Crypto exchange volumes are up 16% after three months of stagnant

Month-over-month trading volumes on crypto exchanges increased 16% from August to September. It was the first significant increase in exchange trading volume since April this year. 

According to The Block’s Data Dashboard, September’s exchange trading volumes saw the first notable jump since this May. The volume jumped to $733 billion, or a 16% month-over-month increase.

The Block’s Legitimate Volume Index saw volumes of $629 billion in June, $633 billion in July, and $630 billion in August.

After the downturn in the crypto market in May, this summer saw relatively stagnant monthly volumes for crypto exchanges, which occurred during a tumultuous period for the market.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May, during which the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) de-pegged from the US dollar, and the price of governance token LUNA fell 97%. The collapse’s impact affected the whole crypto sector, including NFTs, crypto miners, and DeFi protocols.

Meanwhile, Citigroup’s research report revealed that decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges (DEXs) have grown faster than centralized exchanges (CEXs) over the past two years. The gap is likely to widen as users move away from centralized platforms to avoid their more onerous know-your-customer procedures.

DEXs offer distributed revenue, like dividends, to token holders and the ability to self-custody funds, the report said. Once the trading rewards are included, these exchanges have comparatively lower fees than platforms such as Coinbase Pro, Citi reported.