Exchanges delisting

This post was originally published on August 22, 2019, and sent to Messari Pro subscribers.

Exchange listings can make or break crypto networks. After all, exchanges provide access and liquidity for investors and users of tokens alike. In this era of centralized exchanges as kingmakers, delisting is one of the worst fates to befall an asset. Following the ICO boom of 2017, and with more regulatory clarity suggesting many of these tokens could be securities, it would make sense to see assets delisted from exchanges if and when they became a regulatory issue for the listers or users simply lost interest and trading fees dried up.

According to our analysis, though, very few assets have been removed from some of the larger and more legitimate exchanges (as calculated using our Real 10 volumes).

In 2018, towards the tail end of a massive increase in new assets, only 25 assets were delisted from these exchanges, down from the 76 removed the year before. The rationales for why specific assets were delisted varies significantly, with exchange often citing exceptionally vague guidelines unique to each platform. Some delistings have been more public, such as BSV, the bitcoin fork spawned by the self-professed “Satoshi”, Craig Wright.

What is perhaps more interesting is how history is - at least so far - not repeating itself. In 2014 - 2015 when a similar “altcoin” boom saw many assets added to fledgling exchanges, 524 (!!!) ended up delisted.

Looking at Bittrex and Poloniex, two exchanges known for the breadth of listings, it’s clear many assets failed to gain traction during those years. Bittrex, for example, delisted more assets than it currently supports. Poloniex delisted more assets than Binance currently supports. Of course, a lot of those were in the 2014-2015 period years before Binance had launched.