Coinbase is deepening its involvement in the Solana ecosystem by enabling users to trade native Solana tokens through a decentralized exchange integration instead of conventional listings.
Andrew Allen, a protocol specialist at Coinbase, stated in an X post that Coinbase now permits users to trade all Solana (SOL) tokens via a decentralized exchange (DEX) integration, emphasizing “no listings,” and added that users will soon be able to access native Solana assets directly on the Coinbase app.
“For issuers and builders, if your token has sufficient liquidity, this means you can reach millions of Coinbase users without being listed,” Allen noted.
This announcement follows Coinbase’s integration of tokens from its Base blockchain via a similar DEX integration in early August. The exchange has indicated plans to “broaden DEX support to include other networks, starting with Solana.”
Related: Coinbase to launch its new ‘DeFi Mullet’ offering in Brazil
Solana’s DeFi ecosystem is thriving
Coinbase’s integration comes amid numerous advancements in Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Earlier Thursday, DeFi company Ellipsis Labs unveiled its Solana-based perpetual swap DEX. The announcement asserts that the platform is fully on-chain — including the risk and matching engine — allowing anyone to build on it. However, the platform is currently in private beta and not available to the public yet.
The launch aligns with a new “Solana Lending Markets Report 2025,” shared with Cointelegraph by DeFi infrastructure firm Redstone. The report contends that “DeFi strategies on Solana have achieved institutional-grade sophistication” and notes significant growth in Solana’s on-chain lending and trading activities.
Redstone indicates that “Solana has emerged as a major player in on-chain finance” and “processed $35.9 billion in peak daily DEX volume.” The firm anticipates the next phase of growth will center on “tokenized real-world assets and institutional capital deployment.”
“Bringing traditional finance on-chain at scale can unlock trillions in Internet Capital Markets. Solana’s infrastructure is well-positioned to capture a substantial share of this expansion.”
Related: How perp DEXs quietly seized 26% of the futures market
Centralized and decentralized exchanges converge
The Coinbase integration represents the latest trend where centralized exchanges increasingly incorporate DEX platforms, functioning as user-friendly front ends. Earlier in October, Sergej Kunz, co-founder of DEX aggregator 1inch, remarked that centralized crypto exchanges will gradually transform into frontends for decentralized finance.
The market is evolving, as DEX platforms witness growing liquidity, quicker order execution times, lower fees, and an increasingly streamlined user experience. DeFi data platform DefiLlama reports that all DEX platforms processed nearly $12 billion worth of trades in the last 24 hours — surpassing Coinbase’s 24-hour spot volume of $2.566 billion and comparable to Binance’s nearly $18 billion as recorded by CoinMarketCap.
So far, Kunz’s prediction appears to be accurate, with Coinbase not being the sole centralized exchange to implement similar integrations. In mid-November, cryptocurrency exchange OKX also began offering DEX trading on its platform. By the end of March, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, introduced centralized-to-decentralized exchange trades on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and the BNB Smart Chain.
