There is a large number of exchange cryptocurrencies currently available in the market. We are talking about the virtual currencies released by different crypto exchanges to incentivize the use of their platforms.
However, not all of them are the same. Indeed, some of them could be more useful than others. Furthermore, some coins might even become larger in the future and help those users that hold them. In this guide, we are going to focus on the best exchange currencies and how they can become a great addition to your crypto investment portfolio.
What are the Best Exchange Currencies?
As we mentioned in the introduction, exchange currencies are crypto-tokens released by trading platforms. Some of the most popular exchange currencies include Binance Coin (BNB), Huobi Token (HT), KuCoin Token (KCS), among others.
These tokens have different use cases and functionalities. The goal is to offer users of these virtual currencies different benefits if they hold them, use them or transact them. In the next sections, we get into the details of these digital currencies.
Binance Coin (BNB)
As we can see, Binance Coin has the name of the cryptocurrency exchange that created it. This is indeed something that gets repeated in other virtual currencies. With this token, users can get engaged in different activities, from buying virtual gifts to making credit card payments to donate to charity.
However, the main use cases for the Binance Coin are different. Individuals use BNB primarily to pay for trading fees on the Binance exchange (there are rebates for those that use BNB to pay fees). Moreover, BNB tokens can also be used to pay fees in the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) platform.
Another thing to take into consideration is that BNB coins can also be used to participate in Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs). This is something that became very popular in recent years as it lets users get access to some of the most profitable tokens released to the crypto market.
Binance Coin is, by far, the largest cryptocurrency exchange digital asset that has been released to the market. This gives Binance a great advantage in terms of solutions offered and market penetration. Thanks to its position in the market, Binance was able to release a blockchain network called Binance Smart Chain.
Having exposure to different cryptocurrency exchange tokens could be a good idea for those users that want to diversify their crypto holdings. For example, a portion of their portfolio could be split across different exchange cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, this would highly depend on the type of investor and the portfolio and risk they want to build.
Huobi Token (HT)
Huobi Token is another token that lets users engage in different initiatives in the Huobi ecosystem. Let’s not forget that cryptocurrency exchanges are now becoming very popular as an alternative way to engage with blockchain protocols and other types of initiatives in the cryptocurrency market.
The token released by the Huobi Exchange has a wide range of use cases. Users can enjoy discounted fees when trading and using HT, they can also purchase new currencies such as tokens released through Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) and they can also vote on different decisions about the future of the platform.
As we can see, there are different initiatives and functionalities that are similar to what Binance Coin is doing. Let’s not forget that BNB and HT are the most popular exchange currencies in the market right now.
This cryptocurrency has been operating in the market for several years now following Binance’s decision to launch its own token. However, there has been a slight difference between HT and BNB. The main difference is related to the fact that Huobi has been a step behind Binance in terms of solutions, services and new implementations on the exchange.
Despite that, we have seen that HT has had a very positive year (2021). The digital currency surged past $30 per coin, showing that the virtual currency has had a lot of buying pressure from investors around the world. Nonetheless, the second half of 2021 has been rather bearish for this digital currency.
As reported by CoinGecko, this coin has fallen to $10 per coin and it has stabilized close to that level. It might be a matter of time before we see what could happen with HT in 2022. This will be highly dependent on how the market behaves (altcoins are still dependent on Bitcoin), but also on how crypto exchange tokens behave.
In the past, we have seen that cryptocurrency exchange tokens decoupled from the general crypto market. Should this happen again in the future, we could see coins such as HT or BNB reach higher prices or perform better than other digital currencies.
KuCoin Token (KCS)
KuCoin is another popular cryptocurrency trading platform that is now letting users get access to its own virtual currency called KuCoin Token (KCS). Again, we see that the name is linked to the platform’s own name. This is what exchange cryptocurrencies usually look like, trying to make reference to the platform they represent and where they mostly operate.
Again, as it happens in most exchanges, KCS tokens are used to pay trading fees on this platform, and it is also used to get access to some of the best token sales online. We are talking about KuCoin Spotlight, similar to Binance Launchpad, where users can easily buy tokens from different projects that are released to the market.
There are many other use cases related to KCS, including using the digital currency to make payments and purchase different products and services.
Surprisingly, this cryptocurrency (KuCoin Token), has a similar market capitalization in early 2022 as Huobi Token. Despite this, there are some differences that are worth taking into consideration before making any conclusion.
For example, this digital currency experienced two different bull cycles. The first one took place exactly at the end of 2017 and early 2018. After that, there has been a bear trend for KuCoin, which fell down to $0.35 per coin from $20. The bear market for KCS lasted for several years.
We have seen KCS stay in a very tight range between 2018 and early 2021 when the virtual currency hit new highs. Indeed, the coin experienced a very positive first half of 2021 but an even better second half. Here is the main difference with HT. While HT fell during the last months of 2021, KCS surged even higher. The coin has followed a similar path to Bitcoin and other legacy coins in the cryptocurrency industry. In November 2021, KCS surpassed a price per token of $25. Nowadays, the coin is traded at close to $20.
It would be very interesting to see how KuCoin will behave in the coming year. 2022 started with large volatility for the crypto markets and digital currencies experienced a sharp fall in recent months.
CoinEx Token (CET)
Finally, the Coinex Token is another popular virtual currency that can be used for a wide range of things. That includes paying for fees at the CoinEx exchange and also adding new functionalities to the CoinEx cryptocurrency exchange. Individuals can easily purchase this coin on the official CoinEx exchange and start trading it in minutes.
The exchange is also conducting a large number of initiatives that involve using the CET token. In order to do so, they have to purchase this coin and engage in different projects that are promoted by the exchange itself. With this token, users can also enjoy access to unique features offered by the platform.
In order for CoinEx and for the exchange cryptocurrency CET token to prove they are different, it would be a key thing to see and follow which are going to be the improvements that this platform is expected to take in 2022. But before we get into the details about 2022, we should also mention that CoinEx has also created its own blockchain network.
This blockchain network works in a similar way as the Binance Smart Chain. However, the liquidity is still low and the team has not yet done a large marketing campaign in order to promote the benefits of using this blockchain network. Hence, this is one of the many things that the team behind CoinEx would have to focus on in the coming years if it wants CET to become a highly valuable digital currency.
It is worth taking into consideration that this digital currency has been in the market for several years now. This shows that there is a clear interest in this virtual currency as it spiked in price in recent years. When it was released in late 2018, the crypto market was experiencing community issues and divisions that pushed the market to new lows, this is why CET was traded below $0.005 at that time.
After several years of accumulation, the coin recovered in 2021 and could be ready to continue its upward trend in 2022. As mentioned before, this would be highly related to how the team promotes this project and whether these efforts help to attract new investors and interested users.
Other Exchange Cryptocurrencies in the Market
There are other exchange cryptocurrencies in the cryptocurrency market that are worth taking into consideration and analyzing. Let’s focus on these exchange cryptocurrencies as well.
Crypto.com (CRO)
Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange that has been offering high-quality solutions to users that want to buy and sell digital currencies in the cryptocurrency market. This platform has been operating for several years and it became one of the largest in terms of volume and solutions offered to traders.
CRO is one of the many exchange cryptocurrencies in the world. It is tied to this exchange and it offers a wide range of benefits to users that want to engage in different activities in this cryptocurrency platform. There are many reasons why users would hold and use CRO on a regular basis.
One of the benefits of holding CRO for long-term holders is related to the benefits linked to their Crypto Debit card solution. Depending on the CRO you hold, you will be able to get cashback and other benefits such as airport lounge access, Spotify and Netflix for free and Amazon Prime, among other benefits.
If you are a person that believes in exchange cryptocurrencies and would like to get access to these benefits, then CRO could definitely be a great fit for all those users.
FTX Token (FTT)
FTT is another coin on our list of the top exchange cryptocurrencies. This digital asset is the token used on top of the FTX crypto derivatives exchange. Users that buy and hold FTT tokens get access to lower trading fees (similar to what Binance and CoinEx do), and other perks linked to the FTX trading platform.
Usually, the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform is used by larger traders and professional investors that need to get access to unique derivative solutions that traditional crypto platforms do not offer.
Traders will find that holding FTT would make a large difference in terms of fees, especially if those traders handle large trading volumes on a regular basis. It would be very important to keep an eye open on this coin as it fastly became one of the largest in the cryptocurrency market.
OKEx Utility Token (OKB)
We are finally at the end of our best exchange cryptocurrencies. Last but not least, the OKEx utility token (also known as OKB) is also an alternative digital asset that users can start holding and adding to their portfolios. This token lets users get access to unique features linked to the OKEx exchange, which offers services to clients from all over the world.
As you can see, exchange cryptocurrencies focus on offering additional services to those users that use their platforms. One of the things that traders on the OKEx exchange can do is hold OKB tokens in order to pay for fees when they trade. Moreover, they can also get access to different features such as voting and governance.
OKB is currently among the top 30 largest cryptocurrencies in the world. This shows that there has been a large interest in this digital asset over the last few years. One of the positive things about OKB is that it has been in a bull trend almost since it was released to the market in mid-2018. In this way, we can see that there is a clear interest from users in exchange cryptocurrencies such as this one.