Centralized Exchange Tokens Hit New All-Time Highs, Again

Utility tokens for centralized exchanges including FTX, Binance, Huobi and OKEx, hit all-time highs Wednesday, not long after some of them set price records earlier this month.

• At press time, FTX’s FTT, Binance’s BNB and Huobi’s HT have seen the most significant growth since the beginning of the year, up about 249%, 238%, and 161%, respectively, according to Messari.
• As CoinDesk reported previously, exchange tokens are logging impressive returns as more traders, especially new retail traders from the equity market, are using these exchanges to invest in cryptocurrencies.
• “FTX has set all-time highs in volume, traffic, and revenue this month, and outgrown most of other exchanges as well,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of derivatives exchange FTX.
• Ciara Sun, vice president of Huobi Global Markets, also said HT’s price surge on Wednesday is partly driven by bitcoin’s new record high price earlier this week.
• “HT is the native token that reflects the community perception of our ability to grow our influence in the blockchain realm,” Sun said. “When we are doing well and the industry is doing well, it gets reflected by its price.”
• Binance had not responded to CoinDesk's request for comments, as of press time.
• Data from Skew shows that Binance, OKEx, Huobi and FTX are among the top exchanges with some of the most bitcoin futures open interest.