Decentralized exchanges are growing faster than centralized ones, but Binance continues to register 171 million visitors in a month

According to data from Chainalysis, the number of DEX doubled between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2021, while the amount of CEX remained more or less the same.

A new report from Chainalysis shows that the number of decentralized exchanges (DEX) is growing faster than all other types of cryptocurrency exchanges. But data from Similar Web shows that centralized exchanges are far from unpopular, with Binance registering 171 million visitors in October.

Chainalysis released a report on cryptocurrency exchanges on November 11 and provided an analysis breaking down exchanges based on their business models, including DEX, CEX, over-the-counter (OTC) brokers, derivatives platforms, and high-risk exchanges with minimal know-how requirements. to your customer (KYC).

According to the data, the number of DEX between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2021 increased more than 100% to stand at approximately 205 in June of this year. By comparison, the number of CEXs temporarily increased from around 100 to 120, before dropping back down to the region of 100 within that period.

The number of OTC brokers also increased significantly, gaining around 50% to hit the 150 mark in Q3 2021. The number of derivatives exchanges increased slightly to around 125 in 2019, and since So it has basically remained in that region, while high-risk exchanges burst in mid-2020 to around 150, before falling sharply below 100 in the third quarter of 2021.

"Of course, the number of active exchanges in each category is not the only way to judge the health of those categories. At the end of the day, cryptocurrency companies do not just survive, they need to increase their user base and the volume of transactions to prosper, " says the report.

However, across all categories, the number of small exchanges has decreased, suggesting that the exchange market can no longer host niche players. The lesson? Exchanges need to reach a mass audience, or a small audience of large-scale traders, to continue trading.

Chainalysis noted that the growing popularity of DEXs in the past two years has coincided with the "explosive growth of the DeFi category in general." The firm highlighted that the total value received by DEXs grew from around USD 10 billion in July 2020 to a peak of USD 368 billion in May 2021, marking an increase of approximately 3579%.

Binance is still king

Despite the fact that in recent months it has faced intense scrutiny and pressure from regulators around the world, the data shows that the centralized exchange development of Binance continues to be above its competitors.

According to Similar Web data compiled by Finbold, Binance had the highest web traffic of all exchanges in October, with a total of 171 million visitors. The figure represents a 12% increase compared to the previous month. Coinbase ranks second with 91 million visitors last month, and had a 31% increase in traffic compared to the previous month.

In particular, the third most popular exchange is PancakeSwap, a DEX that operates on the development of Binance Smart Chain , with 25 million visitors and a 14% month-over-month increase. While Bybit is in fourth place with 24 million (8% less than in September).

Data from Coingecko shows that Binance is far ahead of its competitors in terms of volume, with the platform moving more than $ 33.3 billion in the last 24 hours. This figure is more than five times higher than the total for Coinbase, which is in second place, and which generated a volume of $ 6.6 billion in the same period.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that former Binance executives estimated that the company could be worth as much as $ 300 billion if it went public . It is unclear when or how Binance will go public, considering that it does not have a formal headquarters. However, CEO Changpeng Zhao said in September that Binance's US subsidiary was considering an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024.