In 2026, centralized exchanges are consistently delisting between 400 and 500 tokens each quarter. This marks a significant decline from the staggering 786 tokens removed in Q2 2025, according to a recent report from CryptoRank. The trend highlights a shift in focus towards quality over quantity as the crypto market stabilizes.
During the second quarter of this year, exchanges added only 351 new tokens, the lowest figure since Q3 2023. This continues a pattern where delistings have outpaced new additions for two consecutive quarters. Notably, the overall landscape of listings has changed considerably, with only 82 tokens introduced across exchanges throughout June 2026.
Gate.io has emerged as the most aggressive player in this cleanup, accounting for a whopping 573 of the total delistings in the first half of 2026. This figure represents nearly 60% of all removals across tracked exchanges. In stark contrast, OKX reported zero delistings in the same period.
The breakdown of the delistings reveals a clear pattern: DeFi tokens led the removals with 207, followed by GameFi at 141 and meme tokens at 98. The decline in meme token listings has been particularly striking, plummeting 79% from 196 new listings in Q4 2024 to just 41 in Q2 2026.
Interestingly, tokenized assets have begun to fill the void, now constituting nearly 20% of new listings in the first half of 2026, a notable rise from under 7% in 2025.
This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice.
