Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are rapidly becoming popular among retail traders and quants, while institutions still prefer centralized platforms, according to Bitget Wallet’s chief marketing officer Jamie Elkaleh.
Elkaleh shared with Cointelegraph that the most significant adoption of platforms like Hyperliquid is “coming from retail traders and semi-professional quants.” Retail users are attracted by airdrop cultures and points systems, while quants appreciate “low fees, fast fills, and programmable strategies,” he noted.
Nevertheless, institutional desks continue to rely on centralized exchanges (CEXs) for their support of fiat rails, compliance services, and prime brokerage offerings.
Elkaleh remarked that the execution quality gap between DEXs and CEXs is narrowing quickly. “Order-book based DEXs such as Hyperliquid, dYdX v4, or GMX are now delivering latency and depth that used to be exclusive to CEXs,” he elaborated.
Related: Bitwise files for spot Hyperliquid ETF amid perp DEX wars
DEXs aim to provide CEX-speed trading with onchain transparency
Hyperliquid, a leading perpetual DEX platform, operates on its own chain and offers an onchain central limit order book. “Every order, cancellation, and fill is fully auditable,” Elkaleh stated. “It’s performance without sacrificing decentralization.”
The platform achieves sub-second finality without imposing gas fees per trade, aiming to combine CEX-like speed with self-custody. However, competition is intensifying. On BNB Chain, Aster has surfaced as a major competitor.
“Aster’s incentive campaigns have recently driven its daily perp volume to record highs, even surpassing Hyperliquid on certain days,” Elkaleh mentioned. Over the past day, Aster has reported around $47 billion in perp volume, more than double Hyperliquid’s $17 billion volume, according to data from DefiLlama.
The surge of BNB- and Solana-based DEXs is notable. BNB perp protocols have recently achieved daily turnovers of $60–70 billion, while Drift and Jupiter Perps have consistently gained traction. These ecosystems, Elkaleh noted, benefit from rapid settlement, seamless onboarding, and incentives.
However, DEXs face well-known risks. Elkaleh highlighted issues surrounding validator or sequencer centralization, faulty oracles, exploitable upgrade keys, and bridge vulnerabilities. He also pointed out the difficulties of maintaining reliable liquidation engines during market volatility.
On Friday, Aster compensated traders affected by a glitch in its Plasma (XPL) perpetual market, which briefly spiked prices to nearly $4 due to a hard-coded index error. This price surge led to unexpected liquidations and fees.
Related: Aster can flip HYPE by market cap and rally another 480%: Analyst
DEXs and CEXs to coexist
Looking forward, Elkaleh stated he doesn’t envision a zero-sum scenario. “DEXs are undoubtedly the future of crypto-native trading rails,” he asserted. “At the same time, CEXs remain critical for fiat liquidity and onboarding.”
“In the next decade, we may witness hybrid models that merge the strengths of both, fostering a balanced ecosystem where coexistence, not displacement, propels the next phase of crypto markets,” he concluded.
Magazine: 7 reasons why Bitcoin mining is a terrible business idea
