Decentralized exchanges gain market share amid crypto shifts

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have reached a record 23% of the spot trading volume currently handled by combined centralized exchanges (CEXs), such as Binance and Coinbase. While total DEX volume decreased year-on-year from $588 billion in 2025 to $262 billion in 2026, their market share increased from 17.5% to 23.2%. This indicates that DEXs are losing market share more slowly than CEXs during market downturns.

Major players in the DEX space include Uniswap and PancakeSwap, which together account for 36% of all DEX volumes. Analysts suggest that recent security incidents, including a $6.3 billion hack at Binance and a $388 million exploit at Bitget, may further accelerate the shift toward on-chain trading.

Separately, the Seoul Crypto Institute in South Korea is planning to develop policy recommendations and legislative proposals regarding tokenization. The institute aims to explore company pilots to apply tokenization to trade and capital markets.