Derivatives DEX dYdX beats out Coinbase by volume amid China FUD
Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX has seen a massive surge in trade volume as concerns surrounding a renewed Chinese crypto crackdown have circulated this year, with the DEX now processing more volume than Coinbase for the first time.
dYdX has facilitated more than $4.3 billion worth of trades in the past 24-hours, beating out Coinbase $3.7 billion in volume by nearly 15%, according to data from CoinGecko.
Antonio Juliano, the founder of DYdX and former Coinbase employee, celebrated the milestone in a Sept. 27 tweet.
5 years ago I left @coinbase and eventually founded dYdX
— Antonio | dYdX (@AntonioMJuliano) September 26, 2021
Today, for the first time, @dydxprotocol is doing more trade volume than Coinbase pic.twitter.com/QzoKAUpH29
The surging growth for dYdX comes amid renewed concerns regarding the threat heavy-handed Chinese regulation could pose for the global crypto sector. On Sept. 24, Beijing intensified its crackdown on crypto-assets by banning all digital currency transactions. The People's Bank of China said in a statement that cryptocurrencies are not legal and should not and cannot be used as currency in the market.
dYdX offers a range of perpetual contracts on various crypto assets allowing traders to hold leveraged positions without using contracts with a fixed expiration date. The derivatives exchange has grown by 19,700% over the past 6 months in terms of daily exchange trade volumes which were just $22 million at the end of April.
In September 2019, Coinbase invested 1 million USDC stablecoins into dYdX in what it called a USDC Bootstrap Fund. In June this year, dYdX raised $65 million in a Series C funding round led by venture fund Paradigm.
Read: Bitcoin will be ultra-volatile but it’s here to stay says Deutsche Bank analyst