The growth of crypto exchanges has been very rapid because they make the use of cryptocurrency quite easy. The ease with which these exchanges could be used has become rapidly known to crypto investors. As a result, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges now control the majority of the cryptocurrency trading volume. Every month, the number of CEX users grows by millions, while their quarterly revenue remains constant. Centralized exchanges also enjoy institutional investments worth more than $3 billion in 2022.
Binance (BNB)
This exchange started in 2017, which was around five years after Coinbase was launched. Binance was very quick to become famous. It recorded more than 13 million transactions just after a year of commencement, thus becoming the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
Eight years ago, Binance made some moves to grow the company. The company first launched its stablecoin, known as Binance USD (BUSD). This saw Binance move from the Ethereum blockchain to the company’s blockchain (Binance Chain). They also launched the United States variant of the Binance exchange, which was done to comply with United States regulations.
The majority of the income made by Binance came from transaction charges. In an interview, Binance CEO Chanpeng Zhao disclosed that transaction charges represent 90% of the organization’s revenue, these consist of purchase charges, trading charges, and withdrawal charges.
Even during the bear market last year (2022), Binance’s yearly income was more than $12 billion for every on-chain provider, including Cryptoquant. Thus, this caused the company grow by ten folds, over the past eight years. It is believed that the company is ready to experience more growth by virtue of its position as a leader in the market.
Coinbase (COIN: NASDAQ)
This exchange was launched in 2012. This wasn’t too long after the birth of Bitcoin (BTC). The aim of Coinbase was that anyone should be able to receive BTC anywhere around the globe. Over ten years after Coinbase started various products were launched to meet the needs of people, businesses, and developers. This has greatly expanded the organization’s reach and income.
The biggest part of Coinbase’s income comes from processing crypto transactions for institutional investors and retailers. The company recorded a huge increase in the number of users, from 2020 to 2021. Coinbase recorded more than 2.8 million transactions every month at the close of 2020. A year later, the company also recorded more than 11.4 million transactions.
Even during the market downturn, the organization recorded a monthly average of 9 million transactions. Coinbase has also passed the 100 million verified user mark and is the most regulated compliant cryptocurrency exchange.
OKX (OKX)
This is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that provides both exchange and various other crypto-related services such as trading bots, trade copying, and many other derivatives. OKX is located in the Seychelles, and it provides its services to customers throughout the world. Nevertheless, United States citizens are excluded from their services. OKX is attractive to new users due to its low trading fees.
The organization was launched in 2022, and it is the second biggest exchange by trading volume. Only Binance outperforms it in this regard. Nevertheless, OKX has been overtaken by Coinbase, leaving OKX in the third position.
OKX disclosed this month (February 2023) that it is designing on OKBChain. This is directed at fostering the growth of a bigger ecosystem. This new OKBCHAIN is intended to supplement the already existing OKXCHAIN. This will aim at the development and deployment of dApps.
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