New token listings across major centralized exchanges fell to 351 in Q2 2026, the lowest quarterly figure since Q3 2023 and only the second quarter since 2024 in which delistings outpaced new listings.
The other such quarter, Q2 2025, was driven by a one-time wave of removals rather than a genuine slowdown in listings, which makes the Q2 2026 decline a more meaningful signal of where the listing pipeline stands after the record-setting boom of 2025.
Across the entire period from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026, exchanges almost always listed more tokens than they removed.
There are only two quarters where delistings exceeded new listings: Q2 2025 and Q2 2026.
Source: CryptoRank API
- In Q2 2025, delistings temporarily exceeded listings after Gate carried out a large-scale wave of token removals.
- In Q2 2026 new listings fell for a second consecutive quarter to just 351, which is the lowest quarterly total since Q3 2023.
Which categories were cut first after the 2025 listing boom
2025 set a new record for token listings, with activity peaking in Q3 as Bitcoin reached a new all-time high.
DeFi, Meme, and Blockchain were the most listed categories, reflecting the narratives that dominated the market at the peak of the cycle.
Source: CryptoRank API
As of mid-2026, only 6.8% of those tokens have been delisted, although the outcome differs sharply across categories.
NFT projects recorded the highest delisting rate, even though the category accounted for a relatively small number of listings in 2025.
Among other categories with high listing volumes, GameFi and Meme tokens have experienced the highest delisting rates since the 2025 market peak.
Conclusion
The categories that delisted fastest after the 2025 boom, NFT, GameFi, and Meme, are the same ones that supplied the bulk of new listings during the boom itself, suggesting exchanges are unwinding exposure roughly in proportion to how aggressively they built it up.
Tokenized assets stand out as the exception: despite ranking among the most-listed categories of 2025, none of those listings had been delisted by mid-2026, which points to a different, more durable listing standard being applied to that category.
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