Do NOT write off Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in 2020, analyst says.


The past year has seen massive growth in decentralized finance (DeFi) as lending dApps, derivatives, payment channels and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) gained magnificent USD and crypto holdings. Despite not hitting all-time highs during 2019, DEXes have witnessed meticulous growth hitting $2.3 billion USD in trade volume through the year. Top decentralized exchanges such as IDEX, Kyber and Uniswap have been at the center stage of the rise with 2020 providing an opportunity for the field to finally blow off.

Ryan Selkis on Twitter urged the crypto community not to be so fast in dismissing DEXes given the massive growth through 2019. He wrote,

“Anyone who’s written off DEX is misguided. DEX volumes in 2019 were greater than BTC’s on chain transaction volumes in 2012. (It’s just as early for DEX.)”

IDAX leads DEXes in 2019

According to Dune Analytics, an Ethereum data website, the total volume traded on DEX platforms through 2019 stood at $2, 366,288,147 USD. The total weekly volume stands at $25.9 million USD, as at time of writing, representing a sharp 23.3% drop week on week growth.

IDAX exchange leads the field with over $850 million traded on the platform last year. Oasis DEX came a distant second trading ~$500million USD on the platform through 2019. Kyber, Uniswap and 0x closed out the top five positions with a total of $380 M, $370M and $228 M respectively.


What is even more appealing to DEXes is the month on month growth seen in 2019 (minus about three months following Bitcoin’s fall from yearly highs of $13,800 USD to $7,000 USD region). Kyber Protocol in particular has been a revelation through the year reaching a monthly high of $57.6 million USD in trading volume in July. Looking at the chart below, a clear growth pattern is easily visible signaling an increasing interest in DEXes from traditional centralized exchanges.

While the DEXes still trade only a fraction of the volume on centralized exchanges such as Binance and Bitfinex, major developments in user experience and ease of trading sets the path to greater growth through 2020.

Improved User experience caused volume to soar in @UniswapExchange and @KyberNetwork in 2019.Still at $2.3 billion for Dex volume in 2019,they’re still processing a fraction of centralized exchanges volume.Expect more rapid growth in 2020 #Ethereum #DeFihttps://t.co/nqOMbKuWOB — Crypto Nerd Jnr (@cryptowave2018) December 28, 2019

Images from Dune Analytics

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