ByBit, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, may now claim to be the victim of the largest crypto hack ever, with over $1.5 billion in value. ByBit is a centralized exchange, which one crypto executive says is emblematic of why a “CEX” is worse than a decentralized exchange (DEX).
Anmol Singh, co-founder of Zeta Markets – a perps DEX on Solana (a high-performance blockchain), says centralized exchanges’ shortcoming is a single point of failure, and this is driving momentum towards Dextrading with volumes having topped $454 billion, growing 40% compared with December.
“This cycle has made it clear—on-chain trading is where the real innovation is happening. With new token launches and opportunities increasingly favoring DEXs, Solana has cemented itself as the home of spot trading, leading in both user activity and volume. The Bybit hack further highlights the fragility of CEXs, while decentralized exchanges now offer the same speed and user experience with unmatched transparency and security. The shift to DEXs has never been so clear—and it’s only accelerating.”
While interest may be growing for DEXs, perhaps the biggest challenge is dealing with regulators who tend to want to deal with an intermediary. At least that is the way it has been for many years, prior to the introduction of distributed ledger technology and the ability to disintermediate transactions.
Of note, neither Zeta Markets nor ByBit provides services to US-based customers.