Few crypto assets have outperformed bitcoin this year, but the handful that have are predominantly exchange tokens. Their success attests to that of the token sale launchpads they have hosted, which have in turn driven demand for exchange tokens. But as IEOs start to wind down, can exchanges sustain the momentum, or will BTC recapture the lead and finish 2019 on a high?
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2019 Was the Year of the Exchange Token
Bitcoin has had a good week, but despite putting a dent in every major crypto asset, thanks to Friday’s paint-melting rocket ride, it’s still got some catching up to do. Within the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap, aside from chainlink, which has recorded an 816% gain for the year, the only notable tokens to have bested BTC are huobi token (247%) and binance coin (235%). Just behind BTC (148%) is another exchange token, kucoin shares (138%).
Move outside of the top 50, and lurking at 118 by market cap is this year’s best performing exchange token, belonging to Bitmax. BTMX is up an impressive 394% for the year, just ahead of Okex’s OKB, which sits 91st by market cap with yearly gains of 358%. While there’s plenty to critique about the utility of exchange tokens, and their ability to sustain their new price levels, there’s no disputing that 2019 has been their year.
Can Exchange Tokens Escape the Fate of ETH?
Anyone who was hanging around the crypto space in 2017 will recall the meteoric rise of all crypto assets, ETH especially, which peaked at $1,400 on January 13, 2018, propelled there by the ICO craze. What
