The cryptocurrency community has witnessed a seismic shift in trading patterns, as decentralized exchanges (DEX) have experienced a remarkable 444% surge in trading volume over a two-day period. This shift is a direct response to recent legal disputes involving the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, namely Binance and Coinbase.
Data obtained from CoinGecko reveals a surge in daily trading activity on Uniswap v3, PancakeSwap v3, and Uniswap v3. These three platforms account for just over half of the total DEX trading volume in the past 24 hours. Between June 5th and June 7th, trading volumes on these platforms soared by over $792 million.
The impact of this paradigm shift extends beyond these three platforms. Curve, a DEX specializing in stablecoins, also witnessed a significant surge in trading activity. Trading volumes for Tether and USD Coin, two of the most popular stablecoins, rose by 328%.
In an interesting twist, trading volumes on DEXs briefly surpassed those of Coinbase during the recent frenzy surrounding meme-themed cryptocurrencies. Buyers flocked to decentralized platforms to acquire tokens like Pepe and Turbo, as these were not available on larger, centralized exchanges.
Meanwhile, Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, experienced net outflows of approximately $778 million. However, it should be noted that this is only a fraction of the platform's total reserves. At the time of reporting, Binance still held over $8 billion in stablecoin reserves.
The upheaval in the cryptocurrency market is a direct response to recent legal actions by the SEC against major crypto exchanges. On June 6th, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, accusing it of offering unregistered securities and operating as an unregistered securities broker, among other allegations.