Decentralized exchanges closed the month with a record 24% share of spot crypto trading against centralized exchanges, up from 17% a year ago. The shift comes as centralized platforms cut staff amid a broader spot-volume slowdown, while onchain aggregators and faster cross-chain routing narrow the gap that used to keep traders on centralized venues.
The DEX-to-CEX ratio closed the month at an all-time high of 24%, up from 17% just a year ago. The measure tracks spot exchange volume only, separate from futures and derivatives, capturing trades on decentralized exchange platforms such as Uniswap and Aerodrome.
A large factor behind the rise has been a softening of spot volume at centralized exchanges. Centralized platforms have struggled as trading activity dried up, prompting firms such as Coinbase and Gemini to cut staff while traders increasingly migrated to onchain alternatives.
Total spot exchange volume is on track to set a new 12-month low at $670 million, down from its annual high of $2.23 trillion. The Block said volume has been partly cannibalized by prediction markets, and that the drop is in part caused by diminished interest in crypto as a whole.
Onchain exchange products have also kept improving. Aggregators have built deeper liquidity, and faster cross-chain swap routing has closed most of the execution gap that used to make centralized exchanges the default for anything beyond a simple spot trade.
Source: The Block
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