Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are increasing their relevance in the cryptocurrency trading landscape, approaching centralized platforms (CEX) in volume. In this context, Finbold selected three DEX projects to target 2025.
On January 7, the DEX/CEX volume ratio reached an all-time high, with more than 20% of all crypto trading taking place on decentralized exchanges. This data comes from InTheBlokshared on X by Hayden Adams, inventor of the Uniswap protocol, a leading decentralized exchange.
Uniswap (UNI) as the leading DEX for the EVM ecosystem
Among the top projects to watch for 2025, Uniswap (UNI) stands out as the leading decentralized exchange for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem.
According to DefiLlamaUniswap is also the largest DEX in Total Value Locked (TVL) of all ecosystems, with $6.11 billion. The TVL is up 4% over the past seven days despite the recent market crash, indicating a healthy ecosystem.
In the last 24 hours, Uniswap has seen a trading volume of $3.275 billion and collected over $5 million in fees.
Raydium as a trading heart on Solana
Secondly, there is Raydium (RAY), the trading heart that gives life to the Solana (SOL) decentralized finance ecosystem, specifically memecoins. Solana has been in the spotlight in recent years thanks to the rise of memecoins, which created demand and capital.
Raydium is the most used decentralized exchange by Solana traders who exchange between the ecosystem’s various utility tokens, but also speculate on the active memecoin market, winning and losing huge sums of money.
That leaves Solana’s leading DEX with $2.29 billion in TVL, up 8.66% over the past seven days. Raydium generated over $2.79 billion in volume and $7.4 million in fees in the last 24 hours.
UNI and RAY price analysis
At the time of writing, UNI is trading at $12.59 and RAY at $4.87, both experiencing losses. In the last seven days, UNI fell 6.16% and RAY fell 1.74%, with the biggest losses occurring in the last 24 hours.
While some traders see the market crash as a threat, losing more than $630 million in liquidations, others believe it is an opportunity.
With solid use cases and a growing DEX/CEX volume ratio, these decentralized exchanges could have strong long-term fundamentals, allowing them to shine in 2025 if demand continues to grow.
Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency industry is a dynamic environment, constantly changing and innovating. Uniswap and Raydium will have to continue to improve to meet the competition, which will only get better with time and shape the future of the market.
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