🔥 Key Takeaways
- Perpetual decentralized exchanges (perp DEXs) have seen significant growth in 2025, with increased trading activity and new platforms entering the market.
- MEXC COO discusses the potential of perp DEXs to reshape the broader trading landscape and compete with centralized exchanges (CEXs).
- While perp DEXs offer unique advantages such as decentralized governance and lower fees, they still face challenges like liquidity and user experience compared to CEXs.
- The future of trading is likely to see a hybrid model where both DEXs and CEXs coexist and complement each other.
Perp DEXs Are Growing Fast, but Do They Really Threaten CEXs? MEXC COO Explains
Perpetual decentralized exchanges (perp DEXs) have gained strong traction in 2025, marking a significant shift in the crypto trading landscape. Trading activity has expanded, and new platforms are entering the space, seeking to capitalize on the momentum. With perp DEXs continuing to capture a meaningful and growing share of derivatives activity, questions are emerging about how this evolution could reshape the broader trading landscape. BeInCrypto spoke with the COO of MEXC, one of the leading centralized exchanges, to get insights into the future of trading and the potential impact of perp DEXs on CEXs.
The Rise of Perp DEXs
The year 2025 has been a watershed moment for perp DEXs. These decentralized platforms offer perpetual contracts, a popular financial derivative that allows traders to bet on the price movements of an asset without owning it. Perp DEXs have several advantages over their centralized counterparts:
- Decentralization: Perp DEXs operate on blockchain technology, ensuring that there is no single point of failure and reducing the risk of hacks and fraud.
- Lower Fees: Due to the absence of intermediaries, perp DEXs can offer lower trading fees, making them more appealing to cost-conscious traders.
- Accessibility: Anyone with an internet connection and a crypto wallet can access perp DEXs, democratizing trading and reducing barriers to entry.
Challenges and Concerns
Despite their rapid growth, perp DEXs still face several challenges that could impede their ability to fully threaten centralized exchanges:
- Liquidity: One of the main challenges is liquidity. While perp DEXs have seen increased trading volume, they still lag behind CEXs in terms of depth and breadth of liquidity. This can lead to higher slippage and less favorable trading conditions.
- User Experience: User interfaces on perp DEXs are often more complex and less intuitive compared to CEXs. This can be a significant barrier for new and less tech-savvy users.
- Regulatory Compliance: The decentralized nature of perp DEXs makes it difficult for them to comply with regulatory requirements, which can limit their adoption in regions with strict financial regulations.
MEXC COO’s Perspective
MEXC COO, who spoke on condition of anonymity, provided valuable insights into the potential impact of perp DEXs on the centralized exchange market. According to the COO, while perp DEXs are growing rapidly, they are unlikely to completely replace CEXs in the near future. Instead, the future of trading is likely to be a hybrid model where both DEXs and CEXs coexist and complement each other.
“Perp DEXs are a natural evolution of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, and they offer unique advantages that are hard to ignore,” the COO said. “However, centralized exchanges still provide a level of reliability, liquidity, and user experience that is difficult to match. The key is to find a way to integrate the best of both worlds.”
The Future of Trading
The COO believes that the future of trading will see a convergence of decentralized and centralized models. CEXs can incorporate elements of decentralization, such as decentralized governance and fee structures, to offer a more inclusive and user-friendly experience. Conversely, perp DEXs can work on improving their liquidity and user interfaces to attract a broader range of traders.
“The ultimate goal should be to create a more robust and resilient trading ecosystem that benefits all participants,” the COO concluded. “By working together and learning from each other, both DEXs and CEXs can thrive and drive innovation in the crypto space.”
Conclusion
The rise of perp DEXs in 2025 has been nothing short of remarkable, with these platforms capturing a growing share of the derivatives market. While they offer significant advantages, challenges such as liquidity and user experience remain. The insights provided by the MEXC COO suggest that the future of trading will likely be a hybrid model where DEXs and CEXs coexist and complement each other, driving innovation and benefiting traders worldwide.
