As the cryptocurrency market gradually emerges from the depths of the bear market, the landscape of decentralized exchanges (DEX) is quietly being restructured. From the Ethereum-dominated AMM (Automated Market Maker) model to the new battleground of perpetual contracts, and the secret rise of "dark pool DEX," the DEX field is undergoing a new round of technological innovation and ecological competition. Particularly under the strong expansion of the Solana ecosystem, DEX is also attempting to initiate the next "Nasdaq-style" revolution.
The DEX Battle Escalates: Uniswap vs. Emerging Challengers
Uniswap remains the industry benchmark for DEX, maintaining an average daily trading volume of over $1 billion in Q1 2025, and strengthening its cross-chain and MEV protection capabilities through the launch of the experimental aggregation trading protocol Uniswap X. However, emerging platforms are continuously eating into its market share.
SushiSwap has made progress in optimizing incentive mechanisms and liquidity pool designs, while PancakeSwap continues to attract users steadily on the BSC chain. Meanwhile, contract-based DEXs like dYdX, GMX, and Vertex have rapidly risen with their "professional trading experience" and "low slippage" advantages. According to data from DefiLlama, as of June 2025, dYdX's daily trading volume has surpassed $1.5 billion, with some days exceeding that of Uniswap's mainnet.
These figures indicate that the DEX battle is no longer limited to competition among AMM models but is expanding towards a diversified derivatives market and inter-chain aggregation.
Perpetual Contracts: The New Main Battleground for DEX
Since 2024, perpetual contract trading has gradually become the core area of competition among DEXs. Unlike traditional DEXs that only support spot trading, DEXs that support perpetual contracts have greatly broadened user scenarios by introducing order books, oracle systems, and financing fee mechanisms, particularly attracting professional traders.
Data shows that as of Q2 2025, over 35% of trading volume in the DEX market comes from the perpetual contract market. This trend is gradually changing the inherent perception that "DEXs are limited to spot trading."
Dark Pool DEX Emerges: Privacy and Professionalism Go Hand in Hand
In the development of DEX, a low-key but noteworthy new trend is the emergence of "dark pool DEX." Similar to the dark pool systems in traditional finance that allow large players to hide their trading intentions, dark pool DEXs focus on "preventing slippage," "reducing MEV front-running," and "protecting privacy."
Project representatives include:
These protocols allow large traders to execute trades without affecting market prices, becoming part of DEX's evolution into "professional financial platforms." However, the regulatory compliance pressure brought by privacy technologies is also rising. Multiple compliance agencies have begun to focus on whether such DEXs involve anti-money laundering and user identity verification issues.
Slippage Issues Cause Trouble: User Experience Becomes a New Competitive Point
Slippage remains the most prominent pain point for AMM-type DEXs. Especially during periods of high market volatility, users may buy or sell assets at prices far above the market price, resulting in significant losses. According to Nansen's analysis, in 2024, DeFi users incurred "invisible losses" exceeding $100 million due to improper slippage settings.
The new generation of DEXs is attempting to address this issue from multiple dimensions:
Slippage is no longer just a technical parameter; it has become a key criterion for judging the quality of user experience on DEXs, directly affecting platform retention rates and trading frequency.
Solana's Nasdaq Dream: Can High-Performance DEX Break the Deadlock?
With the ongoing high gas fees on Ethereum and the complexity of L2 solutions, Solana's performance in the DEX field is becoming increasingly impressive. Due to its high throughput and low latency characteristics, Solana is very suitable for the operation of order book model DEXs.
Several representative projects include:
According to data from the Solana Foundation, as of Q2 2025, the average daily number of trades on Solana's DEX has exceeded that on Ethereum's main chain, indicating that its "high-frequency trading-friendly" characteristics are gradually being released.
However, Solana still faces issues with chain stability and insufficient cross-chain liquidity, which means that while its DEX ecosystem has speed advantages, it has not yet formed a complete trading network loop.
In Conclusion: DEX is Not the Endpoint, but the Starting Point of the "Decentralized Financial Operating System"
The development of DEX is far from over. From the early Uniswap V2 to the current multifunctional platforms that integrate order books, perpetual contracts, aggregation, and privacy trading, DEX is evolving from a "trading venue" to a "decentralized financial operating system."
Future DEXs not only need to address "old problems" such as slippage, latency, and privacy but also face new challenges like compliance, cross-chain issues, security, and user education.
On this ever-changing stage, whether it is Uniswap's steady progress or Solana's rapid pace, the war of DEX has far exceeded the initial confrontation of "who has more liquidity," gradually moving towards a new stage of technological and structural breakthroughs.
Related: The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Proposes Lifting the Ban on Crypto ETNs for Retail Investors
Original article: “The DEX Wars Escalate: Perpetual Track Expansion, Dark Pools Stirring, Solana Becomes the New Focus”
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