Once regarded by investors as the key to wealth, new coins listed on Binance are now evolving into a dangerous gamble.
There was a time when the "Binance listing effect" meant miraculous wealth with dozens of times returns, but now it has become a "harvest signal" that terrifies investors. In mid-October, the Yield Basis (YB) and Enso (ENSO) tokens launched on the Binance Alpha platform both fell into the embarrassing situation of "plummeting immediately after listing."
ENSO dropped over 30% shortly after its launch, while YB, despite the halo of being backed by the founder of Curve, still could not escape the fate of opening high and closing low. This reveals that the effect of new coins listed on Binance is undergoing a fundamental change.
01 Overview of New Coins: Underlying Risks Amidst the Binance Listing Boom
In mid-October, Binance launched a series of new tokens through its Binance Alpha platform and main site, most of which were highly anticipated by the market before their listing.
Summary of New Coin Listing Information
Token Name
Listing Platform
Trading Start Time (UTC)
Yei Finance (CLO)
Binance Alpha
October 14, 11:00
ENSO
Binance Alpha
October 14
RECALL
Binance Alpha
October 15, 12:00
WBAI
Binance Alpha
October 15
LAB
Binance Alpha
Subscription period from October 14, 8:00-10:00
Yield Basis (YB)
Binance Main Site
October 15, 11:00
Source: Aicoin整理
It is worth noting that Binance Alpha is a platform focused on early-stage projects, and the assets listed there are explicitly marked as having high risk and volatility. According to research by IOSG Ventures, the median 14-day FDV of projects listed on Binance Alpha is -7.6%, but the average peak increase reaches 220%, indicating severe performance divergence among projects on the platform, with a few projects experiencing extreme surges while most offer limited returns.
02 Reasons for Price Drops: Multiple Risks Behind the Diminishing Halo
Prevalence of High FDV and Low Circulation Models
● In 2025, nearly 90% of new projects adopted the "high FDV and low circulation" model, with YB's fully diluted valuation reaching $1.4 billion, while ENSO achieved a fully diluted valuation of $125 million through a CoinList auction.
● This model allows private investors to distribute a large amount of tokens before the listing, leaving public market investors with tokens that have already been marked up through multiple layers of premiums.
Imbalance in Token Economic Structure
● ENSO's token economic model exhibits typical characteristics of VC-backed projects, with investors holding 31.3%, the team holding 25%, and insiders controlling a total of 56.3% of the token supply.
● This imbalanced distribution structure casts a shadow over long-term price performance, as investors worry that once the lock-up period ends, they will face large-scale sell-offs from insiders.
Market Environment and Liquidity Crisis
● The current crypto market is facing a severe liquidity crisis, with new capital inflows decreasing, and the entire cryptocurrency market is in a state of stock game. Without new capital injection, new coins can no longer replicate the past phenomenon of widespread surges.
● The establishment of the Binance Alpha platform itself is seen as a strategy for the exchange to respond to market changes—by listing a large number of high-risk, high-volatility early assets to attract traders seeking high returns.
03 Project Comparison: In-Depth Analysis of YB and ENSO Fundamentals
YB: The Halo of Curve Founder Cannot Conceal Selling Pressure Dilemma
● YB, as a new project by Curve founder Michael Egorov, indeed has a strong fundamental basis. It aims to solve the most challenging impermanent loss problem in the DeFi space through innovative automated leverage AMM technology.
● YB has received a $60 million crvUSD credit line approved by Curve DAO to launch a Bitcoin liquidity pool. In terms of token economics, YB has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 30% allocated for liquidity staking incentives, 25% for the team, 12.4% for investors, and 7.4% for Curve licensing.
● YB saw a 7x oversubscription on the Legion platform, but early participants already have 7x paper profits, leading to a strong willingness to take profits after the opening.
ENSO: Disconnection Between Technical Vision and Token Economics
● ENSO, as a DeFi strategy middleware, attempts to become a "no-code, composable" cross-chain investment strategy platform. Its technical concept is quite innovative, aiming to simplify complex multi-protocol and multi-chain DeFi operations into standardized strategies.
● ENSO has raised over $5 million in funding and collected $5 million through a CoinList auction. However, in its token economic model, investors hold 31.305%, and the team holds 25%.
● ENSO's maximum supply is 127.34 million tokens, adopting an initial annual inflation of 8% that decreases monthly to 0.35%. Although this high-inflation model decreases monthly, it will continue to dilute holder value if trading volume does not grow in tandem.
04 Changes in Listing Effects: From Wealth Creation Myth to Risk Reconstruction
The emergence of Binance Alpha actually represents a fundamental shift in the logic of listing on exchanges. It has opened a specially designed "pressure zone" next to Binance's "compliance tower," isolating the legal risks of the main site while re-circling the speculative funds that are about to escape back into its ecosystem.
Research shows that the median 14-day FDV of projects listed on various Binance platforms is negative, indicating that most projects peak in valuation immediately after listing.
Specifically:
● Binance Alpha: Average around +77%, median -7.6%
● Binance IDO: Median -16.3%
● Binance Spot: Median -29.7%
The "listing effect" is transforming from a past signal of surging prices to a warning of price peaks.
05 Investment Strategy Shift: Survival Strategies in a New Environment
In the face of the disappearance of the listing effect and changes in the logic of new listings on Binance, investors' strategies also need to adjust accordingly, shifting from blindly participating in new listings to value discovery based on fundamentals.
Identifying High-Quality Projects
Investors should pay more attention to the actual fundamentals of projects, including: whether they address real market pain points (such as YB's focus on impermanent loss), the team's background and execution capability (such as YB being backed by the founder of Curve), and whether the token economic model is reasonable (avoiding projects with excessively high insider holdings).
Timing Investments
For new coin investments, waiting is often wiser than rushing in. Data shows that new coins on Binance generally decline in the first week, and investors can patiently wait for a more reasonable entry point after listing.
For projects like ENSO with a clear unlock schedule, consideration for building positions can be made after the release of insider token unlock pressure.
Understanding Platform Differences and Risks
Assets on the Binance Alpha platform carry extremely high risks and volatility, and these tokens currently cannot be withdrawn from the Binance exchange. Investors must understand the characteristics of different platforms—Alpha is suitable for early projects to test the waters, while Spot prefers large-cap projects.
The market is relearning an old investment truth: Listing on exchanges does not create value; it is merely an entry point for liquidity, not a guarantee of project fundamentals. As the "listing effect" fades, the market will ultimately return to the essence of value investing—only projects that truly create value and have a fair distribution mechanism can stand out in fierce market competition.
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