DEX spot trading volume reaches 24% of CEX trading volume

According to The Block's current DEX and CEX data series, in July 2026, spot trading volume on decentralized exchanges increased to approximately 24% of centralized exchange trading volume.

Summary

The spot ratio of DEX to CEX reached approximately 24% in July, based on estimates from The Block's current data series. DefiLlama's rolling data ranks Solana, BNB Chain and Ethereum as the world's largest spot ecosystems. Uniswap deployed four protocol versions on Robinhood Chain's first day of launch, bringing trading activity to the chain in July. The reading is described as the strongest performance in the current series and continues a trend of rising chain listings since 2024. The Block calculates this indicator by dividing the monthly DEX trading volume by the trading volume of a selected set of centralized exchanges. Its dashboard contains the top 30 decentralized exchanges ranked by transaction volume in DefiLlama. Therefore, this figure does not mean that DEX handles 24% of joint spot transactions, but rather that DEX activity is approximately 24% of the total CEXs covered.

July data continued the accelerated expansion that began in 2025. The ratio remained below 10% for most of 2024, and then began to rise as traders increasingly used unlicensed markets to trade memeins, newly issued assets and products that were not available on large centralized platforms. However, the reading also came during a period of relative weakness in centralized spot trading. A report showed that in the second quarter of 2026, total exchange spot trading volume fell 28% month-on-month to US$2.32 trillion. Lower CEX activity could push up the ratio, even if DEX trading volume does not reach an absolute record.

Current data from DefiLlama shows that trading activity is distributed across multiple networks. Its rolling 30-day ranking on August 2 showed that Solana's spot DEX trading volume was approximately US$49.86 billion, BNB Chain was US$31.04 billion, Ethereum was US$28.84 billion, and Base was US$22.38 billion. Robinhood Chain increased by $14.48 billion during the same rolling period.

New chain and broader token access support on-chain transactions

Robinhood Chain was one of the most visible new sources of DEX activity in July. Uniswap Labs announced that Uniswap v2, v3, v4 and UniswapX will be launched on its network on July 2, just one day after the chain's public main network launch. This deployment supports cryptographic assets and Robinhood stock tokens through Uniswap's web applications, wallets and APIs. Relevant data later estimated that Robinhood Chain's average daily DEX and aggregator transaction volume in seven days was approximately US$690 million, reaching a peak of US$943.6 million on July 11, while Uniswap accounted for approximately 99.5% of the network's seven-day DEX transaction volume. These stock tokens are available in more than 120 countries, but are not available to U.S. users. Early transactions also included memes, rather than being limited to tokenized stocks and other real-world assets. According to related reports, Robinhood Chain has driven a sharp increase in Uniswap transaction volume, and the cumulative exchange volume exceeded US$1 billion in the ten days before its launch. However, the role of speculative tokens makes continued trading activity more important than the first-week total.

Other ecosystems have mature on-chain liquidity when entering July. Solana's DEX transaction volume exceeded $800 billion in the first half of 2025, and Jupiter remains the main transaction routing layer.

"Record" descriptions need to pay attention to methodological limitations

The claim that July hit "the highest level since tracking in 2019" needs to be limited. The Block's current chart supports July readings, but an earlier report from the same publisher described higher numbers in an earlier version of its data. In June 2025, The Block reported that DEX reached 25% of CEX spot trading volume in May. A month later, the June rate was reported at 29%. Both historical numbers are higher than the July 2026 reading of approximately 24%. Differences may reflect revisions to historical data, included exchange changes, or adjustments to volume filtering. However, the current public description on the dashboard does not explain why its historical readings differ from earlier articles from the publisher. An independent study using a different set of exchanges set the DEX spot share at 24.5% in June 2025, before the indicator fell back to approximately 13%-14% in January 2026. The study attributed the earlier peak in part to Binance Alpha 2.0 routing transactions through PancakeSwap. The study's top 20 exchange coverage is not directly comparable to The Block's current top 30 DEX methodology. As a result, it is safe to call July the highest reading in the current citation series, but calling it an undisputed overall market record is beyond the scope of existing methodological disclosures.

Future trend of DEX to CEX ratio

August readings will show whether the ratio can remain at around a quarter of covered CEX trading volume after new chain activity stabilizes in July. Traders will also be watching whether Robinhood Chain can retain its early trading volume and whether Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum and Base can maintain current speeds. Absolute trading volume will be as important as market share. The increase in ratios, driven mainly by declining CEX activity, and the increase in ratios driven by increased liquidity in DEX, more users and deeper trading pools, describe a different market structure. Changes to exchanges included in agreement coverage or calculations may also revise historical readings. There are no confirmed token price changes that can be attributed individually to the July ratio. The data only shows where spot transactions occurred, not the reasons for the change in individual assets. The next complete monthly dataset should provide a clearer test of whether July marks lasting change or a temporary peak associated with new product and online launches.