"Crypto Rebranding: A New Start or a Fresh Coat of Paint?"

In the fast-paced world of cryptocurrency, token rebranding has emerged as a strategic move for projects aiming to refresh their market positioning, create buzz, and reset their price charts. This practice, while not new, has gained traction in recent years, with several high-profile examples such as Merit Circle (MC) becoming BEAM, BitDAO (BIT) becoming Mantle (MNT), Matic becoming Polygon (POL), MakerDAO (MKR) becoming Sky (SKY), and Fantom (FTM) becoming Sonic (S).

Token rebranding serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it provides a way out from stale market positioning when the meta changes. Secondly, it offers a clear focal point for promotional efforts to create buzz and generate interest. Lastly, it resets the price chart, wiping away the project's historical performance and allowing it to start anew.

However, it is essential to note that many token migrations are still ongoing, meaning the old chart lives on under the previous ticker, separate from the new one. This allows investors to track the project's performance over time, even after a rebrand. Moreover, it is possible to stitch together the old chart with the new one to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the project's performance.

Take, for instance, the case of MC/BEAM. An investor who only checked the post-rebrand BEAM chart would see that BEAM is still up more than 70% on its initial price from October 2023. However, when considering the coin's entire trade history, it becomes apparent that the coin is down over 70%. Similarly, MNT, the rebranded version of BIT, is technically up 56% since its launch on Bybit in 2023. Still, it has lost 50% of its value since BIT was first launched two years earlier.

The opposite is true for MATIC/POL. POL has shed 56% of its value since it started its token migration in late 2023. However, its combined total lifetime returns are nearly 5,000%. This is similar to the performance of FTM/S, where the Fantom team has dedicated itself to a newly launched chain called Sonic, with FTM tokens upgradeable to S as of January. Meanwhile, MKR/SKY is still positive by around half over its entire combined history,