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Decentralized Exchange Volume Rose 103% in September to Record $23.6B Even as Growth Consolidated
Strong trading incentives have “cannibalized volume” from other DEXs, said one analyst.
By Zack Voell
Updated Mar 6, 2023, 2:49 p.m. Published Oct 1, 2020, 9:50 p.m.
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September volume on decentralized exchanges recorded its third consecutive month of doubling the trading volume from the previous month after a 160% rise in August, according to Dune Analytics.
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- Aggregate trading volume on decentralized exchanges reached $23.6 billion in September from $11.6 billion in August, benefiting from continued speculative interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and assets.
- Leading decentralized exchange platform Uniswap reported a 128% volume increase in September, reaching $15.3 billion after topping its August record 10 days into the month, as CoinDesk previously reported.
- Growth also benefited from new trading platforms like FTX’s Serum launching in September. Less than two weeks after its launch, Serum reported nearly $50 million in volume, according to data aggregator CoinGecko.
- Even though aggregate volume set a new record, only a few decentralized exchanges reported individual growth. Trading volume on only three platforms – Curve, Uniswap, and 0x – grew by more than 50% since August.
- Successful token distributions by Curve and Uniswap are a main driver of sustained growth, Jack Purdy, decentralized finance analyst at Messari, told CoinDesk.
- Their tokens have “undeniably benefitted the protocols” by significantly increasing the Total Value Locked (TVL) on each platform, which “directly correlates to lower slippage and a better trading experience," Purdy explained.
- In September, previously popular platform Balancer saw its volume drop 2% while the formerly fast-growing Kyber platform grew by less than 0.5 percent.
- The uniquely strong incentives of Uniswap and Curve have “cannibalized volume from some of the other decentralized exchanges that don't have the same market-making incentives,” said Purdy.
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