing better IPO allocations, but by not making that promise in the first place. Backpack launched SPCX on Solana on listing day, having purchased shares directly as a regulated U.S. broker-dealer. Ondo's liquidity model connects to traditional markets, enabling it to successfully offer tokenized SpaceX stocks on IPO day, with SPCXon gaining thousands of holders and millions in TVL in minutes after the launch.

Ondo and Dinari launched post-IPO tokenized exposure by sourcing shares independently on the secondary market at prevailing market prices, backed by their own broker-dealer infrastructure. Customers of these platforms got tokenized SpaceX shares, but at open-market prices rather than the $135 IPO price.

Regulatory Uncertainty

The regulatory landscape for tokenized stocks is still evolving. The picture has improved substantially in the U.S. in 2026: the SEC approved Nasdaq's rules for tokenized equity trading in March 2026, followed by NYSE in April. The SEC has also been preparing an "innovation exemption" under Chair Paul Atkins' Project Crypto initiative, which would create a regulatory sandbox allowing platforms to offer tokenized equities without full broker-dealer registration, subject to exposure caps, disclosure requirements, and periodic reporting. That said, many platforms still exclude U.S. users, and exemption-based frameworks can be revoked or revised, creating residual uncertainty for long-term holders.

No Voting Rights (Though Changing)

Unlike normal company shares, most tokenized stocks don't confer voting rights or other shareholder privileges, as they are primarily financial instruments to track price movements. This gap is beginning to narrow. Ondo Finance's partnership with Broadridge introduced on-chain proxy voting for holders of over 250 tokenized stocks and ETFs.

Coinbase announced in June 2026 that its upcoming tokenized stocks would include full shareholder rights onchain — not just dividends but voting entitlements — which would go further than any existing platform if delivered as described. The complete legal structure is yet to be disclosed ahead of the August non-U.S. launch, so it is worth watching how those terms are defined in practice.

Counterparty Risk

Tokenized stocks rely on multiple parties – the custodian must securely hold the underlying stocks, the issuer must maintain proper backing ratios, and the platform must operate reliably. If any of these parties fail, your investment could be at risk.

While regulated platforms like xStocks use reputable custodians and provide transparency through proof of reserves, the additional complexity compared to traditional stock ownership does create more points of potential failure. Platform bankruptcy, custodian issues, or technical failures could all impact your holdings.

Technical Vulnerabilities

Smart contracts and blockchain systems can have bugs or vulnerabilities. Oracle systems that provide price data must remain accurate and tamper-proof – a risk particularly acute for perpetual futures, where deployers are responsible for maintaining their own price feeds. When integrated with DeFi, an additional layer of smart contract risk applies across any lending protocol or liquidity pool.

Liquidity Fragmentation

The tokenized stock market, while growing fast, remains small relative to traditional markets. The same underlying equity can be listed across multiple chains and venues simultaneously, splitting liquidity and widening spreads. Tiger Research's data showed that the same stock ticker could trade 0.93%–2.3% apart across different perpetuals exchanges simultaneously – an arbitrage opportunity, but also evidence of market immaturity and potential for confusion. High leverage also further amplifies the risk of sudden liquidation cascades in thin pools.

Top Platforms for Trading Tokenized Stocks

Here are the top platforms that offer trading services for tokenized stocks:

Kraken – Best CEX On-Ramp for xStocks

Kraken offers 50+ tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through its xStocks integration, with no trading fees on xStock purchases made in USD or USDG. Note that a spread is still baked into the price regardless of payment method, and the standard 1% instant buy fee applies when purchasing with other assets. What sets Kraken apart from other CEX options is full self-custody support, allowing you to withdraw tokens to your personal wallet and deploy them across supported DeFi ecosystems, including as collateral on Kamino or in liquidity pools on Raydium.

Ondo Global Markets – Best for Range and Institutional Backing

Ondo offers more than 260 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs across Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, with total return tracking (including dividends) and backing held inside a U.S.-registered broker-dealer. Its scale, institutional partnerships (DTCC, J.P. Morgan, Broadridge, Franklin Templeton), and regulatory approvals across 30+ European countries make it the largest single issuer of tokenized equities by TVL. Eligible non-U.S. users can access Ondo tokens through the Ondo app, MetaMask (via MetaMask Swaps on Ethereum mainnet), Jupiter on Solana, and a wide range of partner exchanges and wallets including Gate, MEXC, Bitget, OKX Wallet, Bitrue and Binance's ADGM-regulated trading facility.

Hyperliquid (via trade.xyz) – Best for Active Traders and Leverage

For users who want leveraged exposure to stock prices around the clock without taking custody of underlying shares, Hyperliquid's HIP-3 framework is the dominant venue. trade.xyz, the leading HIP-3 builder, offers 24/7 perpetual markets for Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, and a synthetic Nasdaq index. HIP-3 open interest exceeded $1.43 billion as of March 2026 and now accounts for more than 35% of all trading volume on the Hyperliquid platform. Unlike native Hyperliquid markets, HIP-3 markets are not backstopped by Hyperliquid's shared liquidity pool, and each deployer is responsible for managing its own oracle feeds and liquidity, so traders should factor in deployer-specific risk when sizing positions.

Coinbase – Best for U.S. Users and Upcoming Tokenized Stocks

Coinbase opened zero-commission stock and ETF trading to all U.S. users in June 2026, with 24/5 access alongside crypto in a single account — the first time U.S. retail investors could manage both in one place at no commission. On June 16, it announced a further step: 1:1 backed tokenized stocks for non-U.S. customers launching in August 2026, settling on Base (its Ethereum Layer 2). Coinbase is positioning these as true ownership tokens, with holders receiving dividends, full shareholder rights, and the ability to lend shares for yield or use them as loan collateral. CEO Brian Armstrong framed the product as "no derivatives, no IOUs," a direct contrast to the derivative-based models used by platforms like Robinhood EU. U.S. access remains pending the SEC's innovation exemption framework. The full legal terms of the tokenized stock product are still to be disclosed ahead of launch, so the shareholder rights claim warrants close scrutiny when those details emerge.

Robinhood EU – Best for Beginners in Europe

Robinhood launched tokenized stocks for EU users in June 2025, offering over 2,000 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs built on Arbitrum (Ethereum Layer 2), with a minimum investment of just €1. The familiar mobile app experience makes it ideal for crypto newcomers who don't want to manage private keys or interact with DeFi protocols.

One important structural note: Robinhood EU tokens are classified as derivative contracts under MiFID II rather than equity-backed wrappers, meaning they provide economic exposure to the underlying stock price but are not direct ownership claims on actual shares. Users can now transfer tokens to an external Arbitrum wallet after a holding period, though Robinhood Chain, the firm's planned dedicated Layer 2 with deeper DeFi functionality, remains in development with Arbitrum One serving as the live settlement venue.

Other Notable Platforms

Bybit, Gemini, and KuCoin offer growing selections of xStocks with USDT trading pairs, serving users in regions where other platforms may not be available, though availability remains subject to geo-restrictions.

Gate, MEXC, Bitget, Bitrue and OKX Wallet support Ondo's tokenized stocks alongside or instead of xStocks, making them useful options for users who prefer Ondo's total-return model or who are seeking access to the broader range of 260+ stocks and ETFs Ondo covers. Binance also offers Ondo tokens through Nest Exchange, a multilateral trading facility it operates in Abu Dhabi Global Market, for eligible users in that jurisdiction.

Jupiter and Kamino on Solana provide DeFi integration: Jupiter serves as a DEX aggregator routing trades across Solana exchanges for best execution on both xStocks and Ondo tokens, while Kamino enables users to post either as collateral to borrow other cryptocurrencies.

Getting Started with Tokenized Stocks

Here's a quick guide to getting started with tokenized stocks.

For Beginners

Start with a user-friendly platform that matches your region. In Europe, Robinhood EU is the most accessible entry point with a €1 minimum. In the U.S., Coinbase now offers zero-commission stock and ETF trading alongside crypto in a single account, with tokenized stocks for non-U.S. users launching in August 2026. These platforms handle most of the technical complexity for you. Begin with small amounts (try $25–50 in a major stock like Apple or Tesla) to understand the process before committing more capital. Most platforms require KYC (identity verification) for legal compliance, so complete that process first.

For Users Familiar with Crypto

If you're comfortable managing a self-custodial wallet, both xStocks and Ondo tokenized stocks are available across multiple chains — Solana, Ethereum, and beyond — so your choice of wallet can follow your preferred network. Phantom or Solflare work well for Solana; MetaMask is the natural choice for Ethereum, where Ondo tokens are accessible via MetaMask Swaps. Fund with USDC or USDT from any major exchange. It's worth exploring several platforms before committing, since custody models, fee structures, and leverage options vary significantly: Kraken offers no-fee xStock purchases (in USD or USDG) with full self-custody, Ondo provides a wider asset range with total-return tracking across three chains, and Hyperliquid via trade.xyz is the venue for leveraged perpetual exposure without holding the underlying token.

If you're considering perpetual strategies such as delta-neutral positioning or cross-exchange arbitrage, be aware that spot-perp price gaps typically close within 30–40 minutes on average, and high leverage amplifies liquidation risk considerably, particularly during thin overnight and weekend sessions.

As with any trading activity, keep detailed records of all transactions for tax reporting purposes.

Final Thoughts

The tokenized stock market has moved from a theoretical concept to a measurable and fast-growing asset class. CoinGecko's RWA Report 2026 put spot tokenized stock market cap at $487 million by end of Q1 2026, while total RWA perpetuals volume reached $524.8 billion in the same quarter – more than the entire prior year combined. On CoinGecko's own platform, tokenized stocks became the fastest-growing coin category between January 2024 and May 2026, growing +3,314% in listed coins.

Regulatory progress in the U.S. – Nasdaq and NYSE approvals, the SEC's forthcoming innovation exemption, and DTCC production trades beginning July 2026 – signals that tokenized equities are moving from the crypto periphery into the mainstream financial infrastructure. Ondo Finance's cross-border Treasury settlement with J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and Ripple, and Broadridge's on-chain proxy voting integration, show that institutional adoption is no longer hypothetical.

At the same time, the SpaceX IPO episode in June 2026 served as a precise illustration of intermediary dependency risk. The exchanges that failed — Binance, Bybit, Bitget, and MEXC — had promised customers IPO-price access through xStocks, without any guaranteed allocation from the underwriters. When that allocation didn't materialise, the promises collapsed. Platforms that delivered tokenized SpaceX exposure did so by not making that promise: Backpack sourced shares directly as a broker-dealer on listing day, while Ondo and Dinari bought on the secondary market post-IPO at prevailing prices. The episode highlighted a genuine structural risk in how tokenized stock access is distributed: when exchanges depend on a shared intermediary to source underlying shares, and that intermediary has no guaranteed allocation from traditional underwriters, customers bear the delivery risk. That risk is worth understanding before committing capital to any IPO campaign on a crypto exchange.

The long-term trajectory remains compelling. But as the market grows, the distinction between platforms that hold genuine underlying assets versus those that rely on derivative or intermediated structures will matter more, not less. As always, do your own research and understand the specific structure of any tokenized product before investing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I actually own the company stock?

No, you own a token that tracks the stock's price. The actual shares are held in custody by the issuer, giving you economic exposure without direct ownership rights or voting privileges. Some newer platforms like Ondo are introducing proxy voting mechanisms to partially close this gap.

Do tokenized stocks pay dividends?

It depends on the platform and token structure. Ondo's tokens track total return including dividends. Some platforms automatically reinvest dividends to purchase additional shares, increasing your token balance over time. Others may distribute dividend equivalents in stablecoins. Check the specific product documentation.

What happens if the platform shuts down?

With self-custody platforms like Kraken's xStocks or Ondo's freely transferable tokens, you can withdraw tokens to your personal wallet, reducing platform dependency. With custodial platforms like Robinhood EU, you rely on the platform's procedures and any applicable insurance coverage.

Can I convert tokenized stocks back to real stocks?

Most platforms offer cash redemption at current market value. Converting to actual certificated shares is less common due to regulatory complexity.

Are tokenized stocks regulated?

Legitimate platforms operate under financial regulations in their respective jurisdictions. In 2026, the U.S. regulatory picture has improved substantially, with Nasdaq and NYSE receiving SEC approval for tokenized equity pilots and an innovation exemption sandbox under development. However, compliance requirements vary significantly by location, and the framework continues to evolve.

Can tokenized stocks be used as collateral?

Yes, on certain DeFi protocols. Solana-based lending protocol Kamino allows xStocks and Ondo tokens to be used as collateral to borrow other cryptocurrencies. This DeFi composability is one of the key advantages of freely transferable tokenized stocks over custodial equivalents.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Tokenized stocks involve significant risks including regulatory uncertainty, technical vulnerabilities, counterparty and intermediary risk, and potential loss of funds. Always conduct your own research and consider consulting with a financial advisor before investing.

How to Track New Tokens on Solana, Base, BSC, and 250+ Chains

2026-06-18T09:42:39Z

TL;DR

Fetch newly created tokens across 250+ chains using CoinGecko API’s new pools list and new pools by network endpoints to power sniper bots, wallet discovery feeds, DEX screeners, CEX listing monitors, and real-time alert pipelines.
Use CoinGecko's Pools Megafilter endpoint to filter newly created tokens for quality signals such as GT Score health checks, honeypot detection, and liquidity floors.

Cross-chain token detection across Solana, Base, BSC, and 250+ chains relies on ingesting newly created DEX liquidity pool events at deployment time. Instead of managing chain-specific APIs, indexers, or custom RPC infrastructure per network, developers can use an onchain market data provider that aggregates new liquidity pools across multiple chains into a single API. This approach simplifies multi-chain token discovery and enables scaling across popular and new emerging networks through a single integration.

In this guide, you'll build a Python workflow using the CoinGecko API, powered by GeckoTerminal to discover newly launched tokens, retrieve and filter newly created liquidity pools to identify emerging tokens as soon as they become tradable.

How to Fetch New Tokens on Solana, Base, BSC, and 250+ Chains in Python

CoinGecko API provides access to newly created tokens and liquidity pools through two endpoints: /onchain/networks/new_pools returns the latest pools across all 250+ supported networks, while /onchain/networks/{network}/new_pools returns the latest pools for a specific chain. Both return data from the past 48 hours, making them an ideal starting point for tracking new token launches.

Prerequisites & Setup

You'll need a CoinGecko API key. If you don't have one, follow the guide to get a free Demo API key. The Demo plan includes 30 calls per minute, which is more than enough to follow along with this tutorial.

Install the dependencies.

pip install -r requirements.txt

Next, set up a shared HTTP client that handles authentication, configures the base URL, and includes a helper for resolving related data returned by GeckoTerminal.

Fetch new pools across every chain

The core function works across all 250+ supported networks using the same code and response format. Specify a network ID to filter results to a single chain, or leave it blank to fetch newly created pools across all chains.

Running this script produces output like the following:

How to Filter High-Quality New Tokens

The raw new-pools feed is a high-volume, unfiltered stream that may include bots, scams, honeypots, and low-liquidity tokens. The CoinGecko API Pools Megafilter endpoint lets you define quality and safety criteria as query parameters to return only matching newly created pools across all supported chains, with 30+ filtering and sorting options spanning liquidity, activity, distribution, and security metrics.

Note: The Pools Megafilter endpoint is available exclusively on the Analyst plan and above.

The example below filters for recently created pools with minimum liquidity and volume thresholds, honeypot exclusion, and a healthy GeckoTerminal GT Score (a 0–100 pool quality score). Results include price, FDV, market cap, 5-minute volume, and 5-minute price change in a single response.

Here is an example of how the output looks like:

How to Get Real-Time New Token Alerts

The CoinGecko API’s New Pools List endpoint returns newly created liquidity pools across all supported networks in a single call. To build an alert pipeline, run the endpoint at regular intervals and track previously seen pools to avoid duplicate alerts. The combination of network and pool address provides a simple deduplication key.

💡 Pro tip: Swap to the Pools Megafilter endpoint for server-side filtering by liquidity, age, volume, honeypot, GT-score checks, and 30+ other conditions.

Instead of continuously polling, the new coin listed webhook event (currently under private beta) triggers when a token completes indexing and becomes available across CoinGecko, enabling real-time alerts as soon as new tokens go live. Submit the form for early access.

What Can You Build with Multi-Chain New Token Data?

The following use cases show how teams build alerts, dashboards, automated trading systems, and onchain analytics platforms on top of new token streams.

Real-time alert channels: Send alerts about new token launches to Telegram, Discord, Slack, email, or internal systems.
Sniper bots and automated trading: Auto-buy logic catching newly launched tokens before CEX listings move price.
Token discovery feeds: Surface trending and newly launched tokens across all supported chains via a single API, with GT Score and honeypot-based filtering for safer launches. Token discovery feeds are commonly integrated into wallet experiences like Phantom, Crypto.com, and Magic Eden.
CEX new-listing monitoring: Identifying cross-chain launches that achieve real liquidity within hours. The multi-chain new-pools feed combined with GT Score helps exchanges detect early market demand and prioritize which new assets to evaluate for listing.

Conclusion

CoinGecko API enables unified multi-chain tracking for new tokens across 250+ blockchain networks with the broadest onchain data coverage, allowing a single integration code to scale across networks without re-architecture. A wallet, screener, or listing-monitoring workflow built for one chain can be easily extended across hundreds of others without maintaining separate integrations for each network.

These token discovery signals can be used to power automated trading strategies. Our guides on building a Solana sniper bot and pump.fun sniper bot show how to turn them into automated execution workflows. For broader onchain coverage, the GeckoTerminal onchain data guide shows how to retrieve pool, token, liquidity, market, and OHLCV data across 250+ networks.

Ready to start building? Sign up for a free Demo API plan today and start tracking newly launched tokens with real-time multi-chain data. As your application scales, upgrade to a CoinGecko API Analyst plan to access the full suite of data delivery methods, including REST APIs, webhook, and WebSocket streams, along with exclusive endpoints such as Pools Megafilter, more API call credits, and higher rate limits.

From Altcoins to Everything: Crypto's Biggest Exchanges Are Going TradFi

2026-06-17T09:09:08Z

Binance and several other crypto exchanges have begun offering stock trading services. This report by Tiger Research examines what it means now that exchanges are expanding into conventional finance.

Key Takeaways

The limits of the crypto trading fee model, the rise of perpetual futures DEXs led by Hyperliquid, and a more permissive regulatory environment following the Trump administration have together pushed major global crypto exchanges to reconsider their direction.
The path those exchanges are now pursuing points toward conventional financial products such as stocks and derivatives, and toward operating structures that resemble TradFi.
The complication is that centralized exchanges have been the primary liquidity providers sustaining the crypto ecosystem. If they step back from that role, the crypto market may not function the way it once did.
A period of self-reliance is beginning for crypto projects — and for many, the exchange liquidity that kept them afloat is on the decline.

1. Buying Apple Stock on Binance

Since June 1, users have been able to buy stocks such as Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL) directly through the Binance app. The following day, Binance announced support for trading in SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, and Hyundai Motor, three of the most actively traded stocks on the KOSPI.

Binance’s interest in stock markets dates to 2021. That April, the exchange launched tokenized stock trading covering Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT), only to shut the service down entirely by July of the same year under mounting regulatory pressure. Three structural problems had made the product untenable: the legal classification of stock tokens as securities versus derivatives was unresolved; the investor prospectuses required under EU regulations were absent; and Binance itself held no direct license to operate such a service. Germany’s BaFin, the UK’s FCA, and Hong Kong’s SFC all raised objections on those grounds.

The current launch is structured differently. Binance has routed order execution through a broker-dealer licensed by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), giving the service a clear legal classification as brokerage. The ambiguity over who issues the underlying instrument, which was a central point of contention in 2021, is largely removed.

The timing is notable. Bybit launched a TradFi perpetual futures market around the same period, adding coverage of KOSPI names including SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics as well as perpetual futures on SpaceX (SPCX). Coinbase separately announced support for SPCX futures trading.

The question is why the major crypto exchanges have begun moving in the same direction at roughly the same time, away from a crypto-only model and toward something that more closely resembles a conventional financial services app.

2. Three Pressures

Three forces have pushed exchanges away from the crypto-only model.

2.1. Falling Crypto Trading Volume

The first pressure is the decline in crypto trading volume. Exchange revenue is ultimately tied to altcoin trading volume, and that volume is determined by market sentiment.

On Binance, daily average spot trading volume fell roughly 80%, from a peak of approximately $45B in October 2025 to $7.7B today. Across other centralized exchanges combined, volume dropped around 70%, from a peak of roughly $63B to $18.8B. As trading volume declined, the fee-based revenue model began to break down. That a business model dependent on crypto trading fees cannot produce a sustainable revenue structure is something the exchanges themselves had long recognized.

2.2. Hyperliquid Absorbing On-Chain Volume

Comparing altcoin trading volume outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum against RWA asset volume including stocks and commodities on Hyperliquid makes the current situation clear.

Hyperliquid has begun drawing on-chain liquidity by supporting futures trading in stocks and commodities. As of mid-2026, 23 of the top 30 assets by perpetual futures volume on Hyperliquid were stocks and commodities, not crypto.

The premise that on-chain activity belongs exclusively to crypto no longer holds. The emergence of a decentralized exchange whose volume rivals that of centralized exchanges has put those exchanges on notice.

2.3. Regulatory Shift

The third pressure came from the change in the regulatory landscape following the start of the Trump administration. The SEC dropped its lawsuits against Coinbase and Kraken. When regulators were adversarial, applying for conventional financial licenses carried real risk. Those licenses can now serve as a mark of credibility and a point of differentiation.

With clearer boundaries around what is and is not permissible, exchanges can build on their existing strengths and pursue a new direction. All three pressures converged at roughly the same time, as interest in stocks and other derivatives has also grown. Crypto exchanges now have little choice but to move quickly, along its own path, if they intend to survive.

3. How Centralized Exchanges Are Responding

Centralized exchanges have faced the same set of pressures at the same time, but their responses have diverged.

3.1. Binance: The Everything Store

Binance’s strategy is straightforward. The goal is to become an everything store, keeping all trading activity within its own platform and preventing users from leaving.

Binance had already moved on-chain and done so successfully. Having built its exchange business first, the company launched Binance Chain in April 2019 to capture the on-chain ecosystem, then followed with Binance Alpha in the first half of 2025, taking a meaningful share of on-chain activity.

By 2026, however, on-chain liquidity had begun shifting toward stock markets. When Hyperliquid moved quickly to absorb that liquidity through stocks and commodities, the on-chain user base Binance had cultivated came under pressure. Binance’s response was not to compete with Hyperliquid on-chain directly. Instead, it focused on launching a stock trading service aimed at its existing user base of over 200 million. Retaining users it already has is a more defensible position than fighting Hyperliquid on Hyperliquid’s own ground.

The structure works as follows. Orders placed through the Binance front end are received by Nest Trading, an ADGM-licensed broker-dealer, which then routes them to Alpaca Securities. Execution, clearing, settlement, and custody are all handled by Alpaca. Binance does not hold the securities directly; a structural choice that keeps it outside the scope of direct securities regulation.

It is worth noting is that Nest Trading has been identified as a Binance affiliate. Binance also holds a minority stake in Alpaca, and the revenue-sharing arrangement gives Nest Trading 50% of order flow fees and 65% of stock lending income.

Binance is building the infrastructure itself, reorienting toward a financial super-app, and working to hold its existing users before altcoin volume migrates further toward Hyperliquid and stocks.

3.2. Bybit: A Two-Track Approach

Bybit launched in 2018 as a derivatives exchange and grew rapidly on the back of up to 100x leverage and low fees. It is now running two tracks simultaneously: porting centralized exchange liquidity onto the blockchain, and listing conventional asset derivatives directly on the centralized exchange.

The on-chain track came first. In June 2025, Bybit listed Backed‘s xStocks on its spot market, marking its first step into tokenized stock partnerships. That November, a three-way collaboration with Mantle and Backed produced a formal launch of xStocks on the Mantle blockchain, covering major US stocks including Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL).

In May 2026, Bybit activated Atomic RFQ on Fluxion, a DEX within the Mantle ecosystem, upgrading the structure to direct issuer execution. Atomic RFQ works by requesting quotes directly from the issuer rather than routing through an AMM, achieving on-chain the execution quality that institutional participants expect in conventional finance.

Bybit has also moved on the centralized side. Facing pressures similar to those on Binance, it launched TradFi perpetual futures in April 2026 and has added new listings weekly. Major US stocks including Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), and Apple (AAPL), along with gold, silver, and crude oil, are now available for 24-hour trading settled in USDT. On June 4, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor perpetual futures went live, and SpaceX pre-IPO trading was also supported.

Both tracks are ultimately aimed at building infrastructure for more precise trading of conventional assets across on-chain and off-chain venues. Where Bybit differs from Binance is in its effort to maintain an active on-chain presence through Fluxion and Mantle rather than concentrating entirely on the centralized platform.

3.3. Coinbase: The Most Trusted US Exchange

Coinbase listed on Nasdaq in 2021 and was added to the S&P 500 in May 2025. Backed by Wall Street, it is currently the centralized exchange that carries the most institutional credibility.

Coinbase has also maintained an on-chain presence. The Ethereum L2 Base, launched in 2023, climbed quickly to hold close to half of total L2 TVL by 2025. By 2026, however, growth had stalled and Base no longer appeared to be a core priority for the company.

Where Coinbase has committed most seriously is institutional clients. In August 2025, it completed the $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, capturing roughly 85% of the global crypto options market. It then launched a CFTC-licensed futures commission merchant (FCM) service and introduced cross-margin trading that consolidates spot, futures, and perpetual futures positions into a single collateral pool, broadening its institutional client base. Institutional lending balances from hedge funds and asset managers reached a quarterly record that year.

In December 2025, Coinbase opened commission-free stock and ETF trading within its existing app. Where Binance layered a separate brokerage infrastructure and took an indirect approach, Coinbase offers direct trading on the strength of its accumulated regulatory standing. On June 4, it announced support for SpaceX pre-IPO trading.

As Hyperliquid has built liquidity outside the regulatory perimeter by launching a broad range of products, Coinbase’s early entry into stock trading leaves it better placed to respond.

3.4. Kraken: A Federal Crypto Bank

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the longest-standing exchanges in the crypto industry. Its strategy is to consolidate licenses, build infrastructure directly, and become a federally regulated institutional crypto custody bank.

Regulatory infrastructure has been the first priority. In March 2025, Kraken acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, gaining a CFTC FCM license and a retail trader base of two million users. In April 2026, it acquired Bitnomial for $550 million, the only crypto-native platform to have obtained all three CFTC licenses, DCM, DCO, and FCM, over a period of ten years. In March 2026, Kraken secured a Federal Reserve master account, and in May it filed an application with the OCC for a national trust company charter.

On-chain has not been neglected. Kraken launched its own L2, Ink, in December 2024, followed by lending protocol Tydro and perpetual DEX Nado on top of it. DeFi Earn launched in January 2026 and Bitcoin Vault in May. These products are built around assets that can be clearly explained to institutional clients. Altcoins have not been a priority in Kraken’s on-chain strategy either.

While other exchanges have moved into stock trading to retain users, Kraken has chosen a different path, aiming to become the only crypto-native bank that institutional clients can trust.

The strategies of the centralized exchanges covered here differ in their specifics. What they share is that altcoins do not feature prominently in any of their forward plans.

4. What Happens to Crypto?

Centralized exchanges have been the liquidity backbone of the crypto ecosystem. They listed tokens and generated trading volume, and that support is what kept most crypto projects alive.

The underlying problem is that almost no crypto project has demonstrated real value through actual revenue. Token prices have been sustained not by protocol fundamentals but by exchange listings and early liquidity support mechanisms such as launchpools. For that structure to hold, exchanges and traders need to maintain sustained interest in crypto. Retail volume is shrinking, and without it, exchange listings and marketing support will follow. That structure cannot hold indefinitely.

The market itself has shifted toward tokens from projects that can demonstrate value through real product revenue, rather than depending on exchange support. Hyperliquid’s HYPE is the clearest illustration. It is one of the best-performing crypto assets at present, despite being the very actor that has drawn on-chain liquidity away from crypto and toward stock markets. This points to a weakening of the mutually beneficial relationship that previously existed between centralized exchanges and crypto projects.

The position of the exchanges reinforces this reading. Retail trading volume and user count are the foundations of any exchange business. Concentrating on crypto trading volume alone now risks eroding that foundation, because the market no longer finds newly listed crypto assets as compelling as it once did. Exchanges have little choice but to protect the infrastructure and user base they have built while finding other revenue sources to pursue.

That is what has driven the pivot toward stock derivatives, yield products, and custody. In redirecting their efforts, the exchanges have effectively left altcoins to fend for themselves.

In previous downturns, centralized exchanges weathered the bear market alongside crypto. Now they are looking for ways to grow without it. That is why this downturn is likely to be harder for crypto than previous ones.

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Circle Beyond USDC: From Stablecoin Issuer to Payment Infrastructure

2026-06-16T01:51:38Z

Circle has released its Q1 2026 earnings report, and reserve interest income from USDC still accounts for over 90% of revenue. To move beyond this concentration, Circle is developing initiatives including the Arc Network. In this report, Tiger Research examines what the next phase will look like.

Summary

With Q1 2026 results as the inflection point, Circle is accelerating its paradigm shift from a simple stablecoin issuer to an integrated infrastructure operator for the digital asset industry. Its forward business strategy rests on three core pillars.

Maximize USDC margin and circulation: Reserve interest income accrues on both external and proprietary platforms. Higher USDC use on Circle’s own channel (CPN) drove RLDC margin to a record 41.4% this quarter. To expand issuance, Circle has partnered with the DEX Hyperliquid.
Launch the proprietary L1 ‘Arc’ to diversify gas and fee revenue: 94% of Circle’s revenue currently comes from USDC reserve interest. Once Arc expands Circle’s platform and generates platform fee revenue, the over-reliance on reserve interest can be structurally resolved.
Capture AI payments via Agent Stack: Circle is staking out the standard for autonomous micro-payments between AI agents. Full commercialization is targeted for 2028, aligned with infrastructure rollout and GENIUS Act effectiveness.

In sum, Circle is putting aggressive USDC issuance expansion through anchor platforms like Hyperliquid at the front, while vertically integrating its financial stack across its own L1 (Arc), payments network (CPN), and AI nano-payments (Agent Stack). The key point is that USDC circulation growth and diversified infrastructure now pull each other forward.

Through this, Circle is expanding from a simple interest-revenue business into a platform business driven by traffic and transaction fees.

Q1 2026 Recap: Margins on the Mend

1. Top-Line Growth and Margin Gains. On-Platform Mix Strengthens Earnings Quality

Q1 2026 revenue reached $694M (YoY +20%), with adjusted EBITDA of $151M (YoY +24%) and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 53%, an improvement in profitability. Currently, 94% of Circle’s total revenue depends on reserve interest income.

The 31bp QoQ drop in reserve yield (from 3.81% to 3.50%) was therefore a critical revenue headwind. Yet RLDC margin rose for the third consecutive quarter to a record 41.4%. Even with rate-dependent revenue, which accounts for the bulk of the top line, taking a direct hit, Circle succeeded in improving its underlying earnings quality.

The key driver of margin improvement is rising USDC usage on Circle’s own platforms. On-platform share jumped from 6% to 17.2% in Q1 (YoY +1,149bps), while off-platform share narrowed to 55%.

This reflects successful institutional onboarding to Circle Payments Network (CPN), Circle’s proprietary payments network. Member financial institutions grew to 136 in a single quarter (+36% QoQ), and annualized total payment volume (TPV) expanded to roughly $8.3B (QoQ +17%).

The staged rollout of CPN’s payment product lineup underpins this trend.

Fiat Payments (Q2 2025 launch): cross-border payments handling payouts and pay-ins in local currencies across 50+ countries
Stablecoin Payments (Q3 2025 launch): direct payment and settlement in regulated stablecoins (USDC, EURC) across 180+ countries
Managed Payments (Q2 2026, April launch): Circle delivers licensing, custody, compliance, and USDC liquidity through a single integrated API. Partners only handle fiat and do not need to take on digital asset custody, operations, or regulatory response

This matters for long-term earnings quality because revenue attribution differs entirely by deposit location. Balances on external platforms like Coinbase require sharing reserve interest, while balances on Circle’s own platforms such as Circle Mint and CPN accrue fully to Circle.

In other words, a higher on-platform mix reduces partner distribution costs and lifts RLDC margin. For any given top line, Circle’s effective earnings power strengthens.

That said, CPN’s own usage-fee revenue has not yet ramped. As CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen noted on the prior earnings call, the current phase prioritizes network growth over monetization. CPN today functions less as a direct fee channel and more as a conduit pulling funds into Circle’s own platform. As a stepping-stone defending against external distribution costs, the Q1 results show that this strategy is working.

2. Net Income Decline Hidden Behind the Growth

However, unlike the top-line growth and margin gains, the bottom line shows a clear divergence that warrants attention. Q1 net income came in at approximately $55M, down 15% YoY.

Drivers are post-IPO stock-based compensation flowing through and a sharp rise in pre-launch Arc infrastructure and R&D spend. Adjusted figures, stripped of one-time and non-cash items, remain strong. Net income trajectory still warrants attention.

Circle Moves Into Full Vertical Integration

1. USDC: Strengthen the Core, Expand Issuance

Reserve income in Q1 2026 was $653M, accounting for 94% of total revenue. With Circle’s core business so concentrated in reserve income, top-line growth requires USDC issuance expansion.

USDC circulation currently sits around $77B. The core question for Circle’s structural growth is how far this circulation ceiling can be pushed. USDT’s earlier surge was anchored in Binance trading-pair preemption.

Circle plans to extend this preemption playbook to the DEX Hyperliquid. Coinbase’s recent acquisition of Hyperliquid’s native stablecoin USDH is a representative case. Rather than deploying USDH as the platform’s native pair, Hyperliquid sold it and registered USDC as the official pair.

Hyperliquid’s deposit growth flows directly into USDC issuance. Hyperliquid TVL doubled from $2B in Q1 2025 to $4B in Q1 2026, and peaked at $6B. Because Hyperliquid uses USDC as its base deposit asset, platform growth translates directly into new USDC issuance. The forward circulation scenario built on this is as follows.

Under this scenario, growth from Hyperliquid alone could lift total USDC circulation from $77B today to $84B in three years. A single platform would account for more than 10% of total circulation, becoming a massive issuance channel.

Conceding 90% of reserve interest income to the platform does leave Circle with reduced near-term profitability. But as the cost of securing irreplaceable volume of roughly KRW 15T (~$11B) in daily turnover and a 17% share of the DEX derivatives market, this is close to an acceptable trade-off.

If Hyperliquid-based derivatives products follow, the virtuous-cycle structure strengthens further. For a Circle that prioritizes circulation expansion over near-term margin, Hyperliquid is a strategic stronghold worth preempting even by splitting margin.

2. Arc: How Circle Exits Rate Dependency

As noted above, Circle’s revenue is heavily concentrated in reserve interest income, leaving the business structurally exposed to a rate-cutting environment. Arc is still in the testnet phase and generates no visible revenue yet. With its recent ~$222M institutional funding round, Arc has emerged as the core infrastructure designed to sever this rate dependency at the root.

Arc’s primary target is the global cross-border payments market. According to the World Bank report (RPW Issue 54), the global average remittance cost is 6.36% and the bank remittance cost reaches 14.99%. The drivers of this high-cost structure include SWIFT’s multi-tier intermediation, opaque FX spreads, and weekend settlement delays.

In addressing the inefficiencies of legacy financial rails, Circle aims to generate platform business revenue on top of Arc. The infrastructure fee revenue that lowers rate dependency is built on two core pillars.

Circle Payments Network (CPN): onboards global institutions and corporates to Arc for cross-border payments and settlement, capturing processing fees on traffic. Q1 institutional inflow seeds full Arc mainnet transaction revenue.
On-chain FX engine (StableFX): supports on-chain stablecoin conversion, replacing the high intermediation spreads of traditional FX. On execution, smart contracts collect predefined fees from each trading currency.

StableFX runs on an RFQ model, not SWIFT’s fixed-cost structure. Market makers competitively bid in real time and quote the tightest wholesale spread, while large transfers settle 24/7 with no SWIFT fixed fees and no slippage.

As CPN traffic and StableFX volume scale on Arc, Circle's direct infrastructure and fee revenue grows independent of rate cycles — completing a non-rate revenue structure that insulates the business from monetary policy risk."

This shift is already being validated through the testnet and participating enterprises. Per Arcscan, the public testnet has logged roughly 430M cumulative transactions and 3.26M transactions in the last 24 hours since opening. Over 100 global institutions are participating, including BlackRock, HSBC, Visa, and AWS.

Beyond traditional finance, Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market, has also joined the ecosystem.

This goes beyond piloting features and platforms. Arc is pulling in real enterprises and driving real transaction traffic. If Arc operates as intended, Circle can expand from a USDC reserve-interest revenue structure to infrastructure operating revenue. Arc is the first step in unwinding a revenue structure tied to interest rates.

According to the roadmap, Arc mainnet launch is set for this summer, and meaningful Arc revenue is expected to come after mainnet launch.

3. Agent Stack: Blueprint for Autonomous AI Payments

An ‘agentic economy’, in which AI agents make decisions and transact on behalf of users rather than humans, is approaching. Global big tech firms including Google and OpenAI have already begun actively rolling out such autonomous systems.

The bottleneck is payment infrastructure. The fees generated when AI agents call APIs are priced at micro levels (sub-cent units) that legacy payment systems cannot process. Routing such micro-payments through credit card networks produces a fee structure where the cost outweighs the principal, so every transaction generates a net loss. Agent payments cannot structurally fit existing card rails.

Circle targeted this gap and launched the ‘Circle Agent Stack’, which uses USDC as the settlement asset and provides the tooling to build the surrounding environment.

Agent Wallets: AI autonomously holds and sends USDC within human-set rules (e.g., spend limits)
Agent Marketplace: storefront where AIs source API services and settle per call
Agent Nanopayments: instant USDC settlement down to ~$0.000001 with no gas
Circle CLI: command-line tool for wallet creation and agent connections
Circle Skills: modules letting AI agents operate Circle’s financial product suite directly

Revenue here is not yet at the visible stage either. The path to market adoption and revenue recognition is expected to progress through the phased roadmap below.

2026 (Infrastructure phase): technical foundation for stable, large-scale nano-payment processing. Arc mainnet activation this summer anchors partner integration of Circle CLI and financial modules.
2027 (Regulatory anchoring phase): GENIUS Act takes effect, completing the institutional safety net for enterprise entry. With stablecoin securities exemption and 100% safe-asset backing legally binding, even conservative corporate legal teams can adopt and test USDC payment systems internally without risk.
2028 (Commercialization and monetization): technical foundation and regulatory legitimacy fully align. The agentic economy reaches full commercialization. Enterprises grant AI agents real spending authority, large-scale transactions emerge, and Agent Stack results land in reported revenue.

As a result, until full traffic-driven revenue arrives in 2028, Agent Stack is likely to operate as an ‘expectation premium’ priced into the share price as future market preemption value, ahead of actual revenue.

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Disclaimer

This report reflects the authors’ independent views, free from external pressure or undue influence. As of the publication date, it has not been shared with institutional investors or third parties in advance. Tiger Research and its authors hold no position in the covered security (CRCL) and have no material financial interest to disclose.

This report is prepared based on objective facts and information from sources believed to be reliable, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Opinions are subject to change without notice.

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15 Tokenized Stocks From Ondo Finance Land on Bitrue

2026-06-15T06:36:26Z

Bitrue Lists Ondo Finance Tokenized Stocks

Bitrue has launched 15 tokenized stocks from Ondo Finance, available for spot trading directly against USDT.

Tokens: These 15 tokens include NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, the S&P 500 ETF, Tesla, MicroStrategy, Palantir, Circle, and more
Trading fees: Trading fees are waived for the first 14 days of each token's launch
24/7 trading: Tokenized stocks trade 24/7: no market hours, no broker, settled in seconds using USDT

This article is brought to you by Bitrue.

Crypto exchange Bitrue has expanded its Real World Assets (RWA) lineup with the addition of 15 tokenized stocks from Ondo Finance, available for spot trading on USDT pairs. The rollout covers some of the most-watched names in traditional finance, from NVIDIA and Amazon to Tesla and MicroStrategy (which recently streamlined its branding to Strategy), giving crypto-native users direct exposure to major equity price movements without ever leaving their web3 wallets.

The launch reflects a broader shift happening across the crypto market: investors who made their money in digital assets are increasingly looking to put it to work in traditional markets too. With AI-driven momentum lifting the valuations of big tech, the appetite for bluechip equity exposure from within a crypto interface has never been higher.

What Are Ondo Finance Tokenized Stocks?

Ondo Finance is a leading RWA protocol focused on bringing institutional-grade financial products on-chain. Its tokenized stocks are digital tokens that track the price of real underlying equities, where each token is backed 1:1 by the actual share (or ETF unit) held in regulated custody.

That means when NVIDIA's stock price moves, NVDAON moves with it. Holders don't receive shareholder voting rights, but they do get genuine price exposure to the underlying asset, combined with the composability and accessibility of a blockchain-native token.

Each token mirrors the real-time price of its underlying equity or ETF, with the actual shares held in regulated custody to back them 1:1. Holders don't receive shareholder voting rights or dividends in the same way a direct shareholder would, but they do get genuine price exposure to the underlying asset, combined with the composability and around-the-clock accessibility of a blockchain-native token.

All 15 Tokens: Now Live

All 15 tokenized stocks from Ondo Finance are now available on Bitrue via the app and website, paired against USDT:

Token	Underlying Asset
NVDAON	NVIDIA
SPYON	SPDR S&P 500 ETF
QQQON	Invesco QQQ
GOOGLON	Alphabet / Google
MSFTON	Microsoft
AAPLON	Apple
METAON	Meta / Facebook
AMZNON	Amazon
CRCLON	Circle Internet Group
TSLAON	Tesla
AMDON	AMD
AVGOON	Broadcom
HOODON	Robinhood
PLTRON	Palantir
MSTRON	MicroStrategy

The selection leans into AI-adjacent names, where NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are all central players in the current AI infrastructure buildout, while Tesla, AMD, Broadcom, and Palantir round out the lineup with some of the most closely watched names in tech and AI. There are also two broad-market ETFs (SPY and QQQ) for users looking for diversified exposure rather than individual stock picks.

Several tokens will feel particularly familiar to crypto-native audiences. Circle (CRCLON) is the company behind USDC, one of the most widely used stablecoins in crypto. MicroStrategy (MSTRON) is well known in the space for its large Bitcoin treasury holdings. And Robinhood (HOODON) has made significant moves into crypto, including its acquisition of exchange Bitstamp in 2024.

All 15 tokens are available with 0 trading fees for the first 14 days of their respective launches.

Why Trade Tokenized Stocks on a Crypto Exchange?

Traditional stock trading comes with friction: market hours, broker accounts, settlement delays, and geographic restrictions. Tokenized stocks sidestep most of these:

24/7 trading: US stock markets close on weekends and holidays. Tokenized stocks don't; you can trade NVDAON at 3am on a Sunday if you want to.

No broker required: Trades happen directly on the exchange using USDT, with no intermediary brokerage account needed.

Instant settlement: Trades settle in seconds on-chain, rather than the T+1 or T+2 timelines of traditional equity markets.

Global access: Users outside the US who face restrictions on directly purchasing US-listed equities can access the same price exposure through tokenized versions (subject to Bitrue's own regional terms).

USDT-native: Crypto investors who already hold USDT don't need to convert funds or move them off-platform to gain equity exposure.

As Bitrue CMO Adam O'Neill put it: users can now "tap directly into these traditional markets using their existing web3 assets, while simultaneously benefiting from blockchain-level advantages such as round-the-clock trading."

How to Get Started

The first batch of tokenized stocks is live on both the Bitrue app and website at bitrue.com. You can search for any of the token tickers listed above and trade against your USDT balance.

For users looking to explore Bitrue's broader TradFi lineup, the exchange recently launched a dedicated TradFi trading page covering all traditional finance assets on the platform, including gold, silver, and other commodities.

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Tokenized stocks involve risks including regulatory uncertainty, technical vulnerabilities, and potential loss of funds. Always conduct your own research and consider consulting a financial advisor before investing.

Best Crypto News APIs (2026)

2026-06-12T07:21:26Z

TL;DR: Which Crypto News API is the Best?

When evaluating a crypto news API, prioritize source breadth and curation quality, coin-level filtering accuracy, multilingual coverage, structured metadata for AI workflows, and how easily news can be mapped to the rest of your crypto data stack.
CoinGecko API is the best crypto news API, aggregating 100+ curated publishers, supporting 30+ language locales, and providing stable multi-asset coin IDs that link news to price, market, OHLC, and onchain data via GeckoTerminal under a single API provider..

Crypto data goes beyond prices. To understand why Bitcoin and altcoins move on any given day, whether driven by ETF flows, regulatory shifts, or changes in market sentiment, applications and trading systems need access to real-time crypto news alongside market data. Wallets, exchanges, portfolio trackers, trading platforms, and AI agents use crypto news APIs to provide that context and keep users informed.

A crypto news API gives teams structured access to headlines, article links, publishers, timestamps, asset tags, and other metadata through a single integration, enabling crypto news to power user-facing products, dashboards, trading workflows, and AI applications.

In this guide, we compare the best crypto news APIs and walk you through how to evaluate them and pick the one that best fits your application.

How to Choose The Best Crypto News API

The best crypto news API depends on the type of product you are building. Start by evaluating the following criteria to ensure it fits your product requirements and long-term data infrastructure.

Source breadth and curation

Source breadth is the number of publishers an API aggregates, while curation is the process used to decide which publishers belong in the feed. A feed spanning many news sources may still include mirror sites, low-quality publishers, or produce duplicate headlines. Strong curation helps maintain content quality by balancing crypto and DeFi-native publishers.

Coin-level filtering

A good crypto news API should support both broad market news and coin-specific filtering. Coin-level filtering helps wallets, portfolios, watchlists, and AI agents show news that is relevant to a user’s holdings or selected assets.

Multilingual coverage

Language support determines how well a provider serves users across different regions and markets. Consider both language coverage and content breadth across languages. For example, CoinGecko’s Crypto News API supports 30+ language locales, making it easier for teams to serve global audiences through a single integration.

Structured metadata for AI and automation workflows

Structured metadata enables news to be easily filtered, ranked, and connected to market data for AI summarization, sentiment analysis, and search functionality. It refers to machine-readable fields included with each article beyond the headline text, such as related coin IDs, publish timestamps, source publisher, and content type (news, research, guides). These fields allow applications to build tagging and classification systems directly from the API, reducing complexity and removing the need for additional data processing layers.

Crypto market data inclusion

For some products, news is most useful when it can be connected to price, OHLC, volume, and onchain data. This matters for trading dashboards, portfolio apps, AI summaries, and chart overlays where teams need to explain market moves with relevant headlines. A single provider that offers both crypto news alongside price and market data helps simplify integration, reduces operational overhead, and ensures consistency across data types while maintaining a single billing relationship.

Best Crypto News APIs at a Glance

CoinGecko News API is the best overall choice for teams that want crypto news connected to market and onchain data in a single provider. Other providers can still be useful for specialized needs, such as pre-scored sentiment and ability to access TradFi news alongside crypto news coverage.

Here is a quick overview of how the top 5 crypto news API providers compare across the core factors:

Features	CoinGecko API	Crypto News API	CoinDesk Data API	FMP Crypto News	Benzinga Crypto News
Source Breadth	100+	50+	53	35	1 (in-house editorial)
Coin-level Filtering	Unique coin_id	Ticker symbols	Asset & topic tags	Symbol & trading pair	Ticker & entity tags
Languages	30+ locales	English only	Primarily English, with limited ES/FR/TR coverage from 8 publishers	English only	English only
Structured Metadata	Multi-asset coin IDs Timestamp Source name Content type Author	Pre-scored sentiment Ticker tags Timestamp Source	Pre-calculated sentiment Category tags Timestamp Source Author	Asset tag Timestamp Source Excerpt	Tickers Entity tags Timestamps Importance rank Channel categories
Includes Market Data	Yes – market, OHLC, and onchain data	Yes – limited with slower data freshness	Yes – market and OHLC data only	Yes – market and OHLC data only	No – limited to news only
Best For	Most crypto products, including wallets, exchanges, portfolio trackers, AI agents, analytics dashboards, and multi-chain applications	Pre-scored sentiment signals	Supplementary source of crypto news data with sentiment and topic tags.	Cross-asset finance apps that need lightweight crypto news alongside news for other asset classes	Personal market monitoring and finance-news readers

Best Crypto News APIs

CoinGecko API: Best All-In-One Crypto Market Data and News API

CoinGecko API is the most popular crypto price and market data API, trusted by industry leaders including MetaMask, Coinbase, and Etherscan. Its crypto news endpoint aggregates latest crypto news and guides from 100+ curated publishers (e.g. Decrypt, Bankless, BeInCrypto, CryptoPotato, BSC News and more), supports filtering by coin, language, content type, and returns up to 400 articles per query set.

CoinGecko uses consistent coin IDs across its API, so news articles can be mapped to the same assets used for price, market, OHLC, and onchain data. This is especially useful for AI workflows, as CoinGecko also supports AI-native tools like MCP Server, CLI, x402 endpoints, and AI agent skills that help LLMs access crypto data and news for research and analysis.

Pros

Unified data stack: News, price, market, OHLC, and onchain data (via GeckoTerminal) are accessible through a single API, reducing integration and maintenance work.
Broadest multilingual coverage: 30+ language locales including English, Portuguese, German, Turkish, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and more. Other providers offer news in English only or limited non-English sources.
Multi-asset coin linking: Each article returns related_coin_ids as an array, so one response can map to multiple tokens. This allows direct use in portfolios, watchlists, and sentiment pipelines, while also supporting LLM summarization and asset-level routing.

Cons

REST polling for news: The news endpoint is delivered via REST API only. Teams requiring news-specific webhooks can submit interest form to express interest and receive future updates.

Crypto News API: Ticker-tagged news with sentiment scores

Crypto News API is a standalone news feed focused on ticker-tagged headlines, sentiment data, delayed crypto prices, and whale transaction data.

Pros

Pre-scored sentiment: Each article includes a sentiment volume, which is used by trading bots and news terminals that needs sentiment signals.

Cons

Ticker filtering only: Asset filtering uses ticker symbols (e.g. BTC, ETH) rather than unique asset IDs. Tickers can overlap across tokens, as the same symbol is often used by multiple listed assets. For use cases that need accurate per-token mapping, such as portfolio tracking, multi-chain apps, or AI analysis, this must be managed in your own system using a separate ID mapping.
No content taxonomy: Articles are not classified by type or category field, so all contents like news, guides, research and market commentary are in the same format. Applications must classify content using signals such as source, title patterns, or article length, as there is no type-based filtering in the API payload.

CoinDesk Data API: Sentiment & Topic-Tagged Crypto News

CoinDesk Data API (previously known as CryptoCompare and CCDATA) is the data arm from the CoinDesk media brand. Its news endpoint aggregates content from 53 publishers, primarily English with limited non-English coverage. Each article includes sentiment, author byline, asset and topic category tags, and source information.

Pros

Pre-scored sentiment: Articles include a sentiment label (positive, neutral, or negative) in the payload for downstream consumption in analytics or trading systems.

Cons

Limited global coverage: CoinDesk Data API has fewer sources compared to some other providers in this list, and primarily provides English-language coverage, making it less suitable as a single global crypto news feed.

Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) News API: Lightweight Crypto Feed

FMP News API is a financial data vendor with a crypto news endpoint as part of a broader stocks, forex, and market data suite. The feed combines broad financial-market coverage with limited crypto-native publishers. Every article returns a lightweight schema including title, URL, publisher, image, a single symbol, and publish date.

Pros

Article excerpt in the response: Each article includes a text excerpt for previewing content or lightweight summarization.
Cross-asset coverage: Stocks, forex, and crypto data are available through the same API platform. However, its crypto coverage is less comprehensive than crypto-native providers, as the platform is built for broader financial-market data across stocks, forex, and crypto.

Cons

Single-symbol tagging: Each article is tagged with only one symbol, with no support for multiple related assets per article. Applications that need to match news across multiple holdings must make separate calls per symbol or build their own tagging layer to enrich articles with additional asset references.

Benzinga Crypto News: Cross-market financial news

Benzinga Crypto News API is a financial media product with a dedicated crypto vertical. It publishes 20-50 crypto articles and 30-60 real-time headlines daily, focused on regulatory developments, macro events, and crypto-related business news. Articles are tagged with stocks, named entities, and content categories.

Pros

Delivery options: RSS, REST, WebSocket and webhooks available for real-time news terminals, trading desk feeds, or compliance dashboards.
Entity tagging: Each article includes ticker tags in the stocks field, named-entity tags (people, companies, and topics), content categories via channels, and a scoring field.

Cons

TradFi-leaning crypto coverage: Articles focus on regulatory developments, macro events, and TradFi-adjacent stories. However, crypto-native depth on DeFi protocols, onchain activity, NFTs, and long-tail tokens are limited compared to dedicated crypto news APIs.
No crypto market data: Benzinga’s data API does not provide crypto prices, OHLCV, or onchain data, which require a separate market data provider like CoinGecko.

Which Crypto News API Should You Choose?

The best crypto news API depends on the product you are building. For most crypto products, CoinGecko’s Crypto News API is the best overall choice because it bundles news with the rest of the crypto data stack.

The table below pairs each use case with the provider that fits it best:

Use case	Recommended provider	Rationale
Wallets, exchanges, portfolio trackers, analytics dashboards, and multi-chain applications	CoinGecko API	CoinGecko consolidates the full crypto data layer (news, price, market, OHLC, and onchain via GeckoTerminal) under a single API key, reducing the need to coordinate and maintain data across multiple vendors. This simplifies products that combine news with live prices, portfolios, or trading screens by enabling shared rate limits and a unified identifier system.
AI agents, LLM-driven research tools, and sentiment pipelines	CoinGecko API	CoinGecko provides rich structured metadata across its crypto news and market data endpoints, and makes that data easily accessible to AI agents and LLMs through native tools such as MCP Server, CLI, Agent Skills, and x402 endpoints.
Charting tools, market data terminals, and price-chart overlays	CoinGecko API	CoinGecko's coin IDs link news directly to OHLC and sparkline data, allowing applications to surface the news behind a price move next to the corresponding chart.
Sentiment-driven trading bots, news terminals, or dashboards	Crypto News API or CoinDesk Data API	Crypto News API and CoinDesk Data API include pre-scored sentiment in each article payload, enabling trading bots and news terminals to use sentiment signals. However, both have narrower asset coverage and more limited multilingual depth compared to crypto data APIs that combine news with market and onchain data. CoinGecko API complements both providers with real-time prices, broader token coverage, multi-chain onchain data, multilingual headlines, and content-type filtering.

Conclusion

Crypto news is a core data layer alongside price and market data where it eliminates the work of aggregating publisher feeds, deduplicating articles, normalizing data, and maintaining multilingual coverage, allowing teams to focus on building products instead of managing news infrastructure.

For most teams building crypto products, CoinGecko’s Crypto News API is the best overall choice because it aggregates news from the broadest sources with the most languages and pairs crypto news with market data through a unified API. Teams that need ready-made sentiment scores may still consider Crypto News API or CoinDesk Data API alongside CoinGecko for pricing and asset market data.

Teams building an implementation can refer to our guide on fetching crypto news with Python, which covers end-to-end integration including coin ID resolution, response parsing, and surfacing headlines in a product UI. For products built on AI summarization or LLM-driven analysis, CoinGecko’s Coin Insights endpoint can complement raw news feeds with summaries and coin-specific context.

Ready to start building? Subscribe to the CoinGecko API Analyst plan to access the crypto news endpoint, along with exclusive endpoints, higher rate limits, more API credits, and support for WebSocket and webhook delivery. If you are still evaluating CoinGecko API, sign up for the free Demo plan to explore 50+ endpoints, 10,000 monthly calls, and join a community of thousands of developers building with the most comprehensive and reliable crypto market data and news API.

2026 Tokenized Stock Market: The Rise of Perpetual Futures

2026-06-11T04:17:54Z

This report is written by Tiger Research, looking at the growth of the tokenized stock market. The tokenized stock market is split into fully collateralized spot and perpetual futures, with perps drawing the most attention and a range of strategies emerging.

Key Takeaways

While equities set record highs, crypto saw both market cap and volume fall. As the two diverged, the tokenized stock market grew by building perpetual futures open interest.
The market splits into fully collateralized spot and perpetual futures. Perps draw attention because they trade stocks unavailable on home exchanges, 24 hours a day, with leverage on top.
When the regular session is closed, the price perps set becomes a leading indicator of the next day’s spot open, predicting not just direction but also the size of the move.
The report highlights two primary retail mechanisms driving this volume: delta-neutral positioning to capture spot-to-perpetual premiums, and cross-exchange arbitrage targeting temporary price discrepancies.
The same structure extends to businesses such as market makers, regional oracles, tokenized issuance, and basis hedge funds. Small in scale, but as institutions enter, opportunity exists on both the investment and business sides.

1.Equity Markets Now Pulling In Crypto Liquidity

In Q1 2026, total crypto market cap fell 20.4% and centralized exchange spot volume dropped 39.1%. Bitcoin has been declining since its October 2025 record high.

Equities went the other way. The S&P 500 cleared its annual target, and the KOSPI rode a semiconductor rally to double this year. As total crypto market cap fell sharply, most national equity markets set record highs. The two paths have never split this clearly.

2. Collateral Splits the Market, Capital Flows to Perps

The tokenized stock market splits in two by collateral structure.

Fully collateralized spot deposits real shares 1 to 1, then issues a token. The investor holds the share itself or a legal claim on it. Issuance details differ by platform, but an underlying asset always exists.

Perpetual futures work differently, as no real shares are held. The trader posts margin and opens a contract that tracks the price, so there is no claimable underlying. Margin is mostly stablecoins, and a growing number of platforms now accept other assets such as ETH.

Perps draw attention because they keep spot’s advantage, 24-hour access to stocks unavailable on home exchanges, and add far greater leverage. Some fully collateralized spot products on Kraken xStocks offer up to 3x margin, while perps reach up to 20x depending on the product. With no underlying to custody and price tracked only through an oracle feed, listings are fast and the range of tradable tickers is wide.

Against traditional markets it is still small. US equity markets turn over about 1.1 trillion dollars a day. Stock perp open interest, the total of contracts currently live, sits at 2.25 billion dollars. The metrics differ, so a direct comparison is hard, but the market is clearly early stage.

The direction is clear. OI rises each quarter, and regulators are starting to treat it as a market. The SEC has cited perps as an innovative financial product, and the CFTC is publicly reviewing US institutionalization. It began outside regulation, but is moving inside the system faster.

3. The 24-Hour Market vs. the Real Market

Tiger Research tracks this shift, offering a tool that compares Korean stock prices on overseas perpetual markets against KRX spot in real time. It aggregates prices from the perp exchanges that support Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor using a volume-weighted average, set side by side with each name’s domestic spot price.

The data so far shows three patterns.

3.1. Overnight Perp Moves Predict the Next Open

Korea’s market stops at night. US markets move, Nvidia reports, FX swings, but Korea sees no trading until the next morning. Perps trade through it.

This raises a question. With spot closed, what price do perps reference?

The answer is that they do not follow one. While the session is open, perps pull spot prices from institutional data. When it closes, perp participants’ own trades set the price directly. Rather than copying a closed spot market, they discover a new price that reflects overnight news and macro variables.

The data bears this out. On days perps rose after the close, the next session opened higher 82% of the time for Samsung Electronics and 95% for SK Hynix. When perps fell, the next session opened lower 96% for Samsung Electronics and 78% for SK Hynix. Directional match runs around 85% for both, with correlation of 0.85 to 0.89.

Magnitude tracks too. A 3% overnight gain in perps led to an open roughly 3% higher. The regression coefficient of perp change against the actual opening gap is 0.93 for Samsung Electronics and 1.00 for SK Hynix, all but signaling how far the move will run.

Weekends are sharper. From Friday close to Monday open, the perp-implied direction matched the actual Monday open 93% of the time for Samsung Electronics and 87% for SK Hynix, because perps absorb two days of global variables first.

Reading the overnight perp price gives an early read on where the morning open will land.

3.2. Delta Neutral Trade on the Spot-Perp Premium

Perps have no expiry. To keep the price from drifting too far from its reference, longs and shorts exchange a fee at set intervals, called the funding rate.

For example, when a perp trades above its reference, the gaining longs pay the losing shorts. The larger the premium, the larger the payment. When one side gains more than the reference, it is charged accordingly. As traders move to avoid that cost, the price converges back to the reference.

In the data, Korean stock perps traded above spot, with an intraday average premium of 0.15% for Samsung Electronics and 0.23% for SK Hynix. Selling the perp means collecting that premium as funding each cycle.

The strategy follows. Buy KRX spot intraday and sell an equal amount of the perp at the same time. If the stock rises, spot gains and the perp loses. If it falls, the reverse. The two offset, so the outcome is near zero whichever way the stock moves. In return, funding comes in from the short perp. The position earns from the premium alone, with no bet on direction. Removing directional risk this way is the delta neutral trade.

The premium does not last. The perp to spot gap closed halfway in about 40 minutes on average. It suits high-volatility phases where premiums widen, and it requires constant monitoring.

3.3. Arbitrage on Cross-Exchange Price Gaps

At the same moment, for the same name, perp prices differ across exchanges. In June 2026 data, Binance’s Samsung Electronics perp traded 0.93% higher on average than Hyperliquid’s. SK Hynix showed a 1.03% gap, widening to as much as 2.3%.

Perp positions cannot move between exchanges. Instead, a trader opens opposite positions on both at once. Short on the higher-priced exchange, long on the lower, and the directional P&L offsets. As the two prices converge, the original gap remains as profit. On the higher side, the short also collects funding, adding return.

Later-entrant exchanges tend to hold higher prices because less arbitrage capital flows in. These gaps recur in the early phase as more exchanges launch. They widen further at night and on weekends, when spot is closed and each exchange discovers price on its own.

4. Market Shifts and Emerging Opportunities

One catch in this market is fragmentation, which is both a risk and an opportunity. As the same name scatters across Korea’s existing exchanges and Hyperliquid, Binance, and Lighter, liquidity splits. With price spread across venues, it is harder to agree on which is real, and differing prices create room for confusion and manipulation. While these thin liquidity pools create price discrepancies across platforms, the use of high leverage significantly amplifies the risk of sudden liquidation cascades.

The openings above were for retail. The same structure also opens business opportunities.

Market makers: the same name trades 0.15% to 0.75% apart across exchanges, and the gap widens at night. In an early market with little arbitrage capital, spreads stay wide. With thin liquidity and several exchanges managing fragmented liquidity, market making demand should keep growing.
Regional oracles: perps discover price while spot is closed, and accuracy hinges on the oracle. A specialized oracle that feeds accurate prices for Asian-timezone assets such as Korea, Japan, and Taiwan is still an open space.
Tokenized issuance: listed Korean names today are limited to Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor. The market needs an intermediary to list and manage KOSPI 200 names and major Asian companies.
Basis hedge funds: perps convert the premium over spot into funding cash every hour. A dedicated fund collecting basis and funding gaps across exchanges turns capital faster than a conventional basis trade, though the market is still too small to absorb it.

The perp market is small against traditional markets, but it matters. It discovers price first, stays open 24 hours, and is institutionalizing fast. Opportunity remains on both the investment and business sides.

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