PANAMA CITY, Jan. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In 2025, persistent macro uncertainty and rapidly shifting crypto narratives turned asset selection into a defining pillar of exchange competitiveness. Over the course of the year, HTX, the global leading cryptocurrency exchange, continuously evolved its asset listing and governance framework, balancing broad sector coverage with market preemption and disciplined selection standards.
A Year in Review: Initial Listings Are Not Accidental, but Strategic
According to HTX’s annual report, the exchange added 166 cryptocurrencies throughout 2025. HTX’s asset strategy has consistently focused on projects with strong narrative momentum, community resonance, and long-term value potential. In 2025, this translated into multiple high-impact initial listings, including PIPPIN (95x), DONKEY (69x), M (42x), and TRUMP (10x).
Through partnerships with premium projects and sustained focus on initial listings, HTX repeatedly positioned itself as a market front-runner. Many assets first listed on HTX were later adopted by major exchanges, allowing HTX users to benefit not only from lower entry prices, but also from cross-platform valuation premiums.
1. Macro Narratives: Early Positioning Before Consensus Forms
In 2025, political narratives entered the crypto market at scale for the first time, and HTX led decisively.
In January, HTX became the first exchange globally to list TRUMP, officially announced by Donald Trump himself on Truth Social as the “official memecoin.” The listing ignited market sentiment, with the token reaching a 10x peak gain, making it one of the most traded and widely accepted assets of the year.
In May, HTX again led the market by initially listing USD1, a USD-pegged stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a Trump-family-affiliated project. In September, the project’s governance token WLFI debuted on HTX, becoming the first major exchange to systematically support this emerging political-finance ecosystem.
2. Community Sentiment and Ecosystem Cycle: Capturing the BSC and CZ Narrative
In March, riding the Middle Eastern capital inflows into Binance, HTX listed TST and MUBARAK, both of which doubled shortly after launch. In July, M emerged as one of the strongest BSC assets of the year with a 42x gain. In October, GIGGLE debuted on HTX with a 4x gain. The power of HTX’s initial listings once again speaks for itself.
During the same period, HTX became the first centralized exchange to support Chinese-language memecoins for spot trading, launching “Binance Life”.
3. Forward-Looking Narratives: Early Coverage over AI Agent, DeFAI, and Payment Sectors
HTX positioned itself ahead of the explosion in AI Agent and DeFAI narratives. PIPPIN, listed in January, achieved a 95x peak increase by November, becoming one of the most representative wealth-creation assets in the AI Agent sector.
Furthermore, HTX has taken the lead in listing assets that fully cover the emerging x402 sector. By being the first to list the Base leader project PING and the Solana-based x402 leader PAYAI, HTX witnessed a phased doubling in the assets’ value following Coinbase’s launch of the x402 V2. Consequently, HTX has become the sole trading platform to support the core assets of this specific track.
4. Long-Term Focus on Value: Perpetual DEX Infrastructure
Beyond high-heat narratives, HTX maintained a strategic focus on infrastructure-driven, application-oriented sectors.
In September, as perpetual DEXs gained market traction, HTX moved swiftly to secure early exposure. ASTER, the native token of the benchmark BSC-based Perp DEX, rose 3x on HTX before being listed on Binance Spot within one week. AVNT, a key Base ecosystem project, delivered a 14x return after listing on HTX.
Outlook 2026: Tapping Value-Driven Assets and Doubling Down on Initial Listings
As institutional capital increasingly shapes market structure and the industry matures, HTX will further reinforce its strategy of value reversion and early discovery of high-potential assets. Going forward, HTX will prioritize assets with verifiable revenue streams, regulatory clarity, and sustainable business models. Conversely, high-FDV, low-circulation VC tokens, as well as purely sentiment-driven memecoins without real use cases, will face the strictest listing standards in HTX’s history, ensuring the utmost protection for users’ assets.
Shifting decisively from traffic-driven listings to value-driven selection, HTX will anchor its strategy around three core criteria: real revenue backing, strong compliance foundations, and sustainable models. Based on these principles, HTX will focus on four high-conviction sectors: RWA and tokenized real-world assets; prediction markets; revenue-verifiable perpetual DEXs and derivatives infrastructure; and mobile-first PayFi solutions and super DApps.
HTX, highlighting longtermism, is building a secure, transparent, and self-sustaining asset ecosystem, positioning itself as a reliable global platform for value discovery.
About HTX
Founded in 2013, HTX (formerly Huobi) has evolved from a virtual asset exchange into a comprehensive ecosystem of blockchain businesses that span digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investments, incubation, and other businesses.
As a world-leading gateway to Web3, HTX harbors global capabilities that enable it to provide users with safe and reliable services. Adhering to the growth strategy of “Global Expansion, Thriving Ecosystem, Wealth Effect, Security & Compliance,” HTX is dedicated to providing quality services and values to virtual asset enthusiasts worldwide.
To learn more about HTX, please visit https://www.htx.com/ or HTX Square , and follow HTX on X, Telegram, and Discord.
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