For many, the word death carries negative connotations. The ideas of finality, physical death, and emotional death make a lot of us shudder. For others, death is seen as the start of something new, a change, or even the next step on a greater journey with even greater meaning and purpose. Tarot card readers often see the horror on their clients’ faces when the death card is turned over on the table, and they are quick to reassure.
The metaphysical aside, this looks like what is happening in the crypto industry right now. Companies are going broke, turning hodlers into bagholders, and trade on exchanges is slowing down. Dwindling volume and liquidity and a propensity for domination rather than change will soon drive many small decentralized and centralized exchanges to what some would see as a premature grave. It’s only natural. It’s a cycle. Things change. The death card has been turned over.
It’s not only the current state of the industry that will see DEX’s disappear. Security, low liquidity, high fees, really shoddy customer service and response times, lack of fiat pairings, high withdrawal fees are all reasons cited that plagued DEXs since they began. It is little wonder user numbers are in decline. But will they ever change? Will DEXs make the right decisions – the ones that will redirect their fate?
DEXs do, of course, have options. They could start by addressing security issues and treating their customers like human beings by responding to them when they have concerns. Yes, they’ll have to put their hands in their pockets and maybe hire someone to help with customer service inquiries, but surely the payoff would be worth it. They could improve their liquidity problems by joining an alliance like the Blockchain Exchange Alliance. With technology provided by ONEROOT, their network of exchanges is able to share their liquidity pools. DEX owners could swallow their pride and merge to create a super DEX that addresses all the problems currently facing exchanges.
They have options.
But which is the right one? Nobody can say that with any degree of certainty, but quite frankly, it is high time for the exchange industry, as a whole, to change. Right now, it is a jungle, and survival of the fittest is the order of the day. Change or be left behind. Evolve or die. Fight to survive or risk seeing a brand new phoenix rising from the ashes of your funeral pyre.
