Are Crypto Investors Maturing? Or Have They Just Moved On?

Image source, CCData & CoinDesk; Article source, here.

TL;DR

• UniSwap just outpaced Coinbase in trade volume for the fourth straight month.

• The people who typically use DEX’s are slightly more sophisticated crypto investors than those who trade on a CEX like Coinbase.

• Either, the only investors left in the crypto space are sophisticated ones; or people are starting to catch on to the idea that it’s dangerous to hold your crypto on a CEX and learning how to use a DEX instead.

Full Story

UniSwap just outpaced Coinbase in trade volume for the fourth straight month.

Does that sentence get you all giddy inside?

(If not, it might by the end of this article).

Here’s why this is a big deal:

Uniswap is the largest ‘decentralized exchange’ (DEX) in the world.

A DEX is a place to buy / trade / sell crypto, that isn't owned or controlled by any one person or group.

The computers that run DEX’s are often spread out around the world and owned / operated by hundreds, if not thousands of different individuals.

Making DEX’s very hard (if not impossible) to shut down.

There isn’t a central computing system that can be shut down, nor is there a controlling entity that can be coerced into ‘hitting the kill switch’ and taking the exchange offline.

Coinbase, on the other hand, is a ‘centralized exchange’ (CEX).

It can be shut down, or fail for a multitude of other reasons.

Here’s why this is a big deal:

The people who typically use DEX’s are slightly more sophisticated crypto investors than those who trade on a CEX like Coinbase.

BUT, when using a DEX, you’re in control of your crypto and can store it yourself - without the fear that one day you wake up and the bank’s run out of money…

So the fact that UniSwap has exceeded Coinbase in trade volume four months straight suggests 1 of 2 things:

Either, the only investors left in the crypto space are sophisticated ones; or people are starting to catch on to the idea that it’s dangerous to hold your crypto on a CEX and are learning how to use a DEX instead.

Or maybe it’s a bit of both.

Happy Friday!