The crypto trading landscape is at a crossroads, and it’s sparking a debate that’s dividing the industry: Are decentralized exchanges (DEXs) poised to dethrone their centralized counterparts (CEXs), or will they coexist in a hybrid future? According to Jamie Elkaleh, Chief Marketing Officer at Bitget Wallet, the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. But here’s where it gets controversial: while retail traders and quants are flocking to DEXs, institutions are sticking firmly to CEXs—and the reasons why might surprise you.
Elkaleh recently shared with Cointelegraph that platforms like Hyperliquid are seeing their strongest adoption from retail traders and semi-professional quants. What’s drawing them in? For retail users, it’s the allure of airdrops and points systems—a gamified approach to trading that’s hard to resist. Meanwhile, quants are enticed by low fees, lightning-fast order execution, and the ability to deploy programmable strategies. These features are reshaping how traders interact with the market, offering flexibility and efficiency that CEXs often struggle to match.
But here’s the part most people miss: Institutional desks are staying loyal to CEXs, and it’s not just about familiarity. CEXs offer critical infrastructure like fiat on-ramps, robust compliance services, and prime brokerage solutions—elements that DEXs are still working to replicate. This divide highlights a broader tension in the crypto space: the trade-off between innovation and regulation, decentralization and convenience.
However, the gap between DEXs and CEXs is narrowing faster than ever. Order-book DEXs like Hyperliquid, dYdX v4, and GMX are now delivering latency and liquidity depth that were once the exclusive domain of CEXs. Elkaleh emphasizes that these platforms are achieving CEX-like speed without sacrificing on-chain transparency. For instance, Hyperliquid operates its own chain with a fully auditable central limit order book, ensuring every trade, cancellation, and fill is verifiable. It even offers sub-second finality without gas fees per trade—a game-changer for traders seeking both speed and self-custody.
Yet, the DEX space is far from settled. Competition is fierce, with platforms like Aster on the BNB Chain emerging as serious contenders. Aster’s recent incentive campaigns have propelled its daily perpetual trading volume to record highs, even surpassing Hyperliquid on certain days. Over the past 24 hours, Aster registered around $47 billion in perp volume, more than double Hyperliquid’s $17 billion, according to DefiLlama. Similarly, Solana-based DEXs like Drift and Jupiter Perps are gaining traction, thanks to fast settlement, seamless onboarding, and attractive incentives.
But here’s the catch: DEXs aren’t without their risks. Elkaleh flags concerns like validator centralization, faulty oracles, exploitable upgrade keys, and bridge vulnerabilities. Maintaining reliable liquidation engines during market volatility remains a significant challenge. For example, Aster recently reimbursed traders affected by a glitch in its Plasma (XPL) perpetual market, which caused prices to spike due to a hard-coded index error, leading to unexpected liquidations and fees.
So, what’s the future of crypto trading? Elkaleh doesn’t see it as a zero-sum game. DEXs are undeniably the future of crypto-native trading rails, but CEXs will remain essential for fiat liquidity and onboarding. Over the next decade, he predicts the rise of hybrid models that blend the best of both worlds, creating a balanced ecosystem where coexistence, not displacement, drives the next phase of crypto markets.
But here’s the question we’re left with: Will this hybrid future truly satisfy both retail and institutional traders, or will the divide between decentralization and regulation widen further? What do you think? Let us know in the comments—this is a conversation that’s just getting started.
