- Buy Crypto
- Markets
- Futures
- Spot
- Copy Trade
WE-Launch
When a Play-to-Earn token falls out of the top 100 in market cap, will the industry narrative be reshuffled again?
Original Article Title: Gaming Tokens Are Disappearing From Crypto's Top 100—What Happened?
Original Article Author: Ryan S. Gladwin
Original Article Translation: DeepTech TechFlow
According to CoinGecko data, following Immutable (IMX) dropping out of the rankings on Monday, there are currently no gaming tokens in the top 100 by market capitalization. While CoinMarketCap still has a few gaming tokens lingering at the bottom of the list, the conclusion is nearly unanimous: the performance of top gaming tokens continues to disappoint.
Despite the peak in popularity of crypto gaming in the past year among both mainstream markets and player communities, related tokens have rapidly declined, and newly issued tokens struggle to gain attention.
According to Wayback Machine data, just a year ago, there were 6 gaming tokens in the top 100 by market capitalization. At that time, the total market capitalization of gaming tokens on CoinGecko was $29.3 billion. However, despite more tokens being introduced during this period, this number has plummeted by 68%, now standing at only $9.24 billion.
The Ethereum gaming platform Immutable was once the last stronghold, but its token IMX has seen a significant drop over the past year.
According to CoinGecko data, in December 2023, IMX was ranked as the 31st largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization. At that time, investment firm VanEck expressed strong confidence in Immutable, expecting IMX to break into the top 25 by 2024. Even just a year ago today, IMX was still ranked 34th.
However, since then, IMX has experienced an 87% nosedive over the past year, attributed to the overall cooling of the crypto gaming market and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (Immutable recently stated that the investigation has concluded).
In just the past week, IMX plummeted by 29%, compared to Bitcoin's drop of nearly 10%. IMX became the token with the largest weekly drop in the CoinGecko top 100 list, until it slid out of the rankings, now sitting at 103rd place.
Other major gaming tokens that were once in the top 100 have also experienced significant setbacks over the past year. For example, Gala Games (GALA) dropped by 80% (with a 19% drop this week), and The Sandbox (SAND) saw a 64% decline during the same period (with a 16% drop in the past 7 days).
Many of the once high-flying legacy game tokens have experienced significant drops since their 2021 peaks. Even recently launched major game tokens have not been able to escape the downturn. The token for Pixels (PIXEL), launched last year, has plummeted by 98% from its peak, Notcoin (NOT) has dropped by 94%, and Hamster Kombat (HMSTR) has also slid by 68%.
Last week, Gunzilla Games released the GUN token for its popular game "Off the Grid" on the Avalanche L1-based GUNZ network, marking the largest game token issuance in months. However, despite "Off the Grid" not yet integrating GUN into the game, the token has dropped by 62% from its peak.
A Rise of Higher-Quality Games
"Off the Grid" was named Decrypt's 2024 Blockchain Game of the Year and had a standout performance last fall, bolstering the market's positive perception of the current state of crypto gaming quality.
This is in stark contrast to the 2021 Play-to-Earn craze, where the flagship title was the simple gameplay monster-battling game "Axie Infinity."
"The 2021 crypto gaming market was completely narrative-driven, with hardly any real products except for a few exceptions like 'Axie,'" said Loopify, founder of the Treeverse game, to Decrypt. "Now, a few years later, there are indeed more products, but they still need time to truly enter the mainstream market."
Back then, "Axie Infinity" was ahead by a mile, but its in-game economy, token value, and player base took a hit at the beginning of 2022. Now, a new wave of higher-quality games has emerged in the market, with some attracting millions of players—though popularity and reputation don't always align.
For example, "Hamster Kombat" drew 300 million players last summer through its Tap-to-Earn Telegram game, despite its simple and repetitive gameplay. However, since the token's launch in September, players have exited en masse due to price issues, and the development team has been slow to roll out subsequent seasons.
"Off the Grid" became one of the few success stories in October last year, with its public launch becoming one of the most successful in the blockchain gaming field, even topping the Epic Games Store free games chart and surpassing "Fortnite." Additionally, the farming game "Pixels" and the card battle game "Parallel" have received player acclaim and attracted a growing audience, while the survival game "Crypto: The Game" has become a niche favorite through viral spread.
「I actually think the current state of play-to-earn games is quite solid,」 said Jaxie, the pseudonymous community manager of the GIA play-to-earn gaming guild, to Decrypt. 「We are now beginning to see some excellent games come online that have the potential to onboard millions of players into the crypto ecosystem.」
But There Have Been Missteps
Creating a high-quality game takes time—just look at Rockstar Games, who have spent 7 years developing 'Grand Theft Auto 6' with a large team and financial support behind them. This also explains why, despite the hype around play-to-earn games starting several years ago, we are only now starting to see some results.
However, rushed play-to-earn games often end in failure. The Illuvium series is a typical example. According to CoinGecko data, Illuvium's token (ILV) launched for the first time in 2021 and quickly surged to a peak of $1749, sparking huge expectations for the project. However, when the team released three interconnected games in July 2024, the results did not meet expectations.
Illuvium's actual performance was disappointing, and its co-founder Kieran Warwick admitted in February of this year that criticism of the gameplay was 「valid,」 and plans to overhaul the game entirely. Today, the price of the ILV token has plummeted 99.4% from its all-time high to just $10.60.
The Core Issue of Play-to-Earn Games: Game or Token?
「99% of play-to-earn games are not fun to play,」 said Munnopoly, a member of the MLG meme coin team, in an interview with Decrypt. 「They seem more like they started with a token and then built a game around it. I feel like they have been continuously trying to bridge the gap with Web2 players.」
The various failures in the play-to-earn gaming industry suggest that the development of high-quality games requires time and patience, and rushed, shallow projects will only disappoint players, causing the token value to plummet.
The once-promising 'Deadrop' seemed poised to bridge the gap between traditional gamers and Web3. Developed by former developers of 'Call of Duty' and 'Halo' as well as popular streamer Dr. Disrespect, this game caught the attention of mainstream gamers. However, due to allegations of inappropriate conversations with minors against Dr. Disrespect that led to a fallout with the development team, the studio announced closure after running out of funds in January of this year.
「The cancellation of Deadrop is a major setback for this space,」 content creator MayorReynolds said. 「This game was one of the few projects with the potential to stand on its own based on the game itself, and integrate Web3 functionality in a way that players could understand.」
However, the halting of game projects due to running out of funds is not an isolated incident. Recently, the blockchain gaming ecosystem Treasure announced a large-scale restructuring and layoffs due to financial issues. And according to a report from Blockworks last week, the developer of Shrapnel, Neon Machine, also faced a funding crunch.
The development team behind the Ethereum game The Mystery Society paused development of this social deduction game in February this year, with its co-founder Chris Heatherly bluntly stating that the blockchain gaming industry is rife with destructive behavior.
「Greed and stupidity are choking almost every participant before they prove themselves in this space,」 Heatherly said in an interview with Decrypt. 「We need to focus on building a healthy on-chain business model rather than perpetuating this fallacy of 'token issuance as a Ponzi scheme.' Every Web3 game founder I know is frustrated, exhausted, and everything they're doing right now is just to survive, but true belief is fading fast.」
Reshaping the Narrative: Investor Attention Shift
According to Loopify, part of the recent issue with game tokens is that investor attention has shifted to more likely fast-profit crypto assets. He noted that since the last game token bull market, investor interest has gone through meme coins, SocialFi, and recently turned to the field of artificial intelligence.
With each wave of investment frenzy flowing into new asset classes, the focus on game tokens has gradually declined. While these tokens still exhibit high volatility in the market, the recent downturns have been more severe.
「The narrative of crypto games has long disappeared, and the number of investors willing to pay the bill has decreased as the crypto industry inherently follows trends,」 Loopify said in an interview with Decrypt. 「Even if these games are of higher quality and offer low-cost investment opportunities through NFTs, tokens, or equity, the market cannot immediately price them effectively. It takes time to reflect.」
Jaxie poses a more fundamental question: Does crypto gaming really need its own token? He believes that what players truly care about is owning their skins via blockchain rather than a game-specific token. While these tokens can generate speculative hype for a project, once the token collapses, the negative impact is enough to shake the community and create unattainable expectations.
“Most games really shouldn't have their own token,” he said. “Launching a token is more like a marketing tool or a way to appease existing users — don't get me wrong, I'll also participate in airdrops — but it's not a truly useful in-game utility token.”
Lately, the “tap-to-earn” trend has triggered a wave of token issuance in games, with each game requiring players to continuously tap for rewards. However, these tokens often lack practical use after issuance, leading to a rapid devaluation. From Hamster Kombat to Catizen and Zoo, similar stories have played out repeatedly.
Furthermore, last year's popular “play-to-airdrop” trend once again saw tokens distributed to players, but players had little incentive to hold onto these tokens long-term. Similar to the early “play-to-earn” craze, this model initially garnered significant attention and enthusiasm, but the eventual collapse was equally painful for projects and players alike.
“Most Web3 players are actually just speculators in the crypto space; their goal is to make money,” Jaxie bluntly stated. “The lifespan of most crypto games is only 90 days, after which the player count drops significantly — so why contribute to an economy you know will shrink dramatically in three months?”
You may also like
$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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
12-Hour Market Cap Surpasses $25 Million, Is $JOS Legit or Another "Rug Pull"?
This Week in Review | Strategy Adds BTC Sell Risk Warning Sparking Debate; US Tariff Policy Flip-Flops Cause Market Turbulence
Telegram Escape Roomer
Frame-by-Frame Analysis of the White House Crypto Summit: What Market Whisperings Have Gone Unnoticed?
Original Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: The cryptocurrency summit hosted by Donald Trump marks the United States' leadership in the digital finance sector. The summit discussed cryptocurrency regulation and policies, with the government emphasizing the importance of Bitcoin as a strategic asset and announcing the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve. Despite the introduction of a long-term regulatory strategy, the market was disappointed by the lack of clear regulatory measures and the uncertainty surrounding altcoins.
Below is the original content (rearranged for ease of reading comprehension):
Donald Trump fooled the entire cryptocurrency community, the US cryptocurrency reserve was canceled, taxes still exist, I analyzed the full cryptocurrency summit, and here is everything you need to know and the future of cryptocurrency
On March 7, 2025, the cryptocurrency summit hosted by President Donald Trump became a milestone event for the industry.
· This was the first summit in the US entirely dedicated to shaping cryptocurrency regulation and future policy.
· The government has increasingly shown support for Bitcoin, highlighting Bitcoin's strategic role in maintaining US digital economic dominance.
· The event was live-streamed through social media, attracting widespread attention from investors and the public.
· However, the market reaction was quite negative, with a significant drop in Bitcoin and other altcoins.
· The summit discussed the future of cryptocurrency regulation and its impact on the US financial industry
· The government reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the US a leading force in digital finance
· Bitcoin and digital assets were deeply discussed in terms of economic policy and financial stability
· The goal was to establish a sustainable and innovation-friendly regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry
Donald Trump presided over the summit, representing the US government's position in the cryptocurrency field
· David Sachs, serving as the White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence advisor, led high-level discussions with industry leaders
· Beau Haynes, head of the Digital Assets Working Group, played a key role in shaping strategic policies
·White House senior officials participated in the dialogue, advocating for the government's interest in the crypto space
·Michael Saylor, Founder of MicroStrategy, lobbied for supportive Bitcoin policies and engaged in direct conversations with U.S. officials.
·Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, expressed concerns about cryptocurrency regulation, representing the exchange industry's voice.
·Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Founders of Gemini, shared their investment views, emphasizing market growth and innovation.
·Anthony Scaramucci, representing Ripple Labs, advocated for XRP and its role in the global financial system.
·Executives from Ethereum, Solana, and other blockchain networks discussed the evolving role of altcoins in the economy.
The summit marked a significant turning point, formally integrating cryptocurrency into U.S. financial discussions; however, market sentiment shifted to the negative as no substantive regulatory measures were announced. Expectations for transformative policy changes went unmet, leaving investors disillusioned. Despite the introduction of long-term strategies, short-term market volatility persists.
The U.S. government established a Bitcoin reserve consisting of 200,000 seized bitcoins. The Treasury Department will oversee this reserve without imposing additional burdens on taxpayers. There are no plans to acquire more bitcoins, leading to uncertainty in the market. Bitcoin has been formally classified as a strategic asset, akin to gold's status in the U.S. financial reserves.
The U.S. plans to enact federal stablecoin regulation by August 2025. The proposed framework aims to enhance oversight and stability for major stablecoins, including USDT and USDC. One key objective is to strengthen the U.S. dollar's role as the dominant global reserve currency. This legislation will prohibit the issuance and circulation of stablecoins pegged to foreign fiat currencies.
The U.S. government has designated Bitcoin as a strategic asset, distinguishing it from other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum, XRP, and Solana face ongoing regulatory uncertainty with no clear guidelines. There is mention of potentially establishing a separate fund for altcoins, but details remain vague.
The current lack of clarity on altcoins has led to market speculation and instability. David Sachs has announced that alongside the Bitcoin Act, a digital asset reserve will be created. This reserve will be composed of non-Bitcoin crypto assets obtained through legal seizures, with the legislation strictly prohibiting the government from acquiring any asset beyond the scope of a seizure case.
An analysis of the U.S. government's crypto asset portfolio indicates that certain altcoins may be included in the digital asset reserve. Potential assets include $ETH, $BNB, $TRX, $UNI, $LINK, and $SAND.
- Brian Armstrong views this summit as a milestone event but notes the lack of tax incentives for cryptocurrency investors.
- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss praise the summit's significance while expressing concerns about unclear altcoin regulations.
- Anthony Scaramucci supports a focus on stablecoins but emphasizes the urgent need for regulatory clarity on XRP.
The White House emphasizes that this summit has solidified the U.S.'s position as a leader in the digital finance space. Government officials assure that the Bitcoin reserve will not incur any additional costs for taxpayers. The event highlighted the long-term goals of crypto regulation and industry development.
The aftermath of the summit has brought uncertainty to the crypto market, with Bitcoin dropping to $85,000, leading to widespread losses in altcoins. Short-term volatility persists as investors react to the lack of decisive policy action. Market recovery may occur if the government implements favorable measures.
Many expected the U.S. government to heavily acquire Bitcoin, but this has not been confirmed. Tax incentives were the main expectation for investors but were entirely absent from the discussions. Trump's speech failed to provide clear information, exacerbating market skepticism. The market's overbought condition has made it vulnerable to a sharp post-summit correction.
Although the summit has laid the groundwork for future growth, the short-term market response has been negative. Unless the government takes decisive action, market volatility is expected to continue. Regulatory uncertainty further intensifies investor doubts and hesitancy.
By 2025, stablecoin regulation and the introduction of Bitcoin reserves could support long-term market growth, with the recovery of Bitcoin and altcoins depending on the implementation of committed regulatory measures. Tracking stablecoin policies and reserve management is crucial, and the future of the U.S. crypto industry continues to be heavily influenced by government policy changes.
The future of cryptocurrency depends on regulation and institutional adoption. Clear policies can boost growth, while uncertainty can exacerbate volatility. Bitcoin still holds a dominant position, but DeFi and stablecoins are expanding. Mass adoption is inevitable, but the path will be tumultuous.
「Original Article Link」
OKX & SlowMist Joint Announcement | Bom Malware Rampant Among Thousands of Users, Stealing Over $1.82 Million in Assets
B3 Token Surges 4x in 3 Days: Retail FOMO or Institutional Rekt?
Key Market Information Discrepancy on February 10th - A Must-Read! | Alpha Morning Report
2024 Airdrop Big Revealing: Exploring Wealth-Building Opportunities and Avoiding Risk Traps
Data Analysis of the 2024 Meme Coin: The Ecosystem Evolution Behind a 600% Growth
Compounding Yield Calculation Starting Amount: <strong>10 BNB</strong><br> APY: <strong>5%</strong><br> Compounding Frequency: <strong>Monthly</strong> After 1 year, you would earn approximately: <strong>0.63 BNB</strong> from yield farming<br> <strong
$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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
12-Hour Market Cap Surpasses $25 Million, Is $JOS Legit or Another "Rug Pull"?
This Week in Review | Strategy Adds BTC Sell Risk Warning Sparking Debate; US Tariff Policy Flip-Flops Cause Market Turbulence
Telegram Escape Roomer
Frame-by-Frame Analysis of the White House Crypto Summit: What Market Whisperings Have Gone Unnoticed?
Original Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: The cryptocurrency summit hosted by Donald Trump marks the United States' leadership in the digital finance sector. The summit discussed cryptocurrency regulation and policies, with the government emphasizing the importance of Bitcoin as a strategic asset and announcing the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve. Despite the introduction of a long-term regulatory strategy, the market was disappointed by the lack of clear regulatory measures and the uncertainty surrounding altcoins.
Below is the original content (rearranged for ease of reading comprehension):
Donald Trump fooled the entire cryptocurrency community, the US cryptocurrency reserve was canceled, taxes still exist, I analyzed the full cryptocurrency summit, and here is everything you need to know and the future of cryptocurrency
On March 7, 2025, the cryptocurrency summit hosted by President Donald Trump became a milestone event for the industry.
· This was the first summit in the US entirely dedicated to shaping cryptocurrency regulation and future policy.
· The government has increasingly shown support for Bitcoin, highlighting Bitcoin's strategic role in maintaining US digital economic dominance.
· The event was live-streamed through social media, attracting widespread attention from investors and the public.
· However, the market reaction was quite negative, with a significant drop in Bitcoin and other altcoins.
· The summit discussed the future of cryptocurrency regulation and its impact on the US financial industry
· The government reaffirmed its commitment to keeping the US a leading force in digital finance
· Bitcoin and digital assets were deeply discussed in terms of economic policy and financial stability
· The goal was to establish a sustainable and innovation-friendly regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry
Donald Trump presided over the summit, representing the US government's position in the cryptocurrency field
· David Sachs, serving as the White House cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence advisor, led high-level discussions with industry leaders
· Beau Haynes, head of the Digital Assets Working Group, played a key role in shaping strategic policies
·White House senior officials participated in the dialogue, advocating for the government's interest in the crypto space
·Michael Saylor, Founder of MicroStrategy, lobbied for supportive Bitcoin policies and engaged in direct conversations with U.S. officials.
·Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, expressed concerns about cryptocurrency regulation, representing the exchange industry's voice.
·Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Founders of Gemini, shared their investment views, emphasizing market growth and innovation.
·Anthony Scaramucci, representing Ripple Labs, advocated for XRP and its role in the global financial system.
·Executives from Ethereum, Solana, and other blockchain networks discussed the evolving role of altcoins in the economy.
The summit marked a significant turning point, formally integrating cryptocurrency into U.S. financial discussions; however, market sentiment shifted to the negative as no substantive regulatory measures were announced. Expectations for transformative policy changes went unmet, leaving investors disillusioned. Despite the introduction of long-term strategies, short-term market volatility persists.
The U.S. government established a Bitcoin reserve consisting of 200,000 seized bitcoins. The Treasury Department will oversee this reserve without imposing additional burdens on taxpayers. There are no plans to acquire more bitcoins, leading to uncertainty in the market. Bitcoin has been formally classified as a strategic asset, akin to gold's status in the U.S. financial reserves.
The U.S. plans to enact federal stablecoin regulation by August 2025. The proposed framework aims to enhance oversight and stability for major stablecoins, including USDT and USDC. One key objective is to strengthen the U.S. dollar's role as the dominant global reserve currency. This legislation will prohibit the issuance and circulation of stablecoins pegged to foreign fiat currencies.
The U.S. government has designated Bitcoin as a strategic asset, distinguishing it from other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum, XRP, and Solana face ongoing regulatory uncertainty with no clear guidelines. There is mention of potentially establishing a separate fund for altcoins, but details remain vague.
The current lack of clarity on altcoins has led to market speculation and instability. David Sachs has announced that alongside the Bitcoin Act, a digital asset reserve will be created. This reserve will be composed of non-Bitcoin crypto assets obtained through legal seizures, with the legislation strictly prohibiting the government from acquiring any asset beyond the scope of a seizure case.
An analysis of the U.S. government's crypto asset portfolio indicates that certain altcoins may be included in the digital asset reserve. Potential assets include $ETH, $BNB, $TRX, $UNI, $LINK, and $SAND.
- Brian Armstrong views this summit as a milestone event but notes the lack of tax incentives for cryptocurrency investors.
- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss praise the summit's significance while expressing concerns about unclear altcoin regulations.
- Anthony Scaramucci supports a focus on stablecoins but emphasizes the urgent need for regulatory clarity on XRP.
The White House emphasizes that this summit has solidified the U.S.'s position as a leader in the digital finance space. Government officials assure that the Bitcoin reserve will not incur any additional costs for taxpayers. The event highlighted the long-term goals of crypto regulation and industry development.
The aftermath of the summit has brought uncertainty to the crypto market, with Bitcoin dropping to $85,000, leading to widespread losses in altcoins. Short-term volatility persists as investors react to the lack of decisive policy action. Market recovery may occur if the government implements favorable measures.
Many expected the U.S. government to heavily acquire Bitcoin, but this has not been confirmed. Tax incentives were the main expectation for investors but were entirely absent from the discussions. Trump's speech failed to provide clear information, exacerbating market skepticism. The market's overbought condition has made it vulnerable to a sharp post-summit correction.
Although the summit has laid the groundwork for future growth, the short-term market response has been negative. Unless the government takes decisive action, market volatility is expected to continue. Regulatory uncertainty further intensifies investor doubts and hesitancy.
By 2025, stablecoin regulation and the introduction of Bitcoin reserves could support long-term market growth, with the recovery of Bitcoin and altcoins depending on the implementation of committed regulatory measures. Tracking stablecoin policies and reserve management is crucial, and the future of the U.S. crypto industry continues to be heavily influenced by government policy changes.
The future of cryptocurrency depends on regulation and institutional adoption. Clear policies can boost growth, while uncertainty can exacerbate volatility. Bitcoin still holds a dominant position, but DeFi and stablecoins are expanding. Mass adoption is inevitable, but the path will be tumultuous.
「Original Article Link」
OKX & SlowMist Joint Announcement | Bom Malware Rampant Among Thousands of Users, Stealing Over $1.82 Million in Assets
Popular coins
Latest Crypto News
Customer Support：@weikecs
Business Cooperation：@weikecs
Quant Trading & MM：bd@weex.com
VIP Services：support@weex.com
App