From a small Ukrainian exchange to the third-largest exchange token by market cap, WhiteBIT is staging an unexpected comeback.

In June, @WhiteBit announced a three-year strategic partnership agreement with Italian Serie A powerhouse Juventus, causing the $WBT token to surge 30% in a single day and more than quadruple year-to-date, with a market cap second only to BNB and LEO.

Founded in 2018, WhiteBIT initially served the local Ukrainian market. After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the platform quickly cut off the Russian market and moved its headquarters to Lithuania, thereby accelerating its integration into the EU regulatory system.

In the following years, its registered users exceeded 35.00 million, with an annual transaction volume of over $2.7 trillion, and its trading volume once exceeded that of Kraken by four times, making it one of the fastest-growing crypto exchanges in Europe.

Despite the surge in trading volume, WhiteBIT's revenue scale still lags far behind leading platforms. Its pre-tax profit in 2024 was only about 4.00 million euros, far less than that of giants such as Kraken and Coinbase in the same period.

At the same time, WhiteBIT's active donation behavior has also attracted attention. Since the war, it has donated more than $11.00 million to support Ukraine, shaping the image of a "Ukrainian war resistance brand."

However, the issue of WhiteBIT's actual control is quite controversial. The Ukrainian NGO NSU has accused the Shentsev family, a former pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament, of being the suspected major shareholder behind it, and that founder Nosov may just be a "front man." NSU claims that it is suspected of money laundering and tax evasion through a complex shell company structure and cross-border capital flows, and some investigations are still ongoing. It is worth noting that NSU is not an official law enforcement agency, and its views have not yet been reviewed by the court.

In the capital market, WhiteBIT continues to push up the token's market cap through active sports marketing. Since 2022, WhiteBIT has become the official sponsor of several teams, including Barcelona, the Ukrainian national team, Trabzonspor, and Juventus. Esports and global trading competitions have also become important means of brand exposure. Today, the market cap of the $WBT token has surpassed the platform coins corresponding to OKX and Bitget, but WhiteBIT still ranks only 27th in global spot trading volume, with a high market cap premium, raising some questions about liquidity manipulation.

Against the backdrop of the wave of compliance in Europe and the United States and the tightening of stablecoin regulation, WhiteBIT is seeking market recognition through sports sponsorship, European license layout, and the "war brand" narrative. However, whether it can gain a long-term foothold in the fierce CEX landscape still requires more substantial business validation.