TL; DR
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In February, DEXs were responsible for 4.6% of all crypto trading volume – today this has increased to 7% (representing a 52% increase) – all thanks to improvements in user interface, price and options.
Full story
In the long and winding list of bad takes throughout the history of technology, Steve Ballmer’s response to the launch of the iPhone should be in the top 10.
(And we will die on this hill).
“$500 fully subsidized with a plan? I said this is the most expensive phone in the world!
…and it’s not attractive to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard.”
As we all know now – none of that mattered.
The iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard worked well enough for email, the user interface was second to none, and the app library was world-class.
And now we’re starting to see a similar shift in users between centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs)
For a long time, DEXs really only did two things:
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They were without permission (no need to upload your ID, address and phone number to an unknown server that will survive humanity)
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Self-custody was standard (you had custody of your crypto instead of the exchange)
Beyond that, they were ridiculously difficult to navigate for new users, and their costs weren’t competitive.
But lately that’s starting to change across the board – and DEXs aren’t just competing on ease of use and price, but…
They’re also having their ‘App Store moment’.
CEXs cannot/won’t immediately list the majority of new tokens and memecoins due to regulatory restrictions.
So all the hottest new low-cap coins/tokens that people are making life-changing money from, via X (Twitter)? That all happens on DEXs.
(Just like all app development happened on the iPhone around 2009).
As a result, we are seeing a huge increase in DEX usage.
In February, DEXs accounted for 4.6% of all crypto trading volume. Today it is 7%, which represents an increase of 52%.
And yes, a jump from 4.6% to 7% may not seem like much…
But neither did the iPhone’s move from 3.5% of the smartphone market share to 5.4% (in ’07/’08).
The takeaway:
DEXs are quickly being seen as the better option across the board.