What has been the performance of Bitget and the centralized crypto-exchanges since the FTX collapse? All the answers in Nansen’s in-depth analysis of the first half of 2023.
Summary
Bitget and the performance of CEXs according to Nansen’s analysis of the first half of 2023
Blockchain data and research provider Nansen has released its in-depth analysis on the performance of centralized crypto-exchanges (or CEXs) in the first half of 2023.Â
The report describes the post-crash scenario of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX and how CEXs have managed to be resilient.
Specifically, Bitget‘s crypto-exchange stands out for significantly increasing its derivatives volume in the first half of the year.Â
Not only that, its BGB token also appears to be among those that have seen sharp price increases since the FTX collapse.
Going in order, Nansen reports his data broken down by category. And indeed, speaking specifically of the FTX collapse, the first reaction of CEXs to restore confidence in the market was to offer Proof-of-Reserves (or PoR).
This is a public declaration of one’s reserves that has garnered criticism, as it has turned out not to be a true guarantee of solvency.
In fact, although some CEXs such as Binance have pledged to provide transparent and verifiable evidence, the audit remains independent.
Another practice was also “multi-fund depositing” performed for the purpose of effectively mitigating the impact of various types of hacks.
So while Binance increased the dollar value of its fund from $735 million to $1 billion, Bitget increased its protection fund from $200 million to $300 million.
Bitget and derivatives trading volume rising after FTX collapse
Considering only the most popular crypto-exchanges among users, an important figure for Bitget concerns the volume of derivatives trading.
FTX was initially known for this very activity, and its collapse was bound to have a negative influence.
Yet despite the fact that the entire derivatives trading sector has experienced a decline in volume since November 2022, in mid-January 2023 instead they seem to have recovered, returning to similar pre-FTX crash levels.
Supporting this recovery has undoubtedly been Bitget’s crypto-exchange, also followed by Bybit and Binance.
Specifically, Bitget stands out for managing to capture additional volume, while Bybit and Binance experienced small declines, but overall managed to maintain most of their volume.
The listing of new tokens such as the BRC-20 standard and the fight against the US SEC
In this early part of the year, there was also another event that characterized CEXs and that is the listing of the BRC-20 token standard.
And indeed, BRC-20 tokens have reached a market capitalization of $1 billion, just 3 months after their launch.
In this regard, the first four exchanges to launch BRC-20 tokens were Gate.io, Bitmart, Digfinex, and Bitget, between 8 and 10 May 2023.
The approach of other crypto-exchanges on these tokens seems to have been more conservative, partly to protect their users from possible scams, but on the other hand also to protect themselves from possible changes in regulations regarding crypto.
Indeed, this early part of 2023 has also been marked by confusion on the part of the US SEC over the definition of cryptocurrencies. In this regard, charges have come in recent weeks against CEXs of the caliber of Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase for offering crypto assets that have been defined by the SEC as unregistered securities.
Important for crypto-exchanges now is to have a European base or in other countries where regulation on crypto is clearer, as the MiCa in Europe seems to be.
Bitget, BGB’s price performance and copy-trading
The report concludes by also discussing CEX’s native tokens, noting that MX, BGB, and OKB have experienced strong price performance since FTX’s collapse.
Specifically, Bitget Token (BGB) is a utility that enhances the user experience for crypto-exchange customers, with lower fees and access to exclusive platform products.
Exactly from New Year’s Eve 2023 to today, BGB has experienced a +300% price pump, rising from $0.18 to the current $0.47.
Turning to copy-trading, on the other hand, it is the platforms of Bitget, ByBit, OKX, and Gate.io that are the top performers in this first half of 2023, according to Nansen’s analysis.
In the specific case of Bitget, copy trading has over 100,000 lead traders and 490,000 copy traders.
