A comparison of the top decentralized exchanges in 2020

It has never been more important to measure the success of decentralized finance dapps running on the protocols tracked by DappRadar. While volatility is expected in the cryptocurrency markets. The first quarter of 2020 has witnessed some of the most significant events in human history.

It is in that context that we present an overview of the decentralized finance (DEX) ecosystem in Q1 2020.

By the end of Q1 2020, decentralized finance dapps across the top 3 protocols accounted for almost 7000 daily active unique wallets

An increase in active wallets of almost 1000 (15%) compared to 2019 Q4

Ethereum is the dominant protocol. Holding 64% of the total daily active unique wallet activity

Daily active unique wallets on Ethereum grew 48% YoY

The top 3 Ethereum decentralized finance products Kyber, Uniswap, and IDEX account for 51% of total decentralized finance activity in Q1 2020

Waves is the winner amongst the 5 smaller protocols holding 56% of total decentralized finance wallet activity.

Uniswap & Kyber showed positive trading volume trends in Q1 2020 with 264% and 104% respective growth in March 2020 compared to January 2020

IDEX showed more volatility over Q1. In February 2020 value increased by 50%, in March value dropped 17%

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Top 3 blockchains

When analyzing the daily active unique wallet data from a 2019-2020 YoY perspective. We observe Ethereum in first place, TRON in second and EOS falling further behind in Q1 2020.

Ethereum

Decentralized exchange dapps daily activity grew YoY by 48% when comparing Q4 2019 with Q1 2020. Ethereum is also upholding a leadership position in the DEX ecosystem showing growth of 41% to 64% respectively. Looking at these figures is becomes clearer why Ethereum DEX dapps are receiving the most media and public attention.

TRON

TRON DEX dapps daily activity decreased YoY with a 64% drop. This was mostly due to TronTrade. Activity peaked in the first quarter of 2019 reaching 2000-3500 DAUs on certain days in March 2019.

In 2020 Q1 TronTrade now shows a stable DAU count of around 900 daily active wallets. In this context, it will be fascinating to see if TRONs Zethyr Exchange and Zethyr Finance products will bridge the gap between the top 2 protocols and show TRONs further maturing as a blockchain.

EOS

EOS DEX dapps daily activity is declining when compared to TRON and ETH. Daily activity on EOS YoY has decreased by 33%. When comparing Q4 2019 with Q1 2020 EOS has observed an enormous drop of 21% and 13% respectively.

Best of the rest

Five other protocols were considered: IOST, VeChain, NEO, Waves & WAX. Waves protocol is the clear winner, holding 56% of total DEX wallet activity within the other 5 protocols analyzed.

OpenData

For the first time, DappRadar will draw from OpenData in its analysis. Currently, early access beta OpenData will allow users to explore and visualize blockchain data. Specifically, DeFi and DEX data, including TVL, trading volume and unique trader counts.

The interface will allow us to continue to deliver deep level insight into the dapp ecosystem and allow users to query, visualize, and explore data. Then easily save, share, and distribute it to the world with stunning visualizations.

Top 3 decentralized finance dapps by trader count

When it comes to decentralized exchanges there are clear leaders operating on ETH – Uniswap, Kyber, and IDEX.

Looking at the growth of the trader count between Kyber, IDEX, and Uniswap. Kyber is in first position with an increase in average trade count by the end of March 2020 of 18%. However, if we compare to the results of mid-March after the crash, we observe a decrease of 4% on average.

Uniswap sits in second position with a drop in trade count of 17% by the end of March. Meanwhile, when looking with regards to the crash in mid-March we see a drop of 13% on average.

IDEX stands third with a drop of 23% by the end of March 2020. The drops observed for Kyber and Uniswap due to COVID-19 also affected IDEX with a decrease of 20% in mid-March observed.

Trading value of the top 3 decentralized finance dapps

Uniswap showed positive trading volume growth of 264% in March 2020 compared to January 2020.

Kyber showed positive trading volumes within Q1. With growth of 104% in March 2020 compared to January 2020.

IDEX trading volumes showed some volatility over Q1. In February 2020 value increased by 50%, in March 2020 value dropped 17%.

As we look back at Q1 we see that the decentralized finance ecosystem is still maturing. It is also clear that Ethereum is way out ahead when it comes to value created and daily activity.

With other protocols such as TRON and Waves rising to halt Ethereum’s dominance of the DEX ecosystem we are excited to see how the next six months unfold.