Taproot Wizards Launch Approaching, Will a New NFT Blue Chip Emerge?

By: blockbeats|2025/03/24 13:00:05
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Taproot Wizards Launch Approaching, Will a New NFT Blue Chip Emerge?

After 2 years of long-awaited anticipation, Bitcoin (Ordinals)'s most anticipated new project, Taproot Wizards, is finally set to launch tomorrow. While in terms of influence, the project is undoubtedly the leader in the Bitcoin NFT market, its minting price of 0.2 BTC is completely unbelievable in the current NFT market environment. So, why does this foreign-made NFT project have a minting price of 0.2 BTC? In this market environment, why do NFT players widely support such a massively priced sale?

The Magical NFT Minting Seen through Data

Based on data from cryptoslam.io, we selected all Bitcoin NFT series that had a total volume of over $100,000 in the past 30 days (excluding BRC-20 token volume). The total volume amounted to less than $35 million. This means that excluding long-tail assets, the average daily trading volume of Bitcoin NFTs in the past 30 days was only about $1.15 million.

The total supply of Taproot Wizards is 2121, with 36 distributed as airdrops to early supporters over the past 2 years, 100 airdropped to the most deeply involved supporters, owners of the "Golden Cloak" feature Quantum Cats, and an early raffle for Bitcoin Wizards holders, and 200 reserved for the team. This means that only 1785 Taproot Wizards entered this issuance.

The total whitelist amount is set at 1750. Among these, 828 whitelist spots have a minting price of 0.1 BTC, as these whitelists received a discount for staking 2 Quantum Cats (where one Quantum Cat must have the "Alive" feature and the other the "Dead" feature). Additionally, 922 whitelist spots have a minting price of 0.2 BTC, as these whitelists were actively selected after participating in various Taproot Wizards activities over the past 2 years.

If all 1750 whitelist spots are sold out, the Taproot Wizards team will receive 267.2 BTC in minting revenue, approximately $23.4 million. If there are unsold portions, they will be included in a Dutch auction along with the remaining 35.

Including the minting revenue of 300 BTC from the previous Quantum Cats release by the Taproot Wizards team (equivalent to approximately $13 million at the time of Bitcoin's price), the Taproot Wizards team's minimum minting revenue is expected to reach $36.4 million. According to data from DefiLlama, this would place the Taproot Wizards team at 8th place in the NFT historical minting revenue leaderboard.

With a minting price of 0.2 BTC, roughly equivalent to 8.4 ETH, $17,560, and 127,000 RMB, this is a rather extravagant price in the current NFT market.

Considering that Quantum Cats, priced in Bitcoin terms, has never dropped below its 0.1 BTC release price, theoretically, the cost to mint Quantum Cats by staking and obtaining a discounted whitelist is also 0.3 BTC in Bitcoin terms. Therefore, if we take 0.2 BTC * the total supply of 2121 as the initial market value of Taproot Wizards, Taproot Wizards' opening price will place it at 424.2 BTC (approximately $37.2 million) and rank 21st in the NFT market cap leaderboard.

Coincidentally, the 3 positions in front of this 21st place are all Bitcoin NFTs, namely Quantum Cats (440 BTC, approximately $38.6 million), NodeMonkes (435 BTC, approximately $38.2 million), and Bitcoin Puppets (434 BTC, approximately $38.1 million). Quantum Cats has long been considered Taproot Wizards' "warm-up series," which is not only the current highest total market cap Bitcoin NFT series but has also served as a price reference for Taproot Wizards over the long term.

If the opening price doubles, Taproot Wizards' total market cap ranking will surpass Solana NFT leader Mad Lads and reach 7th place. As for the top 6, it will be a comprehensive challenge from Bitcoin NFTs to Ethereum NFT leaders.

When was the last time we saw such a frenzy around a new NFT project's minting? In terms of total minting revenue, it should be traced back to the Azuki Elementals at the end of June 2023, where 10,000 NFTs were sold for 20,000 ETH (approximately $38 million). In terms of minting price, it might have to go back even further to the Moonbirds in April 2022, with a minting price of 2.5 ETH (around $7,500).

Why NFT Players Still Remain Bullish?

Securing $37.5 Million in Funding

On November 16, 2023, Taproot Wizards announced the completion of a $7.5 million funding round led by Standard Crypto, with participation from Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey, and Newman Capital.

Bitcoin Frontier Fund partner @TO shared on social media his previously drafted investment memo for Taproot Wizards, stating, "This is the term sheet I sent to @udiWertheimer and @ercwl back on April 5, 2023, to invest in Taproot Wizards. After reading the (Taproot Wizards) pitch, I wrote this in just 5 minutes to ensure I was early."

And thus, @TO penned a basic investment memo on a piece of toilet paper.

On February 5 this year, Taproot Wizards secured another $30 million in Series A funding led by Standard Crypto, with participation from Cyberfund and Collider Ventures. This funding will be used to advance the development of OP_CAT to drive the implementation of smart contracts on the Bitcoin mainnet.

These funding rounds are quite remarkable. It's worth noting that the OP_CAT opcode is still disabled on the Bitcoin mainnet, although there is a BIP-347 proposal to re-enable this opcode, the timing of its approval and eventual activation remains uncertain.

Udi Wizardheimer, Bitcoin's Ecosystem's Most Notorious Trouble-Maker

Ordinals Protocolist @ordjingle once referred to Taproot Wizards founder Udi Wizardheimer as the "Bitcoin ecosystem's Catfish." An NFT project that had been in operation for 2 years before its official launch and has always been considered a flagship in the Bitcoin NFT space, there is definitely something to be said.

The first public appearance of the Ordinals protocol occurred when Taproot Wizards filled an entire block on the Bitcoin mainnet with a 4MB image on February 1, 2023.

The image above created the largest block and transaction in Bitcoin history at the time. This event caused a significant stir in the Bitcoin ecosystem, with Blockstream CEO Adam Back, Bitcoin Core developer LukeDashjr, and others suggesting that Taproot Wizards' action led to a rapid expansion of the Bitcoin blockchain size, potentially causing some disruptions to the network and even suggesting that it was an attack on Bitcoin rather than an innovation. At the same time, it brought the Ordinals protocol to the attention of the entire crypto community.

In March 2023, Taproot Wizards officially shared founder Udi Wertheimer's journey on social media: "On the day Silicon Valley Bank announced its bankruptcy and the USDC Panic Day, I decided to launch the Taproot Wizard NFT project and have people record videos of themselves bathing in wizard costumes." Cosplaying as a wizard and then filming oneself bathing became another hot topic within the NFT community, with even Yuga Labs co-founder Gordon Goner personally recording and releasing a bathing video to obtain a Taproot Wizard.

In early 2024, Taproot Wizards released an NFT project called Quantum Cats, known in the Chinese-speaking community as "Quantum Cat." Similar to the official launch of Taproot Wizards, "Quantum Cat" was launched during a period of poor market conditions but never fell below its initial price, and it was immediately considered a blue-chip NFT series in the Bitcoin world. At the peak of AIXBT's popularity, Udi Wizardheimer once again made a move, causing AIXBT to actively seek to own a "Quantum Cat" and then changing their Twitter avatar to the "Quantum Cat" upon acquisition. Of course, the main purpose of "Quantum Cat" was to promote the revival of OP_CAT, which has now received an official BIP proposal number. The "Quantum Cat" community, led by Udi, has played a significant role in this endeavor.

One of the Oldest Bitcoin Memes

The Bitcoin Wizard image first appeared in February 2013 when /r/Bitcoin moderator theymos called for community ad ideas. In just 1 hour, a friend named /u/mavensbot submitted this piece titled "Magic Internet Money Wizard." With its creative art style, eye-catching design, and straightforward cultural slogan, it quickly became the most popular response on the forum.

Later, this image was chosen as the official promotional image for the /r/Bitcoin forum and was featured on Reddit for a period. The simple yet engaging design brought a lot of traffic to the /r/Bitcoin forum, with more and more people clicking through to see what this "not-so-much-like-an-ad" ad was all about and what it represented. Many people got to know, understand, buy, and spread Bitcoin as a result. It's worth mentioning that at that time, Bitcoin was only $287.

In addition to commemorating the classic wizard image of the Bitcoin community, Taproot Wizards also believes that the Taproot upgrade for Bitcoin is significant for Bitcoin NFTs. Therefore, they added the word Taproot to their project name.

It is worth noting that the original creator of the wizard meme, mavensbot, is currently active in the Bitcoin NFT ecosystem. He has a Bitcoin NFT series called Bitcoin Wizards, which the Chinese community refers to as "Little Wizards" to differentiate from Taproot Wizards. He will also release a wizard PFP series with a total of 10,000 and has already created the runic MAGIC•INTERNET•MONEY.

As for why the original creator is "small" while Taproot Wizards is "big"? It's because Udi is truly a marketing genius, and the impact of Taproot Wizards on the entire NFT scene is far greater than that of Bitcoin Wizards.

Conclusion

We have previously delved into Taproot Wizards and Quantum Cats. If you are interested in a deeper understanding, you can refer to:

Why did investors see the Bitcoin "Wizard Culture" in a $7.5 million-funded 4MB doodle?

Analyzing the Bitcoin memeNFT: What is the Bald Wizard Taproot Wizard paying tribute to and expressing?

Bitcoin's "Quantum Cat": Without smart contracts, how does the inscription achieve dynamic changes?

The launch of this NFT project is quite impressive, even when placed in the peak of the NFT craze. In a time when NFTs have long been out of market focus, will Taproot Wizards once again liven up the Bitcoin NFT and even the entire NFT market? We wait and see.

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Traditional finance is still stuck in a "human-to-human" model, while Catena aims to achieve "AI-to-AI" interaction.

Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'

Original Title: "Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Genius Act'"Original Author: 0xTodd, Partner at Nothing Research


If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.



Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."


The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:


· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.


· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.


· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.


· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.


· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.


· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.


After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.


Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"


In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.


First, Clearing Concerns is a Prerequisite


Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.


In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.


They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.


Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.


In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.


【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.


Second, Mastering the Standard is Very Important


Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.


When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.


If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.


The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.


And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).


Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.


Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.


And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?


That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.


In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.


As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.



EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:


· Social Account Registration Wallet

· Paying GAS with Native Coin

· And more


This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.


Third, Deposit Enters a New Era


Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.


Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.



Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:


Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.


And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?


Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.


Fourth, Conclusion


As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.


And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.


Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.


Original Article Link

$COIN Joins S&P 500, but Coinbase Isn't Celebrating

On May 13, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Coinbase would officially replace Discover Financial Services in the S&P 500 on May 19. While other companies like Block and MicroStrategy, closely tied to Bitcoin, were already part of the S&P 500, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange whose primary business is in the index. This also signifies that cryptocurrency is gradually moving from the fringes to the mainstream in the U.S.



On the day of the announcement, Coinbase's stock price surged by 23%, surpassing the $250 mark. However, just 3 days later, Coinbase was hit by two consecutive events: a hack where employees were bribed to steal customer data and a demand for a $20 million ransom, and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the authenticity of its claim of having over 100 million "verified users" in its securities filings and marketing materials. These two events acted as mini-bombs, and at the time of writing, Coinbase's stock had already dropped by over 7.3%.


Coincidentally, Discover Financial Services, being replaced by Coinbase, can also be considered the "Coinbase" of the previous payment era. Discover is a U.S.-based digital banking and payment services company headquartered in Illinois, founded in 1960. Its payment network, Discover Network, is the fourth largest payment network apart from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.


In April, after the approval of the acquisition of Discover by the sixth-largest U.S. bank, Capital One, this well-established digital banking company of over 60 years smoothly handed over its S&P 500 "seat" to this emerging cryptocurrency "bank." This unexpected coincidence also portrayed the handover between the new and old eras in Coinbase's entry into the S&P 500, resembling a relay race scene. However, this relay baton also brought Coinbase's accumulated "external troubles and internal strife" to a tipping point.


Side Effects of ETFs


Over the past decade, cryptocurrency exchanges have been the most stable "profit machines." They play a role in providing liquidity to the entire industry and rely on trading fees to sustain their operations. However, with the comprehensive rollout of ETF products in the U.S. market, this profit model is facing unprecedented challenges. As the leader in the "American stack," with over 80% of its business coming from the U.S., Coinbase is most affected by this.



Starting from the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, traditional financial capital has significantly onboarded users and funds that originally belonged to exchanges in a more cost-effective, compliant, and transparent manner. The transaction fee revenue of cryptocurrency exchanges has started to decline, and this trend may further intensify in the coming months.


According to Coinbase's 2024 Q4 financial report, the platform's total trading revenue was $417 million, a 45% year-on-year decrease. The contribution of BTC and ETH's trading revenue dropped from 65% in the same period last year to less than 50%.


This decline is not a result of a decrease in market enthusiasm. In fact, since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024, the inflow of BTC into the U.S. market has continued to reach new highs, with asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity rapidly expanding their management scale. Data shows that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) alone has surpassed $17 billion in assets under management. As of mid-May 2025, the cumulative net inflow of 11 major institutional Bitcoin spot ETFs on the market has exceeded $41.5 billion, with a total net asset value of $1214.69 billion, accounting for approximately 5.91% of the total Bitcoin market capitalization.


Chart showing the trend of net outflows for Grayscale among the 11 institutions


Institutional investors and some retail investors are shifting towards ETF products, partly due to compliance and tax considerations. On one hand, ETFs have much lower trading costs compared to cryptocurrency exchanges. While Coinbase's spot trading fee rate varies annually in a tiered manner but averages around 1.49%, for example, the management fee for IBIT ETF is only 0.25%, and the majority of ETF institution fees fluctuate around 0.15% to 0.25%.



In other words, the more rational users are, the more likely they are to move from exchanges to ETF products, especially for investors aiming for long-term holdings.


According to multiple sources, several institutions, including VanEck and Grayscale, have submitted applications to the SEC for a Solana (SOL) ETF, with some institutions also planning to submit an XRP ETF proposal. Once approved, this may trigger a new round of fund migration. According to a report submitted by Coinbase to the SEC, as of April, the platform's trading revenue from XRP and Solana accounted for 18% and 10%, nearly one-third of the platform's fee revenue.



However, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs passed in 2024 also reduced the fees for these two tokens on Coinbase from 30% and 15% to 26% and 10%, respectively. If the SOL and XRP ETFs are approved, it will further undermine the core fee revenue of exchanges like Coinbase.


The expansion of ETF products is gradually weakening the financial intermediary status of cryptocurrency exchanges. From their original roles as matchmakers and clearers to now gradually becoming mere "on-ramps and off-ramps" for funds, exchanges are seeing their marginal value squeezed by ETFs.


Robinhood Takes a Stand, Traditional Brokerages Join the Fray


On May 12, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins gave a keynote speech at the Tokenization and Cryptocurrency Working Group roundtable. The theme of his speech revolved around "It is a new day at the SEC," where he indicated that the SEC would not approach enforcement and regulation the same way as before but would instead pave the way for cryptocurrency assets in the U.S. market.



With signs of cryptocurrency compliance such as the SEC's "NEW DAY" declaration, an increasing number of traditional brokerages are attempting to enter the cryptocurrency industry. One of the most representative cases is the well-known U.S. brokerage Robinhood, which began expanding its crypto business in 2018. By the time of its IPO in 2021, Robinhood's crypto business revenue accounted for over 50% of the company, with a significant boost from the Dogecoin "moonshot" promoted by Musk.


In Q1 2025 earnings report, Robinhood showcased strong growth, especially in revenue from cryptocurrency and options trading. Fueled by Trump's Memecoin, cryptocurrency-related revenue reached $250 million, nearly doubling year-over-year. Consequently, Robinhood Gold subscription users reached 3.5 million, a 90% increase from the previous year, with the rapid growth of Robinhood Gold providing the company with a stable source of income.



Meanwhile, RobinHood is actively pursuing acquisitions in the cryptocurrency space. In 2024, it announced a $2 billion acquisition of the long-standing European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp. Additionally, Canada's largest cryptocurrency CEX, WonderFi, which recently went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, also announced its integration with RobinHood Crypto. After obtaining virtual asset licenses in the UK, Canada, Singapore, and other markets, RobinHood has taken a proactive approach in the compliant cryptocurrency trading market.



Furthermore, an increasing number of brokerage firms are exploring the same path. Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, and others are also dipping their toes into cryptocurrency trading, with some having applied for or obtained the VA license from the Hong Kong SFC. Although their user bases are currently small, traditional brokerages have a natural advantage in user trust, regulatory licenses, and low fee structures. This could pose a threat to native cryptocurrency platforms in the future.



User Data Breach: Is Coinbase Still Secure?


In April 2025, security researchers discovered that some Coinbase user data was leaked on the dark web. While the platform initially responded by attributing it to a "technical misinformation," it still raised concerns among users regarding its security and privacy protection. Just two days before Dow Jones Indexes announced Coinbase's addition to the S&P 500 Index, on May 11, 2025, Coinbase received an email from an unknown threat actor claiming to have obtained customer account information and internal documents, demanding a $20 million ransom to keep the data private. Subsequent investigations confirmed the data breach.


Cybercriminals obtained the data by bribing overseas customer service agents and support staff, mainly in "non-U.S. regions such as India." These agents abused their access to Coinbase's internal customer support system and stole customer data. As early as February this year, blockchain detective ZachXBT revealed on X platform that between December 2024 and January 2025, Coinbase users lost over $65 million to social engineering scams, with the actual amount potentially higher.


Among the victims was a well-known figure, 67-year-old Ed Suman, an established artist in the art world for nearly two decades, having been involved in the creation of artworks such as Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog" sculpture. Earlier this year, he fell victim to an impersonation scam involving fake Coinbase customer support, resulting in a loss of over $2 million in cryptocurrency. ZachXBT critiqued Coinbase for its inadequate handling of such scams, noting that other major exchanges have not faced similar issues and recommending Coinbase to enhance its security measures.


Amidst a series of ongoing social engineering incidents, although there has not been any impact on user assets at the technical level so far, it has raised concerns among many retail and institutional investors. Especially institutions holding massive assets on Coinbase. Just considering the U.S. BTC ETF institutions, as of mid-May 2025, they collectively hold nearly 840,000 BTC, and 75% of these are custodied by Coinbase. If we price BTC at $100,000, this amount reaches a staggering $63 billion, which is equivalent to the nominal GDP of two Iceland in the year 2024.


Visualization: ChatGPT, Source: Farside


In addition, Coinbase Custody also serves over 300 institutional clients, including hedge funds, family offices, pension funds, and endowments. As of the Q1 2025 financial report, Coinbase's total assets under management (including institutional and retail clients) reached $404 billion. The specific amount of institutional custodied assets was not explicitly disclosed in the latest report, but it should still be over 50% based on the Q4 2024 report.


Visualization: ChatGPT


Once this security barrier is breached, not only could the rate of user attrition far exceed expectations, but more importantly, institutional trust in it would undermine the foundation of its business. Therefore, after a hacking event, Coinbase's stock price plummeted significantly.


CEXs are All in Self-Rescue Mode


Facing a decline in spot trading fee revenue, Coinbase is also accelerating its transformation, attempting to find growth opportunities in derivatives and emerging assets. Coinbase acquired a stake in the options platform Deribit at the end of 2024 and announced the official launch of perpetual contract products in 2025. This acquisition fills in Coinbase's gap in options trading and its relatively small global market share.



Deribit has a strong presence in non-U.S. markets, especially in Asia and Europe. The acquisition has enabled Coinbase to gain a dominant position in bitcoin and ethereum options trading on Deribit, accounting for approximately 80% of the global options trading volume, with daily trading volume remaining above $2 billion.


Meanwhile, 80-90% of Deribit's customer base consists of institutional investors, with their professionalism and liquidity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market highly favored by institutions. Coinbase's compliance advantage, coupled with its already robust institutional ecosystem, makes it even more suitable. By using institutions as an entry point, it can face the squeeze from giants like Binance and OKX in the derivatives market.



Facing a similar dilemma is Kraken, which is attempting to replicate Binance Futures' model in non-U.S. markets. Since the derivatives market relies more on professional users, fee rates are relatively higher and stickiness is stronger, making it a significant source of revenue for exchanges. In the first half of 2025, Kraken completed the acquisition of TradeStation Crypto and a futures exchange, aiming to build a complete derivatives trading ecosystem to hedge the risk of declining spot transaction fee income.


With the surge of Memecoin in 2024, Binance, OKX, and various CEX platforms began massively listing small-market-cap, highly volatile tokens to activate active trading users. Due to the wealth effect and trading activity of Memecoins, Coinbase was also forced to join the battle, successively listing popular tokens from the Solana ecosystem such as BOOK OF MEME and Dogwifhat. Although these coins are controversial, they are frequently traded, with fee rates several times higher than mainstream coins, serving as a "blood-boosting" method for spot trading.


However, due to its status as a publicly traded company, this practice is a riskier endeavor for Coinbase. Even in the current crypto-friendly environment, the SEC is still investigating whether tokens like SOL, ADA, and SAND constitute securities.


In addition to the forced transformation strategies carried out by the aforementioned CEXs, they are also starting to lay out RWAs and the most talked-about stablecoin payment fields, such as the PYUSD launched through a collaboration between Coinbase and Paypal, Coinbase's support for the Euro stablecoin EURC by Circle that complies with EU MiCA regulatory requirements, or the USD1 launched through a collaboration between Binance and WIFL. In the increasingly crowded trading field, many CEXs have shifted their focus from just the trading market to the application field.


The golden age of transaction fees has quietly ended, and the second half of the crypto exchange platform game has silently begun.


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