BNB has secured the top spot, with OKB following closely—could HT be the last chance to get in on platform tokens?
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BNB has secured the top spot, with OKB following closely—could HT be the last chance to get in on platform tokens?
The higher the热度, the greater the controversy.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsOn February 16, Xu Mingxing, founder of OKX, publicly announced on Twitter that the new OKBChain will launch in Q1 and will be completely independent from the existing OKXChain. Following this news, OKX's platform token OKB continued to rise, reaching a record high of $52.8 that day. Suddenly, exchange platform tokens returned to the spotlight within the crypto community, becoming a hot topic of discussion.
The higher the热度, the greater the controversy. One crypto enthusiast joked: "I'm envious of those who bought OKB; Binance’s big brother BNB is also quite stable. Poor me, holding HT (Hamster Token)." While humorous, this remark accurately reflects the current state of the three major exchange tokens. Judging by secondary market trading data, HT's performance has indeed been underwhelming. But could this actually be the best opportunity to enter the platform token market?
Recently, Huobi released the results of its third PrimeVote listing campaign: over 150 projects applied, with 25 shortlisted for community voting. Ultimately, more than 21.99 million HT were locked in voting, and the popular project TOMI secured first place with 17,963,115 HT votes, earning priority listing rights and launching on Huobi shortly thereafter.
This news appears to signal a potential “positive” development, yet HT remains lukewarm in trading activity—even slightly declining. So what exactly is Huobi trying to achieve with its voting-based listing mechanism? And where is HT headed? Only time will tell how effective these initiatives truly are.
Huobi’s Voting-Based Listing Empowers HT, Showing Initial Impact on Secondary Market
Since November last year, Huobi has conducted three rounds of its voting-based listing campaigns. Historical data shows significantly different user returns across each phase:
The first campaign coincided with last year's World Cup. Leveraging timely marketing and massive fan engagement, it quickly gained widespread attention—over 10,000 users participated within just five days. The two football-related tokens selected, $POR and $ARG, demonstrated strong post-listing momentum, both surging over 50% from opening to peak prices. Clearly, the initial campaign prioritized market visibility and broad user participation, with benefits primarily tied to listed projects.
For the second campaign, publicly available data indicates steady and gradual improvement across metrics. Of particular note is the annualized yield from voting. According to estimates from participants at the time, HT holders who successfully backed the winning project earned approximately 2.5% annualized return. This suggests the voting listing initiative gradually shifted focus—from project-centric gains back to direct benefits for HT holders—aimed at increasing HT holding quantities.
Looking at the third round, the results may not appear significantly improved at first glance. However, HT surged 17% in the past 24 hours alone. At the time of writing, it was priced at $6.0066. Undeniably, Huobi has steadily shifted its focus—from market exposure and project-driven gains—to placing greater emphasis on empowering HT itself. As the voting-based listing deepens HT empowerment, community influence steadily grows, and ecosystem dividends become richer. With strengthened community consensus and tangible benefits, the campaign’s impact on the secondary market is beginning to emerge.
Nonetheless, the volatile secondary market cannot be lifted entirely by a single campaign. It is hoped that as the HT ecosystem matures, the voting-based listing initiative can inject fresh vitality into the market and usher in HT’s next strong upward cycle. According to Huobi’s latest announcement, the fourth PrimeVote listing campaign officially opened for applications on February 14 at 00:00 UTC, continuing to recruit high-quality global projects for community voting and listing.
* For more details or to apply:
https://www.huobi.com/support/zh-cn/detail/64930854247809
Voting-Based Listings + New Concept Zone: A Dual-Pronged Listing Strategy
If voting-based listings represent a slow, strategic “tai chi” approach—decentralizing power to the community, focusing on HT empowerment and long-term ecosystem dividends—then Huobi has also adopted an agile “wing chun” strategy, swiftly capitalizing on emerging trends. By enforcing strict listing standards, Huobi selects top projects from trending sectors and lists them in dedicated “New Concept” zones, enabling users to seize early-mover advantages quickly.
At the start of this year, OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the internet by storm, igniting investor interest in AIGC (AI-generated content) stocks worldwide. Crypto projects related to AI have similarly surged. To help users capture maximum value during this golden window, Huobi launched an AI-focused New Concept listing zone and promptly listed several popular tokens in this category.
Currently, Huobi’s spot AI New Concept zone features multiple trending tokens such as The Graph ($GRT), iExec ($RLC), and Fetch.ai Network ($FET), all of which have delivered substantial gains previously.
Notably, Huobi has also introduced a listing section named “Dominica.” Previously reported, Huobi partnered with TRON and DMC Labs to launch the Dominica National Coin (DMC) and digital identity (DID), with HT serving as the sole eligible asset for subscription. As this collaboration unfolds, tokens within this segment are expected to experience significant growth. As the core asset of this initiative, HT holds even greater promise.
Huobi’s dual-pronged listing strategy is well-structured and progressively layered. Centered on “empowering HT,” it delegates authority to the community through voting-based listings, leveraging collective wisdom to identify high-potential projects and creating a virtuous cycle among projects, the exchange, and HT holders. This drives real-world utility for HT and fuels the secondary market via a dual engine of “consensus + dividends.” Meanwhile, the New Concept listing zone supplements this with timely inclusion of trending high-quality projects—using “slow punches for long-term growth, fast punches to seize opportunities”—climbing step by step toward greater heights. The road ahead is long and winding. May we meet again at the summit—with HT rising once more!
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