Centralized exchanges (CEX) still dominate most of the liquidity of crypto assets. However, the balance of power is starting to shift as decentralized exchanges (DEX) have doubled their spot market share over the last two years and expanded their presence in the perpetual futures market by up to five times.
This data shows that on-chain trading is no longer just a niche alternative. Conversely, DEX is now emerging as a structural competitor to centralized exchanges.
DEXs Growing Stronger: Hyperliquid, Uniswap, and PancakeSwap Break into the Top 10 Exchanges
According to the 2026 CEX & DEX Trading Activity Report from CoinGecko, CEX processed nearly US$80 trillion in spot trading and perpetual futures volume just in 2025. This underscores their dominance, yet DEX adoption has also surged rapidly.
The DEX spot market share increased from 6.9% in January 2024 to 13.6% in January 2026. In absolute terms, the monthly spot volume of DEX more than doubled, rising from US$95.86 billion to US$231.29 billion.
At its peak in June 2025, DEX recorded a 24.5% share of spot trading activity. In the report, this achievement was partly driven by Binance Alpha 2.0, which directed trading through PancakeSwap.
Although the spike was temporary, DEX's share has consistently remained above 10% since early 2025. This indicates that the demand for on-chain execution is becoming more stable and not declining.
However, centralized platforms still act as the main liquidity buffer, with monthly spot volumes remaining above US$1 trillion throughout the period.
Perpetuals: Breakout Moment for Decentralized Exchange with Hyperliquid at the Peak
In the perpetual futures market, there was a growth of 75% over two years, from US$4.14 trillion in January 2024 to US$7.24 trillion in January 2026. In this growth, DEX recorded the most significant achievements.
DEX Perp volume surged eightfold from US$81.7 billion to US$739.5 billion.
Market share increased from 2.0% to 10.2%.
In other words, one out of every ten dollars traded in crypto perpetual now flows through decentralized infrastructure.
The key driver is the breakout performance of Hyperliquid, which is the only DEX to make it into the top 10 perpetual exchanges.
In the six months between August 2025 and January 2026, Hyperliquid recorded a total trading volume of US$1.59 trillion. This achievement places it alongside long-established centralized giants.
In spot trading, Uniswap and PancakeSwap also managed to enter the top 10 exchanges by volume, each surpassing US$0.5 trillion in total trading volume over six months.
A few years ago, the idea that many DEX could compete with the largest exchanges in the industry might have seemed impossible.
Token Listings Reveal Structural Gaps
This report also highlights the stark differences in token coverage. On centralized platforms, MEXC and Gate.io lead listings with 1,281 and 1,273 tokens respectively over 13 months. On average, they add nearly 100 new listings each month.
However, that number only represents 0.01% of the total 24.04 million tokens created during that period.
On the other hand, Uniswap has already listed 13.69 million tokens, thanks to the permissionless nature of the decentralized exchange infrastructure.
This highlights a stark difference, where CEX focuses on filtering scarcity while DEX promotes abundance.
Security Losses of US$2.4 Billion
However, this rapid growth certainly poses risks. Cryptocurrency exchanges suffered losses of over US$2.4 billion due to hacks in just over a year.
Centralized platforms incurred over US$2 billion in losses, of which 71% stemmed from a single hacking incident at Bybit in February 2025.
DEX experienced smaller total losses, with the largest case reaching US$223 million. This is typically related to smart contract vulnerabilities and oracle manipulation.
The main point of this CoinGecko report is that although CEX remains dominant, decentralized competitors are starting to close the gap in both spot and derivatives markets.
With the DEX market share above 10% and the emergence of high-quality institutional on-chain platforms, the shift towards decentralized liquidity is now becoming more tangible and measurable.