Binance, one of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency exchange, is about to making progress on launching a decentralized exchange (DEX) according to its CEO Changpeng Zhao, who goes by the nickname ‘CZ’ in the crypto community.

Yesterday, Zhao tweeted that Binance’s work team was aiming to launch a public beta version of the new DEX by the end of this year or in early 2019. According to Zhao, the Binance Coin (BNB) would be the native currency of the DEX platform which may enables users to take full control of their funds with noninterference from the exchange.

Just had a productive meeting for #Binance #DEX (decentralized exchange), where $BNB will be native gas, and the exchange don't control user funds. Aiming for a public beta end of the year/early next year. Yes, we work on Saturdays, non stop! — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 29, 2018

Zhao has demonstrated his interest in DEX for many times. “I think decentralized exchanges are the future,” he said more than once in certain interviews.

The recent regulatory crackdown on 1Broker exposes the weakness of the centralized exchanges as they are more susceptible to external risks, like regulation and manipulation. In this case, the secure, efficient, no frills attached decentralized exchanges (DEXs) may be a solution.

Zhao indicated that, the crypto industry should be prepared for the DEXs. He claimed Binance’s determination in building a DEX as this initiative may contribute a lot to the industry although it would take few years to venture into.

“ I don’t know if it will be a year, two years, three years or five years, but we have to be ready for it,” said Zhao in an recent interview with CNBC Crypto Broker’s Ran Neuner.

Even though Zhao said Binance is still at its early stage of building a DEX, as detailed by NewsBTC, it appears that Binance has pushed far ahead of the calendar. On August 9,2018, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao dropped an update regarding the startup’s DEX on Twitter.

A first (rough, pre-alpha) demo of the Binance Decentralized Exchange (DEX), showing issuing, listing and trading of tokens. All cli based, no GUI yet. A small step for #BinanceChain, a big step for #binance. https://t.co/2aXkR0gclP — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) August 9, 2018

The so-called “casual early pre-alpha demo” demonstrated the basis of issuing, listing and trading crypto assets on the DEX.

The CEO also stated that Binance’s current trading platform and the new DEX would coexist for some time and the DEX would not replace the original platform immediately.