Uniswap Topped Coinbase’s Trading Volume in March During USDC Depeg, U.S. Crackdown

Uniwap UNI$3.6208 topped Coinbase (COIN) in terms of market share last month as traders turned to decentralized exchanges (DEX) amid the U.S. regulatory clampdown and a banking crisis that caused key stablecoins to depeg from $1.

Uniswap handled more than $70 billion of trading in March, exceeding centralized exchange (CEX) Coinbase’s $49.2 billion, according to CCData (the company formerly known as CryptoCompare.) The surge coincided with overall DEX volume surging to a 10-month high.

Read more: Crypto’s Decentralized Exchanges Had Most Volume in 10 Months Amid U.S. Crackdown in March

Coinbase was told in March the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was pursuing an enforcement action.

Also, Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse drove two key parts of decentralized finance (DeFi) – Circle Internet Financial’s USD coin (USDC) and MakerDAO’s DAI – down from their customary price of $1, prompting a flurry of DEX trading as scared investors shifted money around. Amid that crisis, Uniswap saw $13.3 billion of volume on March 11, whereas Coinbase had $1.7 billion.

CCData noted in an email to CoinDesk that Uniswap has previously seen big spikes like this during times of turmoil, only to see things quiet down – suggesting Uniswap may not maintain its lead over Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange.