Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs) are still key to attracting more mainstream retail adopters as the industry moves on from the notorious collapse of the FTX exchange.
Despite FTX’s collapse, which caused at least $8.9 billion in lost user funds, CEXs remain the first layer of interaction for retail adopters buying their first cryptocurrency.
The next 100 million retail adopters will likely onboard into the industry through CEXs, according to Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform X10. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Fakhrutdinov said that centralized exchanges would likely drive user adoption:
“Centralized exchanges will lead the game for now. However, when you get new retail into the space, it’s essentially much easier to switch a user from a centralized exchange to a hybrid exchange versus bringing in a completely new user.”
New investors primarily choose CEXs because they offer an element of trust in the underlying company and a more intuitive trading experience.
To attract more traditional retail investors, hybrid and decentralized exchanges need an improved user experience and renewed marketing efforts, argued Fakhrutdinov:
“Hybrid exchanges are pursuing crypto-native marketing. To attract regular retail, their approach to marketing needs to be a little different. It needs to be more like regular think tanks than crypto[-specific].”
X10 positions itself as a hybrid exchange platform and was founded by team members who previously worked at neobank Revolut. Its infrastructure features a hybrid central limit order book that executes trade settlements onchain through StarkEx’s layer-2 engine.
Related: Marathon’s BTC mining is heating an entire town in Finland
Hybrid crypto exchanges could reestablish trust following FTX collapse
As opposed to Bitcoin’s (BTC) core ethos of decentralization, CEXs are controlled by a central party or company, creating third-party vulnerabilities.
Despite emerging alternatives like decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and hybrid exchanges, CEXs control the majority of crypto trading volume.
According to Dune, cumulative trading volume on DEXs reached $3.56 billion during the past 24 hours, four times less than the $15.1 billion amassed by Binance, the world’s largest CEX by volume.
Hybrid exchanges are emerging as a middle ground between CEXs and DEXs, combining the workflow and trading experience of centralized exchanges with the non-custodial elements of decentralized exchanges.
Hybrid exchanges could help restore trust in the crypto industry following the FTX collapse, according to Fakhrutdinov, who explained:
“Currently, I would say that the next generation of [crypto] exchanges should be trustless but not necessarily permissionless.”
Related: AI computing protocol attracts $158M within a week after ‘fair launch’
Robinhood’s Bitstamp acquisition is a positive sign for institutional adoption
On June 6, stock trading app Robinhood announced it was purchasing the Bitstamp crypto exchange in a $200 million deal, enabling the app to serve institutional clients in the United States.
Revolut is also launching its crypto exchange, and these are net positive signs for institutional crypto adoption that will bring more “retail flows” in the industry, Fakhrutdinov said.
Revolut debuted its crypto exchange for United Kingdom users at the beginning of May.
Magazine: Ethereum’s recent pullback could be a gift: Dynamo DeFi, X Hall of Flame