Crypto was supposed to be the end of the middleman. No banks, no brokers, no one holding your money for you. So here is an awkward fact. In 2026, most crypto trading still happens on a company’s website, on a company’s servers, with a company holding the money.
The headline numbers are not hidden. But the number that really tells the story is. It is not about spot trading at all. Let’s start with the easy stat, then get to the one most people miss.
The simple scoreboard: centralized exchanges still win
The International Monetary Fund tracks this in its Crypto Assets Monitor. Its latest reading, for the second quarter of 2026, puts centralized exchanges (CEXs) at about 83% of trading activity. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) hold about 17%.
The IMF adds an important detail. Both CEX and DEX spot volumes actually fell in that period. So when DEXs gained share, it was because centralized exchanges shrank faster, not because on-chain trading boomed.
That is the first claim worth checking: “DEXs are taking over.” The numbers say they are growing, but from a small base.
Where the “DeFi is winning” story comes from
To be fair to DEX fans, the trend is real.
CoinGecko found that DEX spot volume was just 6% of CEX spot volume in January 2021. By November 2025 it had climbed to 21.2%. That is more than a tripling in under five years.
The Block’s data shows the ratio hitting a record 24% in July 2026, up from 17% a year earlier. A chart from the same outlet in October showed it near 25% in September.
That sounds like a lot. But look at what the ratio means. A 24% ratio does not mean DEXs have 24% of the market. It means DEX volume equals about a quarter of CEX volume. Do the math and that is roughly 19% of the combined total, which lines up with the IMF’s 17% to 19% range.
So the two sources agree. DEXs have around one-fifth of spot trading. Centralized exchanges have the rest.
The stat most people miss: it’s mostly leverage
Here is where the story changes.
Most people picture crypto trading as someone buying bitcoin. But CoinDesk Research reports that 77.6% of centralized exchange volume in September 2026 was derivatives. Spot trading, the simple buying and selling, was only about 22%.
That figure was even higher earlier in the summer. Derivatives hit a record 80.3% in July and sat at 79.3% in August. In September, centralized exchange derivatives volume reached $3.94 trillion, up 15.7% from the month before.
Why does that matter? Derivatives, especially perpetual futures, are where traders place leveraged bets. They set the funding rates, trigger the liquidations, and drive much of the price you see on your screen.
So the 83% figure may actually understate how central centralized exchanges are. They do not just win at spot trading. They run the market where prices are really decided.
CoinGlass data backs this up. Bitcoin open interest, the total value of open leveraged bets, sat around $141 billion, and the funding rates that guide those bets are shown across Binance, Bybit, OKX and other centralized venues.
One company holds the keys
Within the centralized world, power is concentrated further.
CoinGecko’s 2026 Crypto Perpetuals Report found that in the first four months of the year, Binance had 33% of the global perpetual futures market and OKX had 15%. Together, that is almost half of all perpetual trading, handled by two companies.
CryptoQuant adds the custody angle. Stablecoins held on exchanges are a good measure of how much trading cash and collateral sits with centralized platforms. CryptoQuant reported $60.62 billion in exchange-held stablecoins on October 24, down from roughly $80 billion at the late-2025 peak. Even after that drop, it found that Binance held about 70% of the stablecoin supply sitting on exchanges.
So it is not just that crypto runs through a handful of platforms. A large share of the fuel runs through a single one.
Even “DeFi” revenue leans centralized
The 1kx Blockchain Revenue Report 2026 gives one more clue. It estimates that the “DeFi/Finance” category earned $65 billion in 2026, about 66% of all blockchain revenue.
Sounds decentralized. But look at where the money came from:
- 42% came from centralized exchanges and derivatives venues, about $27.3 billion
- 29% came from stablecoin reserve income and yields, about $18.9 billion
- 13% came from fees paid by on-chain users, about $8.5 billion
- 7% came from asset management and ETF fees
- 6% came from prediction markets
In other words, only about one dollar in eight of “DeFi” revenue came from people paying fees directly on-chain. The biggest earners were still exchanges and stablecoin issuers.
What the other side gets right
A fair look at the data has to include the evidence against the thesis.
Decentralized perpetuals are growing fast. CoinGecko’s report found that perp DEXs’ share of open interest climbed from 3.6% in early 2025 to 13.5% in 2026. Castle Labs puts the DEX share of perpetual trading volume at 12.33% in September 2026, up from just 0.11% in January 2023. It peaked at 14.25% in December 2025.
One DEX is breaking through. Hyperliquid became the first decentralized exchange to rank among the world’s top ten perpetual futures venues. Its share of all perp volume hit a record 7.6% in June 2026, according to The Block data.
Spot DEX trading is sticky. CoinGecko noted that the DEX-to-CEX spot ratio held near 20% for five months in a row in 2025, which suggests those users are staying.
There is also a catch inside the good news. Decentralized trading is concentrating too. Hyperliquid alone holds more than half of perp DEX volume by some measures. Decentralization does not automatically mean competition.
And stablecoin reserves on exchanges fell about $19 billion this year. That is the one signal that points, mildly, toward money moving off centralized platforms. It could reflect users moving funds on-chain, or simply less trading cash overall. The data does not say which.
Verdict
The thesis holds, with a caveat. Centralized exchanges still handle roughly four out of five dollars of spot trading. They handle close to nine out of ten dollars in perpetual futures. They hold most of the trading collateral. And they earn most of the revenue.
DEXs are real, growing, and worth watching. But “growing” is not the same as “winning.”
Why this matters
If most crypto still runs through a few companies, then crypto’s biggest risks look a lot like traditional finance. A hack, a freeze, a bad regulatory ruling or a failure at one big exchange can move the whole market. The FTX collapse in 2022 showed that. Knowing the real split tells you where the risk sits, and how far the “decentralized” promise still has to go.
Dan is a seasoned crypto writer for Blockchaindose who got his start in the space back in 2019. Over the past four years, he’s built a solid grasp of how the industry moves, focusing heavily on DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, and promising new projects.
Off the clock, you’ll usually find him buried in a good book or kicking back with a movie. His blend of hands-on market experience and straightforward commentary makes him a clear, trusted voice across the platform.
