Decentralized exchanges have grown in parallel with decentralized finance, which is set to record-breaking 2021. The remarkable growth has resulted in large rewards for investors while also catapulting DEX platforms into the spotlight. In comparison to 2020, decentralized exchanges have performed exceptionally well this year, with each month’s trading volume exceeding the previous year.
As the year comes to a close, we look at how these decentralized exchanges fared in terms of volume. Trading volumes on decentralized exchanges typically exceeded $50 billion each month, with total trading volume exceeding $1 trillion by the end of the year.
Block Research recently released its 2022 Digital Asset Outlook Report, which touched on various aspects of the crypto business and investigated their growth. According to the research, these exchanges had one of the most successful years, increasing trade volume. Over the course of the year, decentralized exchanges saw a total trading volume of more than $1 trillion USD.
Decentralized exchanges have grown dramatically compared to last year’s numbers of $115 billion. To put this into context, DEX trading volumes set a record monthly trading volume of $162.6 billion in May of this year, implying that a month’s worth of trading volume in 2021 will be greater than the whole trading volume of decentralized exchanges in 2020.
The greatest month-over-month increase in DEX trading volumes occurred in January, with a 137.3 percent increase. As of December 23rd, decentralized exchange trade volumes have increased 858 percent for the entire year. However, volume is down dramatically compared to the May peak following the crash, and the exchanges have failed to return to these levels.
There are still a few that continue to dominate among their colleagues in much of any new field. Decentralized exchanges have been no different, with one exchange still accounting for roughly 75% of total trading. Other exchanges have achieved significant market success, but Uniswap v3 takes the lead as both a market leader and a favored trading platform for investors.
In terms of total value locked in decentralized exchanges (DEXs), Curve is the largest DEX by value locked. The DEX, according to the study, has $16.8 billion in TVL and accounts for 6.8 percent of total DEX volume.
Uniswap v2 saw approximately $12 billion locked, making it the second-largest DEX in terms of total value locked. Others, such as SushiSwap, have struggled to stay up with its competitors, despite having only $5 billion in TVL and 15% of the market value.
