Decentralized Exchanges Hit Record Market Share in Q2 as PancakeSwap Surges: CoinGecko
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) saw their strongest quarter ever in Q2 2025, grabbing a record share of the crypto spot trading market, according to a CoinGecko report. The shift comes amid declining volumes on centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Binance, Coinbase, and Crypto.com.
Spot trading on DEXs rose over 25% from the previous quarter, reaching $876.3 billion, while CEX volumes plunged nearly 28% to $3.9 trillion. This lifted the DEX-to-CEX trading volume ratio to a new all-time high of 0.23, signaling growing preference for on-chain, non-custodial trading environments.
PancakeSwap Takes the Lead
PancakeSwap emerged as the dominant DEX in Q2, with trading volume soaring over fivefold to $392 billion—nearly half of all DEX activity. The surge followed Binance’s May rollout of Binance Alpha, which began routing trades through PancakeSwap. The move helped elevate BNB Smart Chain above Ethereum, Solana, and Base as the most-used blockchain for DEX trading.
Centralized Exchanges See Broad Slowdown
CEXs saw volumes contract even as bitcoin hit fresh all-time highs. Binance retained the top spot but saw its spot volume drop from over $2 trillion to $1.47 trillion. Crypto.com recorded the steepest decline, shedding 61% of its volume. Coinbase also saw lower trading activity.
Perpetuals Trading Also Breaks Records
The DEX derivatives market followed a similar trend, with perpetual futures volume hitting a record $898 billion. Hyperliquid (HYPE) led the segment with nearly 73% market share, according to CoinGecko.
The report highlights a growing structural shift in crypto trading, as users increasingly turn to decentralized platforms for both spot and derivatives trading amid concerns over compliance, custody, and liquidity fragmentation on CEXs.
