Poloniex sees slight bump in market share under new stewardship, research shows

Poloniex, the cryptocurrency exchange formerly helmed by Circle, is seeing signs of relief following its acquisition by new leadership. 

Poloniex, which was among the largest exchanges during the 2017 crypto boom, announced in October that it would spin-out from Circle, 18-months after the Boston-based firm said it had acquired it for $400 million. Since the acquisition, Poloniex has struggled to capture more than a few percentage points of market share; a fate Circle has attributed to a complex regulatory environment in the U.S. 

As part of the spin-out, Poloniex said it would service non-U.S. traders and focus internationally with the help of a $100 million investment from a consortium, which as The Block first reported, included Tron founder Justin Sun. It appears since the spin-out, Poloniex has seen a rebound in its market share, hitting above 2% market share on certain days for the first time in several months. Here's a chart from The Block's Matthew Yamamoto:

Still, it's not exactly clear if the signs of new life can be attributed to the new leadership or its zero-fee structure, as Yamamoto noted. 

"Poloniex has hovered around 1% market share for most of the year," he wrote.

He continues (emphasis added):

"Since its announced spin-out from Circle last month, Poloniex has temporarily reduced its spot trading fees to 0% as part of a promotion to increase traffic. As a result, Poloniex has had its market share increase to nearly 2%, although it's uncertain how sustainable this will be once the promotion ends on December 31."