Decentralized exchanges are growing in popularity as crypto traders begin to harness the true power of the blockchain. The blockchain facilitates decentralized transactions without a middle man, but popular exchanges such as Binance and Bittrex are completely centralized and hold coins in large company wallets. The market’s response: decentralized peer-to-peer exchanges that are fast and robust.
For anyone trying to support the fundamentals of blockchain technology, trading on centralized exchanges is an upside down proposition because they serve a central authority and have a single critical point of failure. The upside: they have the trading volume. A quick glance at CoinMarketCap and WorldCoinIndex show that Binance, Bittrex, Bitfinex, and several other centralized exchanges host the majority of the trading.
At the same time, EtherDelta, the most popular decentralized exchange for ERC20 tokens, was recently hacked. Binance, on the other hand, was recently grounded. These breaches and interruptions are a reminder that risks exist for both types of exchanges, regardless of preference.
List of Decentralized Exchanges
A decentralized exchange without limits on withdrawals. Any cryptocurrency purchased immediately appears in your wallet’s balance. Using a centralized matching service, Waves settles transactions on the blockchain.
A decentralized exchange for Ether and Ethereum-based tokens. The popular exchange was hacked in December 2017, and was replaced by a fake site that stole ether from customer accounts. The site remains popular due to its selection of altcoins, many of which premiere on EtherDelta following their ICOs and prior to being listed on major centralized exchanges.
Open-source desktop application that allows you to buy and sell bitcoins in exchange for national currencies, or alternative cryptocurrencies. Bisq allows users to download their app, or build it from source. You can add your national or cryptocurrency accounts; create new offers or take an existing one; follow the user interface to finalize trades.
BitBay
BitBay.net – A decentralized exchange that offers several crypto trading pairs for USD, EUR and PLN. Funds are stored in encrypted cold wallets.
Note distinction from:
BitBay – A decentralized marketplace that enables users to buy and sell goods and services securely and anonymously, peer-to-peer. BitBay’s Enhanced Web Wallets offer Time Locked addresses that will make your crypto untouchable until your specified date of release. It’s an interesting feature for investors who like long-term investments designed for hodling, such as IRAs or CDs.
A decentralized exchange with a stack of financial services including banking on a blockchain. It became a part of the Microsoft Azure Blockchain Service package in March 2016.
A decentralized exchange based on BitShares 2.0.
A decentralized exchange based on BitShares blockchain, with staking and payouts.
Streamity and DEEX are two more decentralized exchanges, currently in ICO phases.