The state of trading
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Binance remains the world's No. 1 venue for cryptocurrency trading, and it's really not even close — it's one of the things that have remained relatively unchanged from the last bull run to the present.
Why it matters: The cryptocurrency industry may be maturing, with leaders establishing market share for the foreseeable future.
By the numbers: Trading on centralized exchanges remains sizable, generating more than $1 trillion in collective volume every month since December 2023. (March saw $2.5 trillion, ahead of the Bitcoin halving.)
- Over the same period, decentralized exchanges, or DEXes, have seen at least $100 billion in volume every month (also peaking in March). That ratio of DEX to centralized volume seems fairly stable, at something like 1 to 10.
In the U.S., there's a horse race at the top. Crypto.com, a major U.S.-based centralized exchange, has been eating into the market share of the market leader, Coinbase, all year.
- In fact, The Block's research currently shows Crypto.com ahead of Coinbase in USD-based crypto market share, with 39% of that market, to Coinbase's 36%.
- Crypto.com had the lead once before, in April 2022.
The latest: Coinbase looks to be faring about the same, as a trading venue, as it has at similar times in the past.
- Coinbase's trading volume was down over the second quarter, as the market has largely been sideways, with $226 billion in total volume, versus $312 billion in the quarter before.
- For comparison, at the peak of the prior bull run in the fourth quarter of 2021, it saw $547 billion in volume.
Not resting on its laurels, this quarter the company is touting new recurring forms of revenue.
- Of its $1.4 billion in revenue for the quarter, $600 million came from services and subscriptions.
What we're watching: Whether or not DEXes ever eat further into the market share of traditional exchanges.
