Coin columns · Ethereum City (Capital)
Gate (GT): The Platform Token Linking an Exchange and GateChain
Fee discounts, chain fuel and regular burns since 2019
GT (GateToken) is the token launched in 2019 by Gate, formerly Gate.io, a cryptocurrency exchange whose roots go back to 2013. It plays two roles: perks inside the exchange and fuel for GateChain, the blockchain Gate built.
1. Gate and GT
Gate began in 2013 as the exchange Bter, founded by Lin Han, was renamed Gate.io in 2017 and consolidated its brand as Gate in 2025. Like other large exchanges, it runs spot and futures trading, token launch events and a Web3 wallet, and it is known for listing many small and mid-sized coins.
GT first appeared in 2019 as a ‘platform token’ that gives users fee discounts, membership tiers and access to token distributions. It is also the native coin of GateChain, paying that chain’s fees and securing it through proof of stake, in which validators lock up coins to produce blocks.
2. GateChain and burns
GateChain is a public blockchain that put ‘asset safety’ first, promoting features such as vault accounts that let users reverse transactions within a set period if their private key is stolen. Because ordinary blockchain transfers are final, holding withdrawals for a while is meant to limit damage from hacks.
Gate has regularly bought back and burned GT, using exchange revenue among other sources, so the amount in existence has steadily shrunk below the original total. Gate decides and announces the timing and size of each burn, and the burns can be checked on-chain. As with a share buyback, the size of each burn depends on the company’s results and choices.
3. Where GT is used
Most of GT’s uses are inside the Gate exchange. Paying fees in GT earns discounts, and holding or locking GT gives access to token launch events (Startup, Launchpool and others) and other rewards. GT holdings also count toward membership levels.
GT is native to GateChain, but an ERC-20 version on Ethereum also exists, so many wallets and services can handle it. On the Crypto Nation map, GT stands in Ethereum City (the capital), because CoinGecko lists Ethereum as the token’s first chain. The map always places a building by the home chain recorded in the data.
4. Things to know: a token tied to an exchange
Exchange tokens are tied closely to the business and reputation of their issuer. GT’s uses, burns and perks all depend on Gate’s decisions, so the exchange’s health or policy changes affect it directly, and holders do not vote on that policy.
Exchanges face risks such as hacks, regulatory crackdowns and limits on where they may operate, and Gate does not serve some countries, including the United States. GateChain’s ecosystem is small next to the major chains, so how far GT’s use spreads beyond the exchange remains to be seen.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.