Nexo is buying Vauld, marking more DeFi consolidation

5

CoinList

Power Score: 36.83

Momentum Score: 58.82 (7)

HQ: San Francisco, CA

CEO: Graham Jenkin

On Power

CoinList wants to have it all. As an exchange, the company saw its user base grow 42-fold in 2021 , albeit with a number of users that’s relatively small compared to the behemoths above it on this list. But the growth and general appetite for new crypto plays among VCs led to CoinList nabbing a $1.5 billion valuation in late 2021. And while the exchange remains a foundational – and still growing – piece of the business , much of the company’s new funding is going to support its token listing business , which investors see as the differentiator for a company that can’t match the biggest players on trading volume, even with the wild swings that crypto has gone through .

On Disruption

While some exchanges have made the move to Main Street, CoinList has doubled down on DeFi and now aims to become the Goldman Sachs of ICOs . The company recently launched a priority queue for token sales, which it views as a way to attract a user base that’s interested in the newest coins and serve as a launchpad for tokens that are looking for a committed audience of buyers. The pSTAKE token, one of CoinList’s more-successful recent launches, saw nearly one million people registered for a token sale that ultimately raised $10 million. And now, the company has leaned into its staking business, offering guidance and prospectuses of what savvy crypto investors can look forward to in the coming months.

Tea Leaves

CoinList is backed by Jack Dorsey , and the company shares Dorsey’s penchant for doing multiple things at once. In addition to the token launching business, CoinList has been digging deeper into crypto lending , specifically lending that allows new miners to begin the process. Also, to keep pace with competitors, the company has recently expanded into NFTs as the next evolution of its staking business. And, as the SEC increases its scrutiny on ICOs , different revenue streams could prove valuable for CoinList if broader regulatory action is eventually taken.

They Said It

“It’s not really that clear to the world at large, to the mainstream, that what’s really happening with Bitcoin, with Ethereum, with this whole bucket of technologies … is really a revolution in software development … Blockchain technology represents a totally new way to build, distribute and run software.” – CEO Graham Jenkin in a December 2021 interview

Return to the Crypto Exchanges Power Index here .