Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies is at an unprecedented high following the launch of Spot Bitcoin ETFs on Wall Street in January 2024. With the total cumulative flow for the exchange-traded funds surpassing $17 billion in the seven months since gaining SEC approval, it’s clear that crypto is as popular as ever, even without the blistering bull runs investors have become accustomed to in the past. 

While much of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is speculative, the added utility offered by exchange tokens, the cryptocurrencies that are native to exchanges, are well-positioned to operate as blue-chip investments that transcend the industry’s more volatile reputation. 

Future Blue Chips?

The term ‘blue chip’ has become commonplace on Wall Street to describe a stock that’s largely acknowledged to be a strong performer over time. 

The analogy gets its name from poker, where blue chips generally signify the most valuable at the table. 

In cryptocurrency, it can be difficult to identify coins as a ‘blue chip’ opportunity for investors because markets are considerably more volatile than traditional finance, making many cryptocurrencies too risky to drive consistent, long-term returns for investors. 

However, crypto exchange tokens offer a level of functionality that’s simple and meaningful enough to drive the long-term value that characterizes blue chip investment opportunities. 

As the primary gateway for both institutions and retail investors alike, cryptocurrency exchanges play an imperative role in facilitating the growth of the crypto landscape. This makes exchanges essential nodes within the wider infrastructure surrounding cryptocurrency, and this makes their native tokens valuable assets in becoming the ecosystem’s leading blue chip coins.

As an example of the blue chip potential of crypto exchange tokens, it’s worth looking to the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. 

In the first half of 2024, Binance brought its total volume of users to over 200 million. The exchange’s status as the largest platform has had a profound impact on Binance’s native token, BNB. Over the past seven years, BNB reached a peak value of $717.48, representing a six-figure rate of growth. Designed to facilitate the trading processes within the exchange, BNB was used by platform users to pay fees for trading at an advantageous rate while also enjoying offers and discounts on the exchange.

Despite Bitcoin’s popularity, the cryptocurrency has little to almost no utility. It’s for this reason that the use cases of exchange tokens like BNB have significant blue chip potential. 

However, Binance’s position as a market-leading exchange has meant that BNB’s period of exponential growth has already taken place in the build-up to achieving a market capitalization of over $80 billion. 

As a result, the token has become the fourth largest within the entire crypto ecosystem by market cap, which may cause some investors to feel as though they’ve missed the boat in growing their portfolio alongside the popular cryptocurrency. As Binance’s competitors are actively increasing their market share, three blue chip tokens have the potential to hit growth similar to BNB.

High Potential Exchange Blue Chips

Although BNB has already experienced exponential growth, this doesn’t mean that investors have missed out on the opportunity to add a high-potential cryptocurrency exchange blue chip token to their portfolio before it goes parabolic. 

The cryptocurrency landscape is full of promising exchanges that feature their utility tokens with blue chip potential for investors to explore. Some of the ecosystem’s best alternatives to BNB include: 

Bitget Token (BGB)

According to Forbes, Bitget Token (BGB) entered the list of top-performing tokens in 2024. The token has consistently remained in the green, demonstrating resilience against market downturns and reaching an all-time high of $1.39 on June 1. BGB is equipped with a total circulating supply of two billion and a market cap of $1,3 billion at the time of writing that makes the coin a far stronger prospect for growth. 

With a value of around $1, BGB’s far greater supply makes emulating BNB’s market peak of $717.48 a challenge, but its excellent functionality and consistent growth make the exchange token a clear blue chip candidate in the future. 

BGB’s future prospects are set to be bolstered by Bitget’s growth into a formidable cryptocurrency exchange that has the potential to rival the likes of Binance as the exchange stands as the fastest-growing exchange this year. Bitget has already outpaced Binance in user growth, adding 20 million users since March alone. The exchange has also acquired a controlling stake in Bitget Wallet, a leading crypto wallet valued at $300 million, which has seen its user base double to 30 million in just one year, driven by a surge in on-chain trading. With plans to open new offices, obtain fresh licenses, and the launch of a bank card on the horizon, we could see Bitget Token rally to new highs. 

While BGB is a top utility token that empowers traders to gain a 20% discount on spot fees, the token can also be used as proof of rights and interests for users on a variety of levels and as a social token for the interaction between copy traders and different customers. 

Crucially, BGB was recognized by Forbes as one of the top-10 best performing cryptocurrencies in the first half of 2024, outperforming the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum along with 69% of the top 100 crypto assets by market cap. 

OKB (OKB)

The native token of OKX, OKB is another example of an exchange token that could become a strong blue chip option for investors. 

With a market capitalization of over $2.25 billion, OKB is comfortably among the industry’s top 50 crypto assets by size, and a relatively low maximum supply of 300 million tokens means that the coin’s value has every chance of surpassing its old all-time high value of $73.80 recorded in March 2024. 

As for the token itself, OKB has excellent functionality as a utility token for the OKX exchange, and traders can save as much as 40% on fees by holding the cryptocurrency. It’s also possible to earn a passive income through the OKX Earn function on the exchange. 

Additionally, OKB is a coin with plenty of utility throughout the decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape and can be spent accessing financial, security, and utility DApps. 

KuCoin (KCS)

As a smaller cap token of less than $1 billion, KuCoin (KCS) is one of the more fascinating prospects for investors as a prospective blue chip alternative to BNB. 

With a maximum supply of 142,971,705, KCS is one of the scarcest tokens on this list, and while the coin sits more than 70% below its all-time high of $28.83 recorded in December 2021, it could be liable to rally faster should KuCoin mount a challenge to become one of the world’s more frequently used cryptocurrency exchanges. 

KCS represents a more speculative bet for investors. Despite growing to 30 million users, the exchange has faced allegations over a perceived failure to follow necessary laws to ensure the security and stability of digital banking infrastructures. 

Like other utility-rich exchange tokens, KCS allows holders access to exclusive benefits and fee reductions for trading, whether it involves spot or staking costs. 

Kucard users can also enjoy 1.2% cashback when redeeming KCS, while those holding more than 100 KCS can gain 1.7% cashback. 

Building a Blue Chip Portfolio

Finding blue chip cryptocurrencies can be extremely difficult in a landscape known for its volatility. Despite this, exchange tokens provide a level of utility combined with scarcity in a way that can ensure consistent growth over time, similarly to much loved stocks within traditional finance infrastructures. 

While spot ETFs are opening the door to more institutional interest in crypto, exchanges remain the primary means for investors to fully embrace the industry, and as the gateway to the crypto ecosystem, exchange tokens are set to have a higher level of functionality no matter what direction the wider industry takes in the future. 

Although BNB has already rallied to become one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies today, investors can still access high-potential exchange tokens that have the same utility functionality for exchanges with plenty of growth potential. 

The world of crypto may be hard to predict, but for investors wanting to build their exposure to the rich cryptocurrency landscape, adding the right exchange tokens can offer a wide range of long-term benefits as the industry continues its growth towards mainstream adoption.