Binance has Grabbed Two-Thirds of all Crypto Trading Volume – What Happened to the Decentralization of Finance?

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has remained the leader in the space, ending 2022 with a 66.7% market share compared to 48.7% at the start of the year.

According to a report from CryptoCompare, Binance accounted for 66.7% of all trading volume on centralized crypto exchanges in the last quarter of 2022 following the collapse of FTX, one of its biggest rivals. In comparison, the platform had a market share of 48.7% at the start of 2022.

The rise in Binance’s market share came even as the platform saw a more than 45% drop in its spot trading volume amid the general downward trend in the market. “OKX and Coinbase followed with a market share of 8.58% and 8.50%, trading $813bn and $805bn respectively,” the report added.

The report analyzed a total of 11 exchanges, which include Binance, FTX, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Bybit, Crypto.com, Huobi, Kucoin, and OKX. Among this list, only Bybit and Kucoin saw an increase in trading volume in 2022. Bybit also saw its market share grow in 2022.

“The increase can be attributed to consolidation in the industry as overall volumes trend downwards, with exchanges competing for reduced volumes,” the report said.

In fact, Binance’s move to remove trading fees for BTC and ETH pairs in 2022 was accompanied by a massive surge in trading volume — so much so that it exceeded the aggregated volumes for 13 other exchanges, including Coinbase, FTX, Huobi, Okex, and more by mid-September.

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase was the second-largest platform in terms of market share by the end of 2022 at 8.2%, versus 10.1% at the start of the year. And behind Coinbase was OKX, which saw its market share in December at 5.9%, versus 10.7% at the beginning of 2022.

Meanwhile, the cumulative trading volume on centralized exchanges declined by 46.2% in 2022. Falling crypto prices and decreasing volatility are some of the key factors impacting the decline in trading volumes. The report said:

“One of the biggest signals showing the lack of participation is the drop in volatility and liquidity in the market. On October 22, the annualized 30-day volatility of BTC dropped to 26.6% – the lowest figure since July 2020, reflecting the risk averse sentiment in the market.”

The report called 2022 a “transformative year” for the digital asset space, with events like the collapse of FTX and Terra highlighting the deficiencies of the industry. On the other hand, such events illustrate the benefits that DeFi can bring through its transparent and permissionless infrastructure, the report said.