Binance, Huobi, OKEx Have FOMO for DeFi

Sep 15, 2020 at 19:22 UTCUpdated Sep 15, 2020 at 19:23 UTC.Centralized exchanges get DeFi FOMO, as decentralized exchanges challenge their dominance in crypto trading.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, last week announced a new integration of its centralized platform, Binance.com, and its decentralized public blockchain, Binance Smart Chain.

There's a $100 million fund to encourage developers to build DeFi projects on BSC after the company's last take on DeFi, Binance Dex - a decentralized exchange launched a year and a half ago - generated little traction.

Centralized exchanges' aggressive moves into the rapidly growing DeFi space suggest decentralization may be their inevitable path for survival in a crypto trading landscape where decentralized exchanges are stealing greater market share.

Binance, OKEx, and Huobi, the three centralized exchanges making some of the biggest splashes in DeFi, are also among the most popular exchanges with Chinese users, with deep roots in China, where interest in DeFi has been on an upswing.

CEX DeFi FOMO.DEXs have some advantages, even for the centralized exchanges trying to run one on the side.

Jay Hao, CEO of OKEx, also acknowledged the success of DeFi and the eagerness of his exchange to be part of that success.

"As DeFi continues to grow, the centralized exchanges will end up acting like a white label," Three Arrows Capital's Zhu said.

Binance's Zhao offered an answer of how his company can survive in a truly decentralized business model: its native token BNB."I will be really happy on the day when decentralized exchanges replace centralized exchanges and I think that will push our overall mission forward," he said during his company's recent virtual summit.

The centralized exchanges are in the similar mindset as those oil giants: If DeFi and DEXes replace centralized exchanges, centralized exchanges would still be able to catch some part of that market share, Chen said.