Cryptocurrency Exchanges are Still Listing Shitcoins
Much like this image, the listing practices of some crypto exchanges don’t make sense.
After over 2 years of downward market movements, ICOs have nearly died out. It has been months since a high profile ICO launched, and that certainly feels like a good thing.
In fact, there are fewer ICOs being launched than ever. The obvious downward trend in 2018 should have hinted towards the collapse of ICOs in 2019.
So why are exchanges still listing monumental shitcoins?
Recently, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed in an attempt to find new topics to write about, when it popped up. “BitMart Lists TreasureSL”.
I’m intrigued… *click*
This is the page that came up.
Ok, this isn’t the worst announcement. It’s similar to most other listing announcements from exchanges. The difference comes from the “About TSL” link that you might have barely noticed, tucked away under the announcement banner.
Let’s take a gander at this page.
Umm… Excuse me?
That’s it!?
The only content on this page is one link to an explorer and 4 nearly useless bullet points. There isn’t even a link to the TSL website, Github repository, or social media accounts.
So, I took to Google.
Searching…
Like most people, I started out by Googling “TreasureSL (TSL)”. This returned basically nothing. A few pages with no information about the asset.
From this initial search, I still wasn’t able to find the TSL website, Github, social media accounts, or any other information that would suggest what this cryptocurrency is about.
So, I took to our trusty friend, CoinMarketCap.
Nope, still nothing…
At this point, I was ready to throw in the towel, but I wanted to take one more stab at finding the website. In a last-ditch effort, I wandered over to CoinGecko.
They had it listed! Rejoice, for CoinGecko has rekindled our hope. We found the evasive website!
Let’s just go ahead and check the link… *click*
Damn it.
It’s baffling to see exchanges still listing shitcoins. The example provided above is not an isolated instance. No, it’s an epidemic.
On BitMart alone there are 21 markets that CoinMarketCap can’t verify. Basically, BitMart listed something like “XYZ” and CoinMarketCap was like, “Yea, I don’t think that’s a real thing.”
Not only are they shitcoins, but the developers of these shitcoins aren’t even trying anymore.
Who launches a cryptocurrency without a website, Github, whitepaper, or anything else? Even more importantly, who thought it was a good idea to list that cryptocurrency on an exchange?
It’s clear this shitcoin doesn’t have a fan base, no advertising, no social media, and likely no utility. So, please stop listing these assets, it’s a bad look for the crypto market.
What should exchanges be doing instead of listing shitcoins?
We would rather see exchanges focusing on things that matter. Like improving security, doubling down on trading features, or simplifying the on-boarding process for customers.
There is so much value left for exchanges to capture that it is a waste of time to even consider messing around with shitcoins.
Regarding cryptocurrency listings, there are two obvious things exchanges should be doing.
Stop Listing Shitcoins
Since the bull run in 2017, fewer and fewer people have become interested in shitcoins. Investors have been burned SO MANY TIMES. It’s time exchanges become more critical towards what assets are listed.
I would be hard-pressed to believe listing a shitcoin gives an exchange any substantial benefits for attracting new customers. With such low liquidity, most of these assets are trading less than $1,000 per day in volume. That amounts to about $2-$4 in trading fees every day.
The effort to list and maintain a shitcoin is far more than $2, so it’s not helping the business grow.
Delist Shitcoins
We shouldn’t have to request the obvious, but when a project is dead, it should be delisted from the exchange. I’m not even asking for deep project reviews. I mean when the token team literally closes down their website and announces they are done.
Some of those assets include:
Some of these projects closed over a year ago. There is no acceptable reason dead projects should continue to be listed for over a year.
Although all of these examples pick on BitMart, they are not the only exchange with this problem. HitBTC, Bibox, KuCoin, OKEx, Huobi Global, and others are all fueling this shitcoin epidemic.
What can you do?
You might think there is nothing you can do to help clean up this mess. You would be wrong.
Exchanges cave into social pressure regularly.
You may recall the slew of exchanges that delisted BSV. The social pressure to participate in the festivities of delisting BSV caused many exchanges to join the movement and delist the asset.
We need more individuals calling out dead projects on Twitter. We need more startups refusing to list obvious shitcoins in their apps and services. Everyone can play a role in making the crypto market a safe place for investors.
Tweet us your shitcoins to @ShrimpyApp. We want to hear which cryptos you think need to go.
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