Crypto Exchanges: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Kraken remained the category leader for valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 at 17.6%, with a lead of 2.0 percentage points over Binance at 15.6% — narrower than at any earlier point in the series. July 2026 was the strongest month across the series, with Kraken peaking at 72.4% and Binance at 54.5%.

This was a month of broad decline across every tracked brand. The largest coverage decrease came from Kraken, which fell from 72.4% in July 2026 to 17.6% in August 2026, a drop of 54.8 percentage points. Binance recorded the next largest decline, moving from 54.5% in July 2026 to 15.6% in August 2026, down 38.9 percentage points. No tracked brand recorded an increase in valid recommendation coverage relative to July 2026.

Across the full series, most brands with May 2026 baseline data recorded significant declines by August 2026. Uniswap and Uphold were the only exceptions, both moving modestly higher than their May baselines and classified as stable within normal month-to-month variation, even though both also pulled back from their July peaks. August 2026 began from 800 prompt-surface observations and produced 681 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in both May 2026 and August 2026. July 2026 also recorded breadth of six.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Crypto Exchanges

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how the August 2026 public denominator was reached, alongside the May 2026 baseline for context.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. July 2026, the intervening month in this series, recorded 800 source prompt-surface observations, 498 unique questions, 778 relevant observations, 22 irrelevant observations, and 703 qualified benchmark observations. Link AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Note: the May 2026 measurement predates the current instrument version and used a different platform and company universe than July and August 2026; it is included here for baseline reference.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the AI answer, whether recommended, compared, or merely mentioned.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a recommendation shortlist, the benchmark's primary metric.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommendation positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the single first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions as a share of all sentiment-bearing mentions.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Note: PayPal and Robinhood were tracked in May 2026 but recorded no valid recommendation coverage in July or August 2026, so they do not appear in the current standings.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Seven brands recorded significant declines in August 2026 relative to July 2026. Binance fell 38.9 points, Crypto.com fell 42.6 points, and Gemini fell 37.4 points in a single month. Uphold and Uniswap declined from their July peaks of 23.5% and 16.4% but remained within normal month-to-month variation of their May baselines.

Largest Decline: Kraken

Kraken declined in each of the three months of the series, but its largest single-month move came in August 2026, when valid recommendation coverage fell from 72.4% in July 2026 to 17.6% in August 2026, down 54.8 percentage points. Presence rate also fell sharply, moving from 98.4% in July 2026 to 27.5% in August 2026, and the rank-one rate dropped from 21.1% in July 2026 to 3.1% in August 2026.

Category Leader: Kraken

Despite the largest single-month decline in the series, Kraken remained the leader for valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 at 17.6%. The gap to the next brand, Binance, was 2.0 percentage points, narrower than at any baseline point but still the top position. Kraken also held the highest top-three rate at 12.0% in August 2026, down from 53.2% in July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The table below shows top-three and rank-one rates for the leading brands.

Kraken and Binance held the top-two positions for both top-three and rank-one placement, with Kraken ahead on both measures in August 2026. Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates, as seen with Crypto.com, whose 14.0% coverage produced only a 0.3% rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In August 2026, all qualified observations fell into the discovery and consideration class. The comparison and pricing and cost classes contained no qualified observations, down from May 2026 when those classes held meaningful counts.

The current public series cannot answer pricing or comparison questions for August 2026 — it measures only the brand recommendation class of discovery.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment, not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. A single-month movement should not yet be treated as a trend.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often brands appear and are recommended across major AI and search surfaces, providing a neutral industry-level view of AI-driven discovery. The index covers six canonical surface families: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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