Under-the-Radar Crypto Exchange Challenging Coinbase’s Dominance in US, According to Kaiko Research

Coinbase’s market leadership in the US is under threat, according to crypto market data analytics firm Kaiko Research.

In a new report, Kaiko Research says the US crypto exchange landscape has shifted, with a relatively new entrant, Bullish, managing to garner increased market share, even gaining an advantage over Coinbase on some digital assets.

“When it comes to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading Bullish now has comparable trade volumes to Coinbase. The relatively newer exchange has even eclipsed Coinbase BTC and ETH volumes at times this year.

Bullish, which was launched at the peak of the last bull market in 2021, has seen consistently high trading volumes for BTC and ETH over the past year.”

According to Kaiko Research, Bullish “gained market share after market makers fled Binance.US in June of last year amid regulatory scrutiny.”

Key figures at Bullish include Brendan Blumer, the co-founder of the EOS (EOS) blockchain, who serves as the exchange’s current chairman. Tom Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is the firm’s chief executive.

Kaiko Research also says that a metric associated with the Coinbase is signaling an increase in institutional demand for Bitcoin (BTC).

“The Coinbase premium, defined as the difference between hourly Bitcoin prices on Coinbase’s BTC-USD pair and Binance’s BTC-USDT pair, turned positive in early July after hitting its lowest level since the collapse of Terra in 2022 at the end of June.

This metric is sometimes seen as a gauge of institutional sentiment because institutional trading volume accounts for over 80% of trading activity on Coinbase, while Binance has a strong retail reputation.”

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