Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced that it is finally ready to launch the Binance Decentralized Exchange (DEX) in April 2019 after months of testing.

Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao personally broke the news while speaking at the Deconomy conference in Seoul, South Korea. On February 20, 2019, Binance launched the testnet of its DEX platform and is now expected to usher in the mainnet this month.

Binance DEX Is Coming in April 2019

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume has been building a decentralized version of its exchange using blockchain technology. However, no further details have been announced by Binance through its official channels yet. Founder Changpeng Zhao said that the team is prepared for a smooth launch sometime before the end of the month.

Since the launch of the DEX testnet in February 2019, users have reportedly been able to sign up, create wallets, and exchange tokens. Binance plans to bring several key features to the platform in the coming months, including support for a wide range of software and hardware wallets, integration with Binance’s Trust wallet, and other technical upgrades.

This will be the second major launch prepared by Binance for the month of April 2019. Responding to a user’s inquiry on social media platform Twitter, Zhao had stated that Binance Launchpad would also launch its next phase in early April 2019.

The Rise of Decentralized Exchanges

Attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges have raised concerns over the security of investor assets in their custody. The recent problems at Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX, for instance, have shown how the fall of central authority could cripple operations and lead to massive losses.

Decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges are widely believed to be better, safer, and faster alternatives as compared to traditional, centralized offerings. This is because DEX platforms ensure that the user has full control over their wallet’s private keys instead of the exchange itself, which almost eliminates the possibility of a widespread security breach. Additionally, decentralized exchanges also help in mitigating issues such as price manipulation, wash trading and the reporting of inaccurate trading volume.

That said, decentralized exchange Bancor lost $13.5 million worth of investors’ digital assets to an attack in July 2018. This caused the crypto community to question how a supposedly decentralized exchange was able to be compromised.

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee commented that an exchange should not be called decentralized if it loses or freezes customer funds. Similarly, exchanges in custody of investor tokens should be appropriately labeled as centralized.

Have you used a decentralized crypto exchange yet? Let us know in the comments below.