When it comes to trading in Memecoins, time is money – and waiting for a centralized exchange (CEX) can cost you both. Take, for example, Trump. On January 17, 2025, just before his inauguration, Donald Trump launched his Memecoin on Solana, which rose past a top market capital of $ 14.5 billion’s largest Memecoin behind Dogecoin at one point.
At that time, CEXS noted $ Trump one day or two later – after clearing the usual bureaucratic rigmarole – the action was over. As such, for speculators, DEXS is not only faster; They are more fluid, more unstable and honest, more fun. In a market where fortunes are created in minutes, if not milliseconds, it is a missed option to wait for a CEX to catch up.
Monday morning after $ Trump Memecoin Mania, I spoke with Bobby Ong, co-founder of CoingeCko, the independent cryptodata assignment that has long been my personal go-to control token prices together with approx. 40 million other monthly visitors, according to hypestat.com. Founded in 2014, CoingeCko has grown to one of the most reliable sources of crypto market data.
Ong and I had actually planned the call before Christmas, so it was pure coincidence that Trump just happened to launch his Memecoin a few days earlier. When we talked we both had the same reaction: What the hell happened?
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I have known Bobby for years – he is a real and who first bought Bitcoin in 2013, and is one of the sharpest observers of how trade habits develop at grassroots level. When he started CoingeCKO, it was to solve his own problem – at that time, the crypto was awarded rudimentary, and there was not a way to analyze market depth, liquidity, developer activity or community engagement. He wanted better insight so he and his co -founder built the tool himself.
Ong is based in Malaysia while I am in the Philippines, so we have both spent years in Asia’s crypto scene and see first hand how the region is shaped – and been shaped by – crypto. When Consensus Hong Kong came up and we both planned to be speakers, we planned to discuss crypto recording trends in Asia. But we ended up talking about the problems with CEX.
DEX Appel
For CEX users, waking up Monday was a brutal realization: they had already missed almost 41,000% in potential gains. This was especially intestinal writing, as it was not only another fuzzy Memecoin that burst into some niche corner of the Internet; It was a headline-dominant asset tied to the newly re-elected US president, and still CEXS couldn’t move fast enough.
Meanwhile in just 72 hours, Solanas DEX users recorded an unprecedented $ 28 billion in trading volume, largely powered by $ Trump and the fully $ Melania token. This level of defi -engagement was unimaginable a few years ago when DEXS was considered too complicated for the average trader to use. But this is no longer the case, which suggests that defi is not just an alternative to CEXs; It can just overtake them.
“The experience with decentralized exchanges is superior compared to centralized exchanges, and people weigh on it – that’s what I see in the market right now,” Ong told me.
How times have changed
Back in 2020, Cobecko’s annual crypto report showed that while CEX and DEX trading volumes increased by $ 403 billion to $ 534 billion, CEXS drew 93% of this growth. Frop until 2024, and the same annual report revealed that the top 10 spot-dexs had made $ 1.76 trillion in volume on their own. In addition, in the 4th quarter of 2024, Solana overtook Ethereum for the first time as the dominant chain and reached $ 219.2 billion in the DEX trading volume or over 30% of all DEX trades compared to Ethereum’s $ 184.3 billion.
Especially with Solana, the ecosystem is built with a strong emphasis on mobile applications. Wallets like Phantom and Jupiter are designed to be user -friendly for mobile shopping, which is critical, as most people today are primarily trading via mobile apps. Ong noted that the user experience for mobile wallets has improved significantly, which in turn has improved the overall on-chain experience.
“In the past we only had metamask on the desk, and although there was a Metamask-mobile wallet, it wasn’t very user-friendly,” he said. “But if you look at Ethereum now you see a shift-uniswap has its own mobile app, [non-custodial] COINBASE -TEXT BOOK is improved and there are many others like Rainbow. The overall wallet experience has become much better compared to before, as Metamask was one of the only options. “
Ong also noticed the friction involved in getting new users on the chain, but pointed out that they once boarding the ropes, which allowed them to navigate the ecosystem independently. This means that future projects do not have to spend as much time and effort on board.
I remembered that I wrote about Axie Infinity back in 2020 and how difficult it was for players to earn Axies in-game token, then sync and swap it to Ethereum and then trade it on Uniswap-It was an incredibly complicated, multi- Step process. But when people have overcome the original obstacles, the next wave of projects could be based on this foundation that benefits from an already trained user base. Over time, the challenge of onboarding-noobs changed to refine the experience and expand what is possible on the chain.
Caught between regulators and a hard place
As Defi becomes more user -friendly and users become friendlier with Defi, Ong told me that he sees this development as an existential threat to the CEX business. He compared CEXS to a large supermarket with spot and futures, stacking and all the things you could ever need everything in a practical place. But with all that has not been unbound by Defi, which can now be accessed via the main interface of a DEX in a user’s mobile wallet, CEXS has to find out where to sit.
This is especially the case for CEXs operating in jurisdictions, where they lack full regulatory approval, such as Binance, OKX and Bybit, as they can neither on board shitcoins as a smart contract-based non-parenting authority-DEX-where tokens will be about as soon as Liquidity is added – nor offers Fiat on/off ramps as a licensed CEX.
This leaves them to grab the straw, desperate after maintaining relevance. Ong gave an example: Binance has always allowed trading in high risk assets, but its recent list of speculative AI-tokens such as Chaingpt (CGPT) and Cookie DAO (Cookie), as well as new AI-run projects such as AIXBT of Virtual (AIXBT) , suggests a shift to accommodate the hype-driven, short-term trade. Some critics have called this out as a departure from Binance’s traditionally selective standards and a step to chase trading volume in the midst of rising DEX competition.
“They have no choice, because if people deal with these tokens on their own wallets at Metamask or Aerodrome on the base, they do not deal with Binance,” Ong said.
Meanwhile, Binance’s legislative problems have been being mounted. In Mine and Bobby’s home ground, countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have all clear licensing requirements for crypto exchanges where Vietnam is expected to join them this year. Of course, the level of regulation varies between these countries, some of which are more relaxed and some more strict, but the point is, it is no longer a gray area.
This leaves a jurisdiction, fluent CEX as a binance in the uncertain position by operating in regulatory limbo, which is constantly facing restrictions, prohibitions or forced exits from key markets. In contrast, DEXS has no central unit to regulate them. Without a company or headquarters to license or restrict, they exist purely as smart contracts on a blockchain, allowing them to facilitate trade without the same objections weighing CEXs.
“Do you know of a country that comes anywhere close to regulating defi?” I asked. “No,” Bobby said and mentally chalk another victory for Dexs.
Why DEXS dominates in Asia now
Southeast Asia is home to a huge population of technically knowledgeable young people who are eager to explore new financial opportunities, but (with the exception of Singapore), the region offers limited opportunities for investment with high benefits. Unlike in the United States, where retail investors enjoyed 23%-Plus returns in the S&P 500 in both 2023 and 2024, people are in the essential barriers of the East to access such markets-for context, we do not have any local equivalent where retail investors Can cheap and easily trade with stocks via platforms like Robinhood. Most stock trading platforms in Southeast Asian markets have high access barriers – steep fees, lack of fractional shares, strict rules and limited access to global shares. Instead, the crypto has filled the gap.
Where else can you see a token like $ Trump explode from $ 7 to $ 75 in not much more than the space in a weekend? And while the crypto industry is trying to shake its reputation for speculation, the speculative lure is exactly what keeps people coming in.
These markets matter to exchanges – CEXS, DEXS and everything in between – because countries with large populations such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are primary hunting areas for user recording. These regions offer a huge scale, but the challenge lies in the consumption power of these users.
GDP per Per capita is relatively low, and many individuals lack significant disposable income, so they engage in crypto in most transactional ways and chase air drops to survive. Earning $ 50 to $ 100 from an AirDrop is not a bonus for many people living in these countries – it can be rent, food or a full month’s salary. Although this drives commitment, participation is often temporary and driven by immediate financial needs rather than long -term investment or platform affinity.
“Many of them are just there to make money. They are not even interested in decentralization or technology. It’s really just about the financial return for many of them, ”Ong said. And although CEXs serve this audience well for on/off ramps, for those seeking the highest rewards, DEXS is where the effort – and the head – is the highest.
As such, today’s Degens is not necessarily ideologically driven as the early Bitcoiners who advanced “Don’t Troad on Me” ideals or the ethose of “Be your own bank.” They are decentralized for a reason: the money.
And while poor financial skill and FOMO often lead to losses, I personally do not believe in shielding people at risk by making these markets inaccessible. High barriers are essentially “you are poor and uneducated, so you can’t participate,” robbing people with the chance to learn – even if it means to make mistakes. Traditional funding does the same by limiting start -up investments to accredited investors, allegedly for protection, but in reality just keeping the best opportunities for the wealthy. That in my opinion – and also in Ongs – is basically unfair.
DEXS has the upper hand right now. They offer genuine, open, unlimited access to financial option in lightning speed, giving anyone anywhere to get into the game. How long -lasting regulators will take to catch up is someone’s guess, but so far we make hay while Crypto Spring Sun shines.
And when the next Mega Memecoin starts, all you really need a wallet, a dex and stamina to satisfy an endless cycle of control, hope and clear CoingeCKO.
