DeFi grows 197% in Q3 as trading volumes increase by $155BN

The combined trading volumes of cryptocurrency exchanges were up by $155 billion in the third quarter of 2020 

The total trading volumes of cryptocurrency exchanges in the third quarter of 2020 were up by 88% as the sector boomed from the DeFi hype.

According to a report by Coingecko, the trading volumes of crypto exchanges between July and September went up from $175.7 billion to $330.6 billion — representing a $155 billion increase. The researchers attributed most of the growth to the decentralized finance (defi) hype and yield farming frenzy that peaked during the quarter.

At the start of the third quarter, decentralised exchanges (DEXs) recorded faster growth than their centralised counterparts. On average, decentralised exchanges grew by 197% per month during the third quarter, while the centralised exchanges (CEXs) went up by only 35%. However, despite the massive growth of DEXs, their trading volumes accounted for only 6% of what was recorded by CEXs.

Coingecko highlighted that while centralised exchanges reported 83% growth in August, the poor performance in September dragged the average down to 35%. CEX trading volumes dropped from $314.6 billion in August to $300 billion by the end of last month. Coinbase and OKEx were the major drawbacks as their declining trading volumes affected the overall average of centralised exchanges.

In terms of the performances of cryptocurrencies, Binance coin (BNB) was the top performer, seeing 90% gains in value. BNB soared as Binance launched its Binance Smart Chain on August 31. Ethereum came in second place after recording a 60% increase in trading price. The rise in Ethereum’s price is attributed to the DeFi hype as the tokens are hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. The other leading performers in the third quarter were XRP (37.4%), Bitcoin (17.7%) and Bitcoin Cash (2.3%).

Uniswap leads the DEX market

Uniswap remains the leading decentralised cryptocurrency exchange. According to Coingecko, Uniswap accounted for roughly 50% of total DEX volumes in July and saw its dominance rise to 63% by the end of September.

Curve came in second behind Uniswap. Curve initially saw its market share drop from 24% in July to 13% in August. However, by the end of September, Curve accounted for 17% of decentralised exchanges’ total trading volumes.

The founder of Coingecko stated that the third quarter was the summer of DeFi, which recorded massive growth in July and August before undergoing some correction in September, “Decentralised exchanges saw strong trading volume growth with the top 10 DEX achieving $30 billion in trading volume for September,” the founder added.