Binance has been consistently listing DEX tokens lately, leading the community to speculate about which DEX tokens will be listed next. Below are the top 10 DEX tokens with the potential for listing
Criteria for Selecting DEX Tokens
On December 13, 2024, Binance announced the listing of the VELO token from Velodrome, a DEX on Optimism. Shortly before that, Binance also listed the CETUS token from Cetus Protocol, another DEX on the Sui network. Consequently, the community began speculating that Binance would continue listing DEX tokens.
Both VELO and CETUS belong to the two largest DEXs in their respective ecosystems. Accordingly, some investors have identified the guiding principle for predicting the next DEX token listing as follows: the DEX should have a well-functioning operating model, stable transaction volume, and a suitable TVL.
Besides these main criteria, the project team, the ecosystem, and the market capitalization before listing are also important factors in assessing the potential of DEX tokens. For example, before listing on Binance, the CETUS token had a market capitalization of $53 million, while the VELO token was at $113 million
Below are the top 10 DEX tokens not yet listed on Binance:
- EKUBO token of Ekubo on the Starknet network.
- AERO token of Aerodrome on the Base network.
- MOE token of Merchant Moe on the Mantle network.
- GRAIL token of Camelot on the Arbitrum network.
- THL token of Thala on the Aptos network.
- MET token of Meteora on the Solana network.
- THRUST token of Thruster on the Blast network.
- LSD token of Liquidswap on the Aptos network.
- STON token of STON.fi on The Open Network.
- REF token of Ref Finance on the Near network.
Top Unlisted DEX Tokens on Binance
Ekubo (EKUBO)
According to DefiLlama, towards the end of 2024, Starknet became one of the fastest-growing ecosystems. Trading volume increased from $10 million to $40 million per day. The TVL of bridges also reached $500 million, recording a growth rate of 150%.
With these stable growth metrics, Ekubo has gradually gained community attention. It is a leading DEX in the Starknet ecosystem, with a TVL of $70 million and a trading volume reaching $30 million.
The team behind Ekubo consists of experienced members in the crypto market. A notable example is Moody Salem, founder of Ekubo, who was also the first engineer at the leading DEX Uniswap.
Currently, the EKUBO token has been 100% unlocked and trades with a market capitalization of $30-40 million
Aerodrome (AERO)
Alongside Starknet, Base is also among the fastest-growing Layer 2 ecosystems in 2024, with Aerodrome as its leading DEX. This exchange boasts a daily trading volume of up to $700 million and a TVL exceeding $1.7 billion.
Some predict that the next DEX token to be listed on Binance will be Aerodrome’s AERO token. This is largely due to the project sharing origins, source code, and even tokenomics with Velodrome, a DEX whose VELO token was recently listed on Binance.
However, despite its strong advantages similar to Velodrome, Aerodrome also faces several challenges. One point of concern is the high inflation rate of the AERO token. The platform’s ve(3,3) mechanism makes the AERO token issuance proportional to trading volume.
Therefore, with a daily trading volume 10 times higher than Velodrome, the inflation rate of AERO will naturally be much higher than that of the VELO token.
Currently, the AERO token has a relatively high market capitalization of $1.4 billion, with a circulating supply of approximately 709 million AERO.
Merchant Moe (MOE)
Merchant Moe is the leading DEX in the Mantle ecosystem, with a daily trading volume of around $20 million and a TVL reaching $170 million. Similar to Aerodrome, Merchant Moe is also related to a leading Avalanche protocol with a token already listed on Binance, namely Trader Joe (JOE).
With a renowned team and a stable operating model, many believe that Merchant Moe’s token will be the next DEX token to be listed on Binance.
Currently, the MOE token is trading with a market capitalization of $14 million. Compared to its counterpart, the JOE token currently has a market capitalization 10 times larger than MOE, at $198 million.
Camelot (GRAIL)
Camelot is the leading DEX platform in the Arbitrum ecosystem since its inception. Camelot’s operating model focuses on traders, mitigating drawbacks like high trading fees and slippage common in many AMMs. As the number of users increases and revenue stabilizes, the Camelot team uses the revenue to buy back GRAIL tokens. This creates upward price pressure for the GRAIL token.
Although the Arbitrum ecosystem’s appeal has shown signs of cooling down compared to competitors like Base and Starknet, the network still boasts superior TVL and trading volume, exceeding $3.4 billion in TVL and reaching $712 million in daily trading volume.
Currently, Arbitrum’s GRAIL token has a market capitalization of $32 million.
Thala (THL)
When it comes to networks using the Move language, the community often mentions and compares two familiar names: Aptos and Sui. The Sui ecosystem has made remarkable progress recently, especially with the CETUS token being listed on Binance. Consequently, many predict that Aptos will not be far behind, and the THL token of the Thala DEX could potentially be listed on Binance.
According to DefiLlama, Thala currently leads the DEX sector in the Aptos ecosystem, with a daily trading volume of up to $20 million and a TVL at $222 million. Compared to its counterpart on the other side, Cetus Protocol, this protocol also currently has a TVL of around $250 million, but its daily trading volume is much higher, fluctuating around $230 million.
Currently, the THL token has a market capitalization of $35 million.
Learn more: What is Thala Labs? Detailed Information about THL Coin.
Meteora (MET)
The Solana ecosystem has seen the emergence of prominent DEXs such as Raydium and Jupiter. Both of these projects are listed on Binance and have recorded positive growth. As a result, the community continues to predict that Binance will list the next large-cap DEX token on Solana, which is Meteora, with a TVL of over $400 million.
Compared to Raydium and Jupiter, Meteora receives positive reviews for its liquidity provision model design, especially the DLMM (Dynamic Liquidity Market Maker) mechanism. Thanks to DLMM, liquidity providers (LPs) can flexibly adjust parameters, while traders also benefit from low slippage fees.
Meteora’s current token is MER, but the project has planned to use a new token completely separate from MER. Details of the new tokenomics have not yet been released. However, in terms of trading volume, Meteora has recorded good growth momentum, with a peak monthly volume of over $600 million.
Thruster (THRUST)
In March 2024, the Thruster DEX on the Blast network was first launched to the community. According to DeFiLlama, after more than 10 months of operation, Thruster currently leads the DEX sector on Blast with a TVL of over $140 million.
Furthermore, Thruster also accounts for a large proportion of transaction processing in the Blast ecosystem, with the following data:
- Accounts for 74% of the total liquidity in the ecosystem
- Processes 69% of all swap orders
- Accounts for 83% of trading volume
Thruster has also successfully raised $7.5 million in funding. The funding round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from other funds such as OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, and ParaFi Capital.
Currently, only 7% of the THRUST token has been unlocked, with an FDV of around $54 million and a market cap of around $7 million.
Liquidswap (LSD)
The Liquidswap DEX is one of the three core products of the Pontem Web3 studio. Liquidswap is also the first AMM protocol in the Aptos ecosystem, boasting a TVL of around $60 million.
Compared to other protocols, Liquidswap’s liquidity provision model focuses solely on the concentrated liquidity mechanism (CLMM), allowing users to customize price ranges within pools. Another distinctive feature is that LPs can provide liquidity to various token pairs, including meme coins. As a result, the community expects that when the meme coin wave shifts to the Aptos ecosystem, Liquidswap will become the leading DEX in terms of trading volume and liquidity.
Liquidswap has not conducted a separate fundraising round. However, Pontem has raised $6 million with participation from funds such as Pantera Capital, the Aptos Foundation, and Wintermute.
Currently, the LSD token has not undergone a Token Generation Event (TGE), and detailed tokenomics information has not been released.
Learn more: What is Liquidswap? Overview of the First AMM Protocol on Aptos.
STON.fi (STON)
The STON.fi AMM DEX, built on The Open Network (TON), is the protocol with the highest TVL in the ecosystem, exceeding $150 million. According to DeFiLlama, while the TVL of the entire ecosystem is around $300 million, the STON.fi DEX accounts for nearly 50%.
Based on data from CryptoQuant, the number of trading addresses on STON.fi has tripled since April, a figure that indicates the rapid growth of this exchange. Currently, Ston.fi handles about 90% of all DEX transactions on the TON network, far surpassing its two competitors, Megaton Finance and DeDust.
STON.fi’s success is partly due to its user-friendly interface, low transaction fees, and ability to integrate with other services on the TON network. Compared to DEXs like Uniswap or PancakeSwap, STON.fi still has much room to grow, as the market capitalization of the STON token is only around $7 million.
Furthermore, in STON.fi’s tokenomics model, the STON token is designed with a deflationary mechanism. This means that the total token supply is fixed and will gradually decrease over time through a burn mechanism. This approach increases the sustainability and value of the platform’s economic model.
Ref Finance (REF)
The Ref Finance AMM DEX on the Near network, forked from Uniswap V2, currently leads the Near ecosystem in the DEX sector with a TVL of around $70 million. According to Defillama, Near’s TVL has grown impressively by 375% in 2024, from $80 million to $300 million. This figure partly demonstrates Near’s attractiveness over the past year.
However, no DEX in this ecosystem has been listed on Binance yet. This is also partly why the community expects Ref Finance to be the first. Data on Ref Finance shows that:
- Total trading volume on the Near network reached nearly $200 million, of which 92% occurred on Ref Finance.
- Annual revenue exceeds $300,000.
Furthermore, when comparing the Market Cap/TVL ratio of some leading DEXs:
- Solana/Jupiter: $66 billion / $1 billion
- Ethereum/Uniswap: $286 billion / $5 billion
- Near Protocol/Ref Finance: $5 billion / $70 million
The Market Cap/TVL ratio of Ref Finance is still quite low compared to its competitors. This suggests that Ref Finance may be undervalued compared to its actual potential and has opportunities for future growth.
Read more: What is Ref Finance? Detailed Information about the REF Token.
