Industry leaders suggest that long-term token evaluation is increasingly tied to revenue, usage, and value capture, rather than CoinMarketCap rankings, as perpetual futures continue to shape short-term price trends.
The shift in investor priorities has been highlighted by executives at Bitwise, Wintermute, and the Arbitrum Foundation, who argue that fundamentals such as fee revenue and user retention are becoming more influential than traditional metrics. Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, dismissed CoinMarketCap rankings as “irrelevant” for assessing long-term token performance, citing a growing emphasis on verifiable on-chain metrics.
Institutional participation in crypto trading has surged, with Wintermute reporting that 72% of its spot OTC flow in the first half of 2026 came from institutional counterparties, up from 59% a year earlier. Jasper De Maere, an OTC trader at Wintermute, noted that while fundamentals set the “floor and shortlist” for token evaluation, market flows still dictate price movements in the short term.
Arbitrum, a blockchain network, has processed over 2.7 billion lifetime transactions, including 500 million in 2026, with 10% of its net protocol revenue returned to the ecosystem. Brendan Ma, head of investment strategy at the Arbitrum Foundation, stressed the importance of metrics that are “costly to produce and verifiable on-chain,” such as fee revenue and user retention.
Despite the focus on fundamentals, uncertainties remain. While tokens with strong revenue generation, such as Robinhood Chain—reportedly generating $40 million annually—have outperformed, it is unclear whether this trend will persist. Zach Pandl of Grayscale suggested that a small number of tokens with robust fundamentals may dominate the next phase of digital assets, though the role of narrative in driving value remains difficult to disentangle from underlying metrics.
Cryptocurrencies fell 36% in the first half of 2026, contrasting with a 23% rise in crypto stocks, highlighting divergences in performance between tokens and listed companies. However, analysts caution that this divergence does not guarantee continued outperformance of stocks over tokens, as market conditions remain volatile.
Written by Oliver Grant
Markets Desk
