The Race is on for the top Crypto DEX

Developers pushing multiple decentralized exchanges.

In my studies last week I discovered a rush of companies who are seeking to release their own decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX).

First up was EOS, who unveiled the beta version of EOSfinex at Blockchain Live in London, September 26th. Developed in partnership with Bitfinex, in their own words the exchange will, “…facilitate a highly scalable network of peer-to-peer value exchange, unconstrained by borders and built around a foundation of transparency, speed and integrity.” EOSfinex will initially list three major pairs in the testing phase before it goes fully live in January 2019 and will move to a full suite of coins and tokens. The exchange will target high-volume traders with an ability to offer full control of their funds; a move that could spell the writing on the wall for a host of traditional investment brokers.

Bifinex CEO J.L. van der Velde commented on the platform, “We are excited to leverage EOS.IO to further advance the field of high performance and trustless on-chain exchange. Block.one continues to display an unwavering dedication to improving blockchain scalability through the EOS.IO platform and it is our hope that this collaboration will allow significant advancement for all decentralised exchange(s).”

Hot on the heels of the EOS offering comes another potentially game-changing offer in StellarX, which is another DEX hosted on the Stellar network. Stellar has now come out of its own beta phase and the key aspect of this exchange is that it is free to trade due to the technology used.

StellarX’s co-founder, Christian Rudder, wrote a

Medium post to describe the technology used and the benefits of plans for the platform. The free trading element was summarized thus, “Legacy exchanges charge per trade. A “free” custodial platform, like Robinhood, profits from its customers’ idle funds. …users of any Ethereum DEX… have to pay for gas, which, as we’ve already shown, is too expensive today and will be even more expensive in the future. Using StellarX, on the other hand, costs you nothing. We take no fees and, even above that, we refund all network costs, something no other decentralized exchange can match.”

Another key development with StellarX is that it already allows fiat deposits, which is not seen in many crypto exchanges. This is a first for a DEX, however others will be forced to catch up. The Medium post also also noted a suite of coin listings comparable to other exchanges and a desire to expand further with an, “Anything. Anyone. Anywhere,” approach to listings. StellarX also aims to have cryptocurrencies trading side-by-side with stocks, bonds, and commodities from the traditional finance world.

StellarX onviously has a lead on EOSfinex and some very exciting features for the serious trader. One more exchange that came to my attention last week was Binance, who have plans to launch their DEX in early 2019. Binance’s CEO, Chanpeng Zhao, previously commented on the DEX revolution for CNBC, saying, “I believe that decentralized exchange is the future. I don’t know when that future will come yet. I think we’re at an early stage for that so I don’t know if it’s a year, two years, three years, or five years. I don’t know but we’ve got to be ready for it,”

This is the dawn of a new era and another example of how the blockchain technology will turn the traditional finance world on its head. Look for all of the cryptocurrency exchanges to start playing catch-up to StellarX if they can partner with a network that will compete.

For now, welcome to the DEX. Free trading, traditional assets, and complete control and security of your funds? Better turn out the lights on the spread betting firms.