The Hexagon Obsession in Crypto Branding

Open a blockchain conference exhibitor map and count the hexagons. They are everywhere — in logos, booth graphics, slide decks, website backgrounds, and token icons. If cryptocurrency had an unofficial shape, it would be the hexagon. This preference is not accidental, but it has become so widespread that it now creates as many problems as it solves.

The Frequency Gap

A 2023 analysis by the design publication Brand New examined geometric shapes in the logos of the top 200 cryptocurrency projects compared to the top 200 companies in the S&P 500. Hexagons appeared in cryptocurrency logos at roughly 5.4 times the rate found in traditional financial services branding. Circles remain the most common shape in both categories, but the hexagon's overrepresentation in crypto is striking.

In the S&P 500, hexagons are rare. A few chemical companies and engineering firms use them — a nod to molecular structures and industrial precision — but the corporate world mostly favors circles, squares, and abstract swooshes. In cryptocurrency, hexagons appear not just in individual logos but in ecosystem graphics, network diagrams, UI elements, and marketing illustrations. The shape has become a visual synonym for blockchain itself.

Nature's Most Efficient Shape

Part of the hexagon's appeal is its mathematical elegance. The regular hexagon — six equal sides, six 120-degree angles — is the most efficient tessellation in two-dimensional space. This means that hexagons can tile a flat surface with no gaps and no overlaps, using less total perimeter than any other regular polygon that achieves the same coverage.

This property is not just a mathematical curiosity. It is a fundamental principle of natural engineering. Honeybees build their combs from hexagonal cells because the shape maximizes storage volume while minimizing the wax needed for construction. Basalt columns at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland form hexagonal cross-sections because the shape minimizes stress during cooling. Snowflakes crystallize into hexagonal patterns because of the bonding angles of water molecules.

For cryptocurrency projects, this natural efficiency carries metaphorical weight. Blockchain technology is, at its core, an engineering solution to trust — an efficient way to achieve consensus without centralized authority. A hexagon in a logo implicitly claims the same kind of structural elegance: this project is not just functional, it is optimally designed.

The Technology Association

Hexagons carry strong associations with technology and science, independent of their natural properties.

Carbon atoms in graphene — the material that has been called the strongest substance ever measured — arrange themselves in a hexagonal lattice. Semiconductor wafers, the foundations of computer chips, are often mapped using hexagonal grid systems. Network topology diagrams frequently use hexagons to represent nodes because the shape connects to six neighbors simultaneously, visualizing high-connectivity networks.

These associations make hexagons feel inherently "techy" in a way that circles and squares do not. A circle is universal — it belongs to every domain from art to athletics. A square is structural — it belongs to architecture and geometry. A hexagon belongs to science, materials engineering, and computer networks. For an industry that wants to be perceived as cutting-edge technology, the hexagon is a natural visual shorthand.

The Blockchain Connection

The most direct reason for hexagons in cryptocurrency branding is the visual metaphor they create for blockchain networks. A tessellation of hexagons — a honeycomb grid — is a compelling diagram of a decentralized network. Each hexagon is a node. The shared edges are connections between nodes. The infinite repeatability of the pattern represents scalability.

This metaphor works because hexagonal tessellations have properties that mirror blockchain networks:

• No center: A hexagonal grid has no single central cell. Every cell is topologically equivalent to every other cell. This mirrors the decentralized nature of blockchain networks, where no single node has more authority than any other.
• Maximum connectivity: Each hexagon touches six neighbors, more than the four neighbors of a square grid. This suggests high connectivity and redundancy — if one connection fails, multiple alternative paths remain.
• Scalability: The grid can extend infinitely in all directions without changing its fundamental structure. Adding more hexagons does not require reorganizing existing ones. This mirrors the way blockchain networks can add nodes without restructuring the existing network.

These properties make hexagonal grids genuinely useful as network diagrams, and many blockchain projects use them in technical documentation and whitepaper illustrations. The jump from technical diagram to logo is short.

Prominent Examples

Chainlink's logo is perhaps the most famous hexagon in cryptocurrency. The mark is an isometric hexagon (actually a cube projection) that represents the bridging function of the oracle network. The hexagonal shape was chosen specifically for its associations with connectivity and structure.

Polygon, formerly Matic Network, uses a stylized geometric mark that incorporates hexagonal proportions in its angular construction. The infinity-like shape nods toward the endless scalability of Polygon's layer-2 solution, but its angular geometry echoes the hexagonal vocabulary of the broader crypto design language.

Beyond individual logos, hexagons pervade crypto ecosystem graphics. Ethereum's developer documentation uses hexagonal node diagrams. Blockchain conference stage designs frequently feature honeycomb patterns. Crypto exchange interfaces use hexagonal grid layouts for market overviews. The shape is not just a logo element — it is an environmental texture for the entire industry.

Smaller projects are even more likely to reach for the hexagon. Browse the logos of projects in the 200-to-500 market cap range, and hexagons appear with almost alarming frequency. For projects without the budget or inclination to invest in distinctive brand design, the hexagon is a default choice that immediately signals "blockchain" without requiring further explanation.

Hexagon Fatigue

The ubiquity of hexagons in crypto branding has generated a backlash among designers and brand-conscious projects. The term "hexagon fatigue" has appeared in crypto design communities, describing the weariness that sets in when every project in a portfolio tracker uses some variation of the same six-sided shape.

The problem is differentiation. When dozens of projects use hexagons, the shape stops functioning as a distinctive brand element and starts functioning as a category marker. A hexagonal logo tells you the project is related to blockchain but tells you nothing about what makes it different from every other hexagonal blockchain project.

This is the same dynamic that affects the color blue in crypto branding (blue being the most common primary color in the space). When everyone makes the same choice, nobody stands out. The hexagon, like blue, has become the safe default — the choice you make when you want to look like you belong in the crypto space without taking any visual risks.

The Deliberate Alternatives

Some of the most recognizable cryptocurrency brands have deliberately avoided hexagons, and their distinctiveness proves the point.

Bitcoin's circle is the most obvious example. The logo is a simple letter inside a round shape — no hexagons, no tessellations, no molecular geometry. It does not try to look like a blockchain diagram. It tries to look like a coin, and that simplicity is why it remains the most recognizable mark in the industry.

Solana's wordmark and S-shaped gradient avoid geometric shapes entirely, relying on color and typography for identity. Avalanche's triangle is a pointed, directional shape that feels like the opposite of a hexagon — singular rather than tessellating, dynamic rather than stable. Aave's ghost mascot deliberately rejects geometric abstraction in favor of character and personality.

These brands stand out precisely because they refused the hexagonal default. They communicate their technological nature through other means — color, typography, motion, metaphor — rather than reaching for the most obvious shape in the crypto designer's toolkit.

The Deeper Question

The hexagon obsession raises a question that extends beyond logo design: does the cryptocurrency industry have a visual culture, or does it have a visual monoculture?

A healthy visual culture would include diverse approaches to representing blockchain technology — some geometric, some organic, some abstract, some literal. Projects would choose shapes based on their specific technology, values, and audience rather than defaulting to the industry standard.

A monoculture, by contrast, would feature most projects converging on the same small set of visual choices — blue, hexagonal, geometric, abstract — creating an ecosystem that looks homogeneous from the outside. This homogeneity might signal cohesion, but it also signals a lack of creative confidence and a herd mentality that is at odds with an industry that claims to value decentralization and independent thinking.

The hexagon is a beautiful shape. It is mathematically elegant, naturally efficient, and metaphorically rich. But beauty shared too widely becomes invisible. The cryptocurrency industry's hexagon obsession is not a problem of taste — it is a problem of imagination. The most interesting blockchain projects are the ones that find a different shape for their ideas.