A new report indicates decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are flourishing more than crypto exchanges (CEXs). But the same data shows some CEXs are far from being unpopular, adding Binance, for instance, saw 171 million people visit its site last month alone.
The report on crypto exchanges, courtesy of Chainalysis, broke down crypto exchanges by their business models, including decentralized exchanges, centralized exchanges over-the-counter (OTC) brokers, derivative platforms, and high-risk exchanges with minimal know-your-customer requirements — to come up with its current findings.
According to the report’s data, decentralized exchanges between 2019 and 2021 increased to at least 205 (which is more than 100%) as of June this year.
In contrast, centralized exchanges temporarily increased from about 100 to 120 before nosediving to 100 within the same timeframe.
A sharp increase recorded in active CEXs
Over-the-counter brokers are not left behind either, recording a sharp increase to about 150 (which is 50%) in the third quarter of 2021.
Derivatives exchanges soared to new levels of approximately 125 last year alone and have held the same number ever since.
High-risk exchanges significantly increased in the middle of 2020 to about 150, before plummeting below 100 in the third quarter of 2021.
According to the report, the number of active CEXs in each category doesn’t necessarily depict the health of those categories… “After all, cryptocurrency businesses aren’t trying to survive — they need to grow their user bases and transaction volumes to thrive”.
Chainalysis highlighted in the report that the massive popularity of decentralized exchanges in the last two years has (strangely) “coincided with the explosive growth of decentralized finance category in general”.
Binance still tops the food chain
Despite Binance facing intense scrutiny and pushback from global financial regulators, data from the report shows the centralized exchange still tops the food chain.
According to recent data compiled by Finbold, the popular centralized exchange saw a total of 171 million visitors to its platform in October. This number represents a sharp 12% increase compared to the other months before.
The second cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, saw 91 million visitors to its platform in October, a 31% sharp increase in traffic compared to other months.
This third and most popular crypto exchange is PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange (operating on Binance Smart Chain) saw at least 25 million visitors to its platform — a 14% monthly increase.
And sitting at fourth position is Bybit with at least 25 million visitors down from 8% three months ago.
More data (from Coingecko) shows Binance sits at the top of the table, in terms of volume, with the crypto exchange seeing more than $33.3 billion of Bitcoin trading in the last 24 hours.
