The Crypto Exchange Landscape Under the Impact of a New Paradigm: The Current Status and Future of Binance, OKX, Bitget, and LBank

The market surge and sudden changes in the second half of 2025

In the third quarter of 2025, the crypto market experienced a rapid rebound. With significant price increases in mainstream assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, investor sentiment and capital inflows improved markedly, leading to active trading. The total global market capitalization of crypto assets increased from approximately $3.46 trillion at the end of June to nearly $4 trillion in late September, approaching the peak of the previous bull market. Bitcoin rose to approximately $126,000 in early October, while Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of approximately $7.8 billion during the quarter, pushing Bitcoin's market capitalization share back to around 64%.

However, the market took a dramatic turn in October. Over the weekend of October 10-11, the crypto market experienced an unprecedented leveraged stampede-like flash crash: Bitcoin plummeted nearly 18% in five days after reaching its peak, while Ethereum and many smaller cryptocurrencies generally suffered double-digit drops, triggering a chain reaction of forced liquidations due to panic selling. Within just two days, approximately $19.3 billion in contract positions were liquidated, resulting in massive margin calls for many contract traders and a sharp depletion of market liquidity. Key indicators such as trading volume, open interest, lending rates, and funding rates experienced violent and abnormal fluctuations during this "Black Weekend," creating a scene of utter carnage on trading screens.

This October flash crash became a watershed moment for the market in the second half of 2025. Subsequent observations revealed that after the severe volatility, market participants generally reduced their leverage preferences and stopped blindly chasing highs; the trading share of decentralized perpetual contract platforms increased, with high-leverage funds flowing to decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid; and major centralized exchanges launched "market rescue toolkits" to stabilize user confidence. This turmoil highlighted a crucial fact: new paradigms like Binance Alpha and Hyperliquid only eroded incremental high-risk appetite, without shaking the foundations of centralized exchanges—in an environment of significant price and sentiment fluctuations, high-risk speculative funds will seek new havens, but the vast majority of basic trading activities still take place within traditional centralized exchanges.

CEX vs DEX: New Trends in Trading Volume

While the rebound in market activity in the third quarter of 2025 boosted trading volume on centralized exchanges (CEXs), the rise of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) was even more remarkable. In the third quarter of 2025, decentralized perpetual contract protocols achieved approximately $1.8 trillion in trading volume, roughly equivalent to 7% of the centralized derivatives trading volume ($26 trillion) during the same period.

The core of this phenomenon lies in the stratification of market sentiment: when the market is overheated and most retail investors remain on centralized exchanges (CEXs) due to the convenience of fiat currency deposits and leverage, the most aggressive and risk-averse incremental funds are rapidly flowing to decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to chase newly issued tokens or engage in high-leverage speculation, resulting in a significant diversion of marginal trading enthusiasm. Simultaneously, the Real Asset Tokenization (RWA) boom of 2025 triggered accelerated entry by traditional internet giants and financial institutions, making perpetual decentralized exchanges the focus of the market, and leading to a substantial increase in on-chain derivatives trading activity. Overall, CEXs still control the vast majority of trading activity and liquidity, but the movement of marginal funds has quietly changed: at the height of the bull market, DEXs are eroding incremental market share at an unprecedented rate.

The "Hyperliquid" phenomenon in the derivatives market

Perpetual DEX platforms like Hyperliquid experienced explosive growth from the end of 2024 to the first half of 2025. Hyperliquid held approximately 56% of the decentralized perpetual contract market share at the end of 2024, expanding to over 73% by the end of the first quarter of 2025; its trading volume surged simultaneously—weekly turnover was approximately $13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, reaching an average of approximately $47 billion per week in the first half of 2025, and peaking at approximately $78 billion in a single week in mid-May. The platform attracted primarily traders with a strong preference for extreme leverage and privacy, including professional algorithmic high-frequency trading strategies, seasoned users who were skeptical of centralized custody after the "FTX incident," and speculators who favored long-tail altcoin perpetual contracts—groups that previously sought high-risk returns on centralized platforms.

It's worth noting that even during the October flash crash (when the total market liquidation exceeded $19 billion in 24 hours), Hyperliquid maintained zero downtime and quickly completed liquidations (its open interest accounted for approximately 63% of the total market, resulting in losses exceeding $1.2 billion). However, its open interest and user engagement still declined significantly due to the panic. This indicates that while perpetual DEXs like Hyperliquid are rapidly expanding in the derivatives market, their funds primarily come from a small group with extremely high risk appetites and are highly sensitive to extreme market conditions.

The market position of leading exchanges is being reshuffled.

In the third quarter of 2025, there were some subtle changes in the rankings of major exchanges in the global market. Binance remained firmly in the leading position, maintaining a market share of approximately 35% in trading volume for the quarter, making it the only trading platform with a stable share exceeding one-third. OKX, as a veteran exchange, consistently ranked among the top two globally in trading volume, but its market share declined in the third quarter (by approximately 1.5 percentage points), representing the largest decline among major exchanges this quarter.

Meanwhile, Bitget achieved a significant leap forward: its market share increased by approximately 0.3 percentage points quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter, successfully surpassing Bybit to become the third-largest exchange in terms of global trading volume. Emerging platforms such as Gate and BingX also showed strong momentum, with their market share increasing by approximately 1.7 and 1.1 percentage points respectively this quarter, demonstrating a rapid expansion of their user base and trading activity; KuCoin remained stable, with a slight increase of approximately 0.16 percentage points.

Among mid-sized platforms, LBank and other "dark horses" have shown particularly impressive growth. Amid the dramatic volatility following the "Black Weekend" in October, LBank's peak daily trading volume reached approximately $4.2 billion, accounting for nearly 4% of global spot trading. The platform reportedly boasts over 20 million registered users, operates in more than 160 countries, and has achieved rapid growth in trading volume through aggressive market strategies. LBank is now considered a representative of the "mid-sized, high-growth" tier, carving out a share of the vast long-tail market through rapid new coin listings and attractive incentives.

Overall, Binance still controls the vast majority of liquidity; the second tier, consisting of OKX, Bybit, and Bitget, is steadily competing and maintaining its leading position in the spot and derivatives markets; while emerging mid-sized exchanges such as LBank are constantly increasing their presence through differentiated strategies (rapid listing of small cryptocurrencies, low fee discounts, etc.), carving out their own market space outside of the mainstream giants.

Comparison of the operational characteristics of the four major exchanges

1. Transaction volume and market share.

Binance continued its strong growth momentum in 2025. In the first quarter, its spot trading volume reached approximately $2.2 trillion, with its market share increasing from about 38% at the beginning of the year to over 40% by the end of the first quarter. In July alone, its spot trading volume reached approximately $698 billion, accounting for about 39.8% of the global market share. In derivatives, Binance remains the world's largest platform, with daily contract trading volume far exceeding its peers. In the third quarter of 2025, its open interest accounted for approximately 24.6% of the global total. During the flash crash in October, its matching engine withstood the test and quickly returned to normal.

OKX: As a long-established exchange, OKX possesses a significant advantage in derivatives trading. Its daily contract trading volume has consistently ranked among the top in the industry, with its derivatives trading volume in some months even approaching that of Binance. OKX's spot trading volume also consistently ranks among the top three globally. Although specific data is rarely publicly reported, industry rankings indicate that OKX consistently ranks among the top five globally in every month of the year. During the market turmoil in October, the OKX platform operated smoothly overall, without any major technical incidents.

Bitget: Bitget excels in contract trading, with an average monthly total trading volume of approximately $750 billion in 2025, of which about 90% came from derivatives trading. The platform has attracted a large number of contract trading users by building a copy trading ecosystem and providing contract education for beginners. As of September 2025, approximately 80% of Bitget's trading volume came from institutional investors (compared to only about 39% at the beginning of the year), indicating a significant increase in market depth and professional participation. Bitget's derivatives market share consistently ranks among the top three in the industry, and its platform token, BGB, has a market capitalization of approximately $2.5 billion, giving it considerable influence in the contract trading community.

LBank: As a rising star platform in recent years, LBank has seen astonishing growth in spot trading volume, with daily turnover reaching billions of dollars, peaking at over $4 billion in a single day during the volatile market of October. While its absolute size cannot compare with leading giants, LBank has attracted a large number of high-risk-averse speculative users by rapidly listing new coins and offering high-leverage contracts for altcoins. LBank reportedly has over 20 million registered users, covering more than 160 countries. Its positioning as a "100x coin hotspot" makes it highly attractive to altcoin speculators; however, its overall share in the global derivatives market remains relatively limited.

2. Fee structure and profit model.

Binance, OKX, and Bitget: All three adopt a tiered fee structure similar to Maker/Taker, offering VIP fee discounts based on user trading volume or holdings. Transaction fees remain the primary source of revenue for these leading platforms. In addition, interest income from margin lending and revenue from platform token ecosystems are also important profit pillars. For example, each platform issues its own tokens (BNB, OKB, BGB) to provide users with benefits such as fee reductions and participation in new projects. Simultaneously, platforms expand their revenue streams by launching additional services such as Launchpad (new coin launches) and staking. Overall, large exchanges have secured traditional fee revenue through strong liquidity and economies of scale, while maintaining profit growth through new product ecosystems.

LBank: In recent years, LBank has taken a unique approach. The platform frequently launches incentive programs such as zero transaction fees for all spot trading and 100% bonus on contract account deposits, significantly benefiting users. For example, users can receive approximately $50 in contract trial funds by completing registration tasks, and spot trading is free of charge during the promotion period; another example is offering a 100% bonus on contract account deposits. Through these measures, LBank sacrifices short-term transaction fee revenue to gain market share, a strategy that contrasts sharply with traditional exchanges like Binance. It can be said that LBank attracts and retains users with high-value benefits (no transaction fees and bonuses), solidifying its influence in the high-risk speculative market. This counter-cyclical marketing strategy is particularly bold during bear markets—the platform hardly profits from user trading, instead returning the saved transaction fees and bonuses to users to cultivate user loyalty.

3. User structure and geographic distribution.

Binance boasts a highly global user base and is advancing its compliance strategy in several major markets (such as the US and Europe). Binance has a large number of institutional and high-volume trading users, offering services such as OTC block trading, options, and ETFs to meet professional needs. Its ecosystem token, BNB, has a market capitalization of tens of billions of dollars, reflecting the platform's vast ecosystem and high user engagement.

OKX has a strong foothold in the Asian market, especially in East and Southeast Asia, where it boasts a broad user base. OKX has long focused on technological development and on-chain security, attracting numerous professional traders and crypto enthusiasts. By launching Web3 products such as OKX Wallet, OKX connects centralized trading with the DeFi world, encouraging users to participate in on-chain lending and staking using platform tokens like OKB, thereby enhancing user asset retention and stickiness.

Bitget enjoys popularity in emerging markets, boasting a large user base in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. Known for its copy trading community, Bitget attracts many new contract traders through its KOL (Key Opinion Leader) strategy. In recent years, Bitget's institutional client base has rapidly increased; in 2025, approximately 80% of its trading volume came from professional institutions, indicating that the platform has gradually gained wider market recognition beyond its initial focus on retail investors. Bitget's platform token, BGB, provides holders with benefits through a regular buyback and burn mechanism, also offering users a channel to share in the platform's growth.

LBank's primary users prefer highly volatile altcoins, new projects, and high-leverage trading. These users are largely located in emerging markets such as the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, and also include speculators globally seeking quick returns. They are extremely sensitive to transaction fees and expect the platform to quickly list popular new coins and offer substantial profit opportunities. In response to these characteristics, LBank emphasizes its record of "10 years without major security incidents" and a "$100 million security fund," winning the trust of a segment of users highly sensitive to security. In essence, LBank aims to create a "retail-friendly hub for high-risk cryptocurrencies"—users primarily seek 100x returns and trading incentives while expecting the platform to provide robust risk control. LBank strives to build trust among these users by consistently providing bonuses and maintaining secure operations.

Wealth Management Products, Leveraged Trading and Risk Management

1. Wealth management and income products.

Binance offers a wide range of wealth management products, including "Simple Earn" and structured investments, and integrates new project launches in the primary market with the Binance ecosystem through Launchpool/Launchpad. During the 2025 bull market, Binance supported liquidity mining and staking on mainstream assets such as USDE, BNSOL, and WBETH, encouraging users to hold their positions long-term to earn returns. Notably, after the market flash crash in October, Binance explicitly stated that the plunge was not caused by any of its wealth management products and pledged to continuously strengthen product risk control.

OKX integrates centralized and decentralized yield channels through its OKX Earn platform. Users on OKX can participate in traditional fixed-term/current account wealth management, or seamlessly enter the DeFi world to earn yields through OKX Wallet. OKX connects its Web3 wallet with centralized exchanges, encouraging users to participate in on-chain lending, staking, and other projects using assets such as OKB, thereby improving asset utilization efficiency and enhancing user stickiness while ensuring fund security.

Bitget: Bitget Earn combines the advantages of stable wealth management with a trading community, launching regular wealth management products for beginners. It guides users to learn about advanced features such as contract copy trading while earning fixed returns, forming a closed loop of "wealth management-trading". Bitget emphasizes a youthful community, frequently hosting trading competitions and platform token holding dividends to increase user participation and loyalty, gradually converting wealth management users into active trading users.

LBank: LBank's unique investment strategy is a combination of "bonus funds + leverage." The platform offers promotions such as "100% deposit bonus": for every certain amount of assets deposited, the platform provides an equivalent bonus, which users can use to open leveraged contract positions without tying up additional principal. This design allows users to "amplify market movements with bonus funds," meaning that even if losses occur, the main loss is the bonus funds, not their own capital. Furthermore, LBank has long maintained a zero-fee policy for spot trading, allowing users to view the saved fees as additional income. Official data shows that many users have seized the opportunity of LBank's new coin listings and gained considerable returns. Overall, LBank emphasizes putting the user first—"returning the saved fees and bonuses to users"—allowing users to enjoy platform benefits even in high-risk investments, thereby establishing a differentiated competitive advantage.

2. Leverage and contract trading.

Centralized exchanges (CEXs): Perpetual contract trading dominated the market in 2025, accounting for over 78% of the total cryptocurrency trading volume throughout the year. This sector was primarily controlled by leading CEXs such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit—these three platforms collectively contributed the majority of global contract liquidity (Binance alone accounted for approximately a quarter of global liquidity). Bitget followed closely behind, ranking among the top three in some niche markets. For the vast majority of ordinary users, centralized platforms remain the preferred choice for contract trading due to their superior risk management and custody guarantees. Following the flash crash in October, leading CEXs successively raised margin requirements, lowered maximum leverage ratios, and optimized liquidation mechanisms and risk reserves to mitigate systemic risk. Overall, CEXs, leveraging their brand reputation and scale, provide a relatively stable trading environment and risk control measures in the contract market, and remain the primary venue for most users to conduct leveraged trading.

Decentralized Platforms (DEXs): Compared to traditional centralized exchanges (CEXs), perpetual DEXs like Hyperliquid offer more extreme leverage (some contracts reaching hundreds of times), more lenient entry requirements (no KYC verification required), and a wider range of long-tail assets, thus attracting a group of traders with a "high-risk appetite." These users include professional high-frequency trading teams seeking extremely high returns, seasoned players who are wary of centralized custody due to security incidents, and niche investors keen on speculating on altcoin contracts. Perpetual DEXs execute trades and clear transactions through smart contracts, reducing the need for trust in centralized intermediaries. However, as demonstrated by the market turmoil in October 2025, high-leverage positions on decentralized platforms are also vulnerable to extreme market conditions: although the platforms themselves maintained stable operation, a large number of user positions were forcibly liquidated during the sharp fluctuations, and much capital was withdrawn in panic to seek safe havens. This indicates that while perpetual DEXs differentiate themselves from traditional centralized exchanges in terms of functionality and user experience, the high-risk user group they serve also shrinks during major market shocks.

3. Post-crisis response measures.

Following the October 2025 crash, leading centralized exchanges (CEXs) such as Binance, OKX, and Bitget leveraged their risk preparedness mechanisms and brand reputation to swiftly implement a series of market stabilization measures. Binance announced the allocation of approximately $283 million to compensate affected users (primarily covering losses from stablecoin staking in its Earn products) and publicly stated its commitment to strengthening risk management, increasing margin requirements, and fixing system vulnerabilities to prevent similar future events. OKX and Bitget, on the other hand, focused on technological improvements and user subsidies: enhancing trading infrastructure and replenishing insurance fund reserves, while offering fee reductions or trading rewards to loyal users to demonstrate their commitment to sharing risks with their users.

LBank: As an aggressive emerging platform, LBank adopted a strategy of significant concessions to rebuild user confidence. Following the incident, LBank immediately launched a combination of measures, including waiving all spot trading fees, providing 100% bonuses on contract account deposits, and establishing a security fund of up to $100 million. The platform emphasized that it "does not charge users a single penny in fees, but instead uses the saved fees and bonuses to benefit users," using substantial concessions to stabilize market sentiment and demonstrate its stance of standing with users. While these measures reduced the platform's short-term revenue, they attracted considerable attention during the recovery period, resulting in short-term user growth and increased visibility for LBank. Overall, after this storm, although market volatility was sharp, most mainstream CEXs demonstrated strong resilience; their core trading businesses were not fundamentally impacted, and each platform promptly regained user trust through proactive measures.

Market performance summary over the past 30 days: Most platform tokens have shown a downward trend.

Most exchange platform tokens have seen price declines in the past 30 days. Especially after a surge in early October, market sentiment weakened in November, leading to a general correction in the platform token sector. For example, BNB, the leading token, fell by about 20% in the past month; Crypto.com's CRO fell by more than 30%. OKB also dropped by more than 30% in a single month. These declines corrected the previous rapid gains, reflecting a lack of new positive catalysts for platform tokens in the short term.

This phenomenon is related to a shift in market capital preferences—the recent increase in Bitcoin's share has led to capital outflows from exchange tokens at high prices, causing most platform tokens to decline. For example, Mantle (MNT) has plummeted by about 35% in the past 30 days, reflecting a decrease in investor risk appetite and a return of funds to mainstream assets such as Bitcoin. Furthermore, some platform tokens lack new momentum after previous positive factors have been fully priced in; for instance, OKB entered a cooling-off period after its one-time burn in August, resulting in a significant price drop. Overall, the exchange platform token sector has underperformed the broader market in the past month, with most tokens showing negative monthly returns, requiring the emergence of new driving factors.

Analysis of the reasons behind the price movements of various platform tokens

Regarding the recent price fluctuations of the aforementioned platform tokens, we have combined user-provided information and market dynamics to provide a brief analysis of the underlying logic for each token:

• BNB (Binance's platform token): As the platform token of a leading exchange, BNB has long benefited from the massive user base and financial backing of the Binance ecosystem. Binance employs a continuous buyback and burn mechanism (repurchasing and burning BNB quarterly based on profits) and the Binance Alpha campaign to support the token price. This year, Binance has focused on expanding its on-chain applications (such as supporting DeFi and AI on the BNB chain), enhancing BNB's usability. However, regulatory pressure and macroeconomic risks have led to fluctuating BNB prices. BNB has fallen approximately 20.8% in the past 30 days, partly due to a technical correction after its previous rapid rise, and partly due to market funds favoring safe-haven assets like Bitcoin. Overall, BNB has maintained relative resilience thanks to its strong fundamentals, still accumulating a gain of approximately 28% year-to-date, reflecting its leading position and the effectiveness of its buyback mechanism.
• OKB (OKX platform coin): OKB's performance this year has been initially strong but has since declined. On the positive side, OKX launched its self-developed Ethereum Layer 2 network "X Layer" and improved its ecosystem layout, which is one of OKB's new application scenarios. At the same time, in August 2025, OKX officially burned a large amount of OKB at once, permanently fixing the total supply at 21 million coins. This unprecedented concentrated burning pushed up the price of OKB at that time. OKB once reached a high of about $258 in August. However, as the positive news was digested, the market entered a cooling-off period, and the price of OKB fell sharply by about 60% from its high. In the last 30 days, OKB has continued to weaken, falling by about 33%, due to: (1) the pressure of technical correction after the previous large increase; (2) the overall market preference has shifted to mainstream coins, and platform coins lack new positive factors. Looking ahead, the long-term effect of the significant reduction in the supply of OKB is still there, but in the short term, it is necessary to wait for the official launch of OKX's Layer 2 chain and the increase in transaction volume before new upward momentum can be injected into OKB.
• BGB (Bitget platform token): BGB performed exceptionally well in the first half of this year, with its price increasing several times compared to the end of 2022. However, its recent upward momentum has weakened, which is related to its change in functional positioning . In early September, Bitget announced a strategic partnership with the new public chain Morph, upgrading BGB to become Morph's native Gas and governance token, and burning 220 million BGB (approximately 10% of the total supply) in one go. This move greatly enriched BGB's application scenarios, and BGB rose slightly by 14% after the announcement. However, becoming a public chain token also means that BGB has shifted from primarily relying on platform buybacks and burns to an endogenous burning mechanism that follows on-chain activities. In the short term, this model shift has reduced market enthusiasm for BGB : before the Morph ecosystem is fully mature, BGB lacks additional positive stimuli. Therefore, BGB's performance has been relatively weak over the past month, with its price fluctuating between $3.5 and $4, experiencing a slight pullback. Currently, however, BGB lacks short-term upward momentum, and its monthly performance lags behind its previous peak.
• GT (Gate Token): Gate.io's GT is one of the earlier platform tokens issued, and its price was relatively stable in its early stages. However, recent operational setbacks on the Gate platform have affected GT's attractiveness. Rumors of a liquidity crisis circulated in mid-2023, causing user panic, but the official clarification confirmed that Gate was not bankrupt. Despite the crisis being resolved, Gate's brand image and user growth were negatively impacted. Compared to leading platforms, Gate lags behind in product innovation and global compliance. Furthermore, in a highly competitive market, funds tend to favor the platform tokens of leading exchanges, which also limits GT's performance. GT surged to a historical peak of approximately $25 in early 2025 thanks to the industry recovery, but subsequently declined significantly. Gate's recent regular platform token buyback and burn (burning 2.1 million GT in Q3) has had limited impact on the price. Over the past 30 days, it has fallen by 31.2%. In summary, Gate's declining platform presence and insufficient competitiveness make it difficult for GT to replicate its earlier steady upward trend, leading to relatively cautious investor confidence.
• ASTER (Aster DEX platform token): ASTER is a newly launched decentralized perpetual contract trading platform token, introduced in September of this year. Its product design and functionality are unremarkable, lacking significant differentiation. However, ASTER's rapid market attention is primarily due to the backing and investment of one of Binance's founders . Reportedly, Aster is touted as a "Hyperliquid-style DEX on BSC," incubated by YZi Labs and supported and publicly endorsed by Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). This close relationship with Binance fueled speculative frenzy surrounding ATER's launch—its price surged over 900% on its first day. Within a week, Aster's trading volume exceeded $51.6 billion, with over 1.7 million active users, a remarkably strong performance. However, it should be noted that ASTER's product is still in its early stages, with mediocre functionality and user experience; its popularity stems more from capital investment and market hype. After reaching a high of $2.42 in late September, the price quickly halved, currently down approximately 55% from its peak. ASTER has been trading sideways for the past month, with a slight increase of about 2%. Looking ahead, without new Binance-related resources, ASTER's future performance will depend on whether the product can keep up with competitors (such as Hyperliquid) and whether it can actually be listed on the Binance exchange to achieve wider exposure.
• MX (MEXC platform token): MX is the platform token of the MEXC exchange. In recent years, MEXC has shifted its focus to the global market, actively expanding its user base, especially in emerging countries. However, compared to established giants, MEXC's international brand awareness and user recognition remain limited. The supply of MX tokens is relatively small, and its price has historically been driven primarily by exchange operations. This year, MEXC launched a large number of new tokens and claimed outstanding liquidity performance, but these initiatives have had limited direct impact on MX. Overall, MX has a certain user base in overseas markets, but lacks a strong, sticky ecosystem. Its price has steadily increased this year, but not significantly, mainly reflecting the slow accumulation of platform trading volume growth. MX has fallen by approximately 7.72% in the past 30 days, which may be related to MEXC's marketing activities during market downturns (such as MX airdrops and new token subscriptions), providing support for the price. In the long term, if MEXC fails to enter the top tier of exchanges, MX's upside potential will be limited. Currently, MX's size and liquidity are relatively small, making it a high-risk niche token in investment portfolios.

In summary, exchange platform tokens have generally been under downward pressure over the past 30 days, but the underlying fundamental factors differ among the tokens. Leading tokens (such as BNB and OKB), supported by strong ecosystems, continue to outperform smaller platform tokens in the long term. Mid-sized platform tokens (such as BGB, GT, and WOO) are affected by operational strategies and market confidence, resulting in significant divergence in their price movements. New platform tokens (such as ASTER) have experienced short-term surges in popularity, but they still need fundamental support to sustain their growth. For investors, it is crucial to closely monitor the exchange's business dynamics and changes in the token economic model behind each platform token, such as buyback and burn policies, public chain and Layer 2 development progress, and regulatory events.

Security and Compliance: Reconstructing User Trust

In the first half of 2025, security incidents in the crypto space continued to occur frequently. Statistics show that asset losses due to hacker attacks and other causes totaled nearly $2.3 billion in the first half of the year, exceeding the total for the entire year of 2024. User concerns about exchange security remained high. Meanwhile, regulatory agencies in various countries are strengthening their oversight of centralized exchanges (CEXs): requiring exchanges to publicly disclose asset reserve certificates, establish user insurance funds, accept independent audits, and comprehensively improve their risk control systems. Major regions such as the United States and the European Union have successively issued regulatory guidelines for crypto assets—Europe plans to implement the MiCA 2.0 framework by the end of 2025, and the United States is also discussing clearer regulations for digital asset ETFs/brokerage firms. In this environment, the security and compliance performance of exchanges has become an important reference indicator for users when making choices.

In terms of specific measures, different exchanges have different focuses:

Binance: As an industry leader, Binance has repeatedly clashed with regulators globally in recent years, gradually seeking breakthroughs in compliance (such as participating in the design of Bitcoin ETF products and reaching settlements with regulators in some regions). Since 2018, Binance has established the "Safe Asset Fund (SAFU)" and regularly discloses proof of its reserve assets to the public to enhance transparency. Following the October crisis, Binance exceptionally used its own funds on a large scale to compensate users and proactively released a system security assessment report, emphasizing that it will further strengthen technical protection and risk management—these measures demonstrate its attempt to rebuild user trust through concrete actions.

OKX: OKX is renowned for its technological strength and on-chain security. The platform employs a multi-signature wallet architecture and rigorous risk control processes. Although security incidents have occurred in the past (such as a private key incident in 2018 that resulted in the theft of a large amount of assets), OKX quickly compensated users and upgraded security measures after the incidents, and no major security incidents have occurred since. OKX continuously conducts smart contract audits and system vulnerability scans, and has established a user protection fund to cope with black swan events; at the same time, it actively obtains licenses in multiple countries, exploring ways to operate in compliance. In 2025, OKX further demonstrated its ability to balance compliance and innovation by launching a decentralized trading module and an on-chain custody solution.

Bitget: In recent years, Bitget has emphasized fulfilling its social responsibility and proactively sought external audits. Following the massive liquidation event caused by the market volatility in 2024, Bitget immediately used its platform risk reserve to compensate some users and invited a well-known cybersecurity company to conduct a comprehensive audit of its entire system. Bitget has also established its own "security fund" and claims to provide Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC) coverage for some users' USD deposits. Although its platform token BGB's market capitalization and application influence are not as large as leading platform tokens like BNB, Bitget strives to maintain the stability of its platform token's value by regularly buying back and burning BGB to fund its risk reserves, thereby enhancing users' confidence in the platform's sound operation.

LBank: LBank highlights its "ten years without major security incidents" and "$100 million security fund" as key selling points. In the shadow of events like the FTX collapse, LBank frequently emphasizes its long history of stable operation and zero incidents, promising users the safety of their funds with a substantial security reserve. Although LBank has not yet made significant progress in international regulatory compliance, it strives to convince users of its risk management capabilities through its solid security history and continuous investment in security. For ordinary retail investors who naturally distrust centralized exchanges (CEXs), a platform that publicly discloses its security record and establishes a large security fund undoubtedly increases their trust in it.

From a trust mechanism perspective, different types of platforms have different needs. Leading CEXs (such as Binance) rely on scale and institutional trust—on the one hand, they establish a compliant image by accepting audits and participating in regulatory sandboxes; on the other hand, they enhance user stickiness by expanding the value of their platform token ecosystem and launching heavyweight products (such as ETFs). DEXs, on the other hand, are entirely built on technological trust: transparent smart contracts and user self-custody mechanisms allow users to operate without trusting any centralized institution. Mid-sized CEXs (such as LBank) fall somewhere in between, relying more on performance and integrity to build behavioral trust: the platform needs to prove its stable operation and deliver on its promises through multiple bull and bear market cycles to win the favor of ordinary users who value long-term commitment. It can be said that security and compliance have now transformed from "marginal costs" into core considerations for users when choosing a trading platform.

The market diversion effect of Alpha and Hyperliquid

Binance Alpha's Listing Funnel Effect: Binance launched the Alpha project in 2025, listing tokens at a much faster pace than ever before. As of early July 2025, the Alpha platform had listed over 200 projects, covering multiple sectors including AI, Meme, Layer 2, and RWA, with more than half belonging to the BNB blockchain ecosystem. These projects typically airdrop or conduct early trading on Alpha before listing on the Binance mainnet once market interest builds. Binance has repeatedly emphasized that Alpha is the platform for new projects to launch first (e.g., Yei Finance and Enso were both first listed on Alpha). This process effectively forms a complete "listing funnel": Alpha captures the largest share of price increases from new coin issuances, keeping the majority of the price difference between the primary and secondary markets within the Binance ecosystem. Other exchanges often only share the remaining traffic benefits later on. In simpler terms, Alpha attracts user attention and trading activity from new coin listings to its own platform by pre-locking in potential coins and building an internal traffic pool, significantly reducing the opportunities for other exchanges to benefit from the "listing bonus."

The structural erosion of the futures market by perpetual DEXs: The impact of decentralized perpetual platforms like Hyperliquid on the futures market is primarily manifested in the diversion of specific user groups. They attract not a broad range of ordinary users, but rather professional traders seeking extremely high leverage and prioritizing anonymity and self-custody. This group includes teams accustomed to algorithmic high-frequency trading strategies, traders who, due to the FTX incident, harbor negative feelings towards centralized platforms and prefer self-custody, and niche speculators interested in niche altcoin futures. When these individuals migrate to platforms like Hyperliquid, the trading volume of corresponding trading pairs on centralized platforms often declines significantly. For example, in the perpetual futures market for some long-tail tokens, Hyperliquid has become the dominant trading venue. Statistics show that in the second quarter of 2025, Hyperliquid accounted for nearly 73% of the perpetual trading volume on DEXs, demonstrating its strong ability to attract funds. This means that for centralized exchanges like OKX, Bitget, and LBank, the funds being diverted are precisely those previously known for their high-risk, high-volume trading.

OKX / Bitget / LBank face differentiation pressures:

OKX: As a giant in the contract trading field, OKX must establish a presence in on-chain derivatives; otherwise, its high-end user base may be gradually eroded by decentralized competitors. Currently, OKX has launched decentralized trading functionality integrated with its own public chain, OKX Chain, including on-chain perpetual contracts, to avoid losing the favor of professional traders. It is foreseeable that OKX will increase its investment in stablecoin lending, cross-chain contracts, and combining copy trading with DeFi strategies to solidify its position as a bridge between CeFi and DeFi.

Bitget 's strength lies in its copy trading ecosystem, but some novice users who rely on KOL strategies are also starting to be attracted by high-yield on-chain strategies. Once they discover more aggressive leverage strategies available on DEXs like Hyperliquid, they may leave. Therefore, Bitget needs to extend its "copy trading + quantitative strategies" to the decentralized realm, for example, by launching cross-chain asset copy trading services or adding DeFi strategy pools to the platform, to retain users seeking higher returns.

LBank 's "new coin + long-tail contract" business was most significantly affected. Hyperliquid snatched away some users who needed contracts for smaller coins—users who might have been LBank's key target group. However, LBank did not choose to directly emulate Binance Alpha's model or develop its own Hyperliquid. Instead, it continued to strengthen its position in the high-risk-appetite market among retail investors. Through frequent new coin launches, real-time display of "100x coin" performance, and a combination of zero transaction fees and generous bonuses, LBank aimed to become a "retail-friendly hub for 100x coins." In other words, LBank abandoned competing with Binance for absolute new coin launch traffic, instead emphasizing the message: "If you're passionate about 100x coins and high-leverage speculation, this is where you'll find the most opportunities and benefits." This differentiated positioning allowed LBank to maintain its place in the battle for user traffic and hopes to continue attracting venture capital with more user-friendly policies.

Future Outlook: The Rise and Fall of CEXs and DEXs

Looking ahead to late 2025 and early 2026, overall market sentiment is cautiously optimistic. Expectations of potential interest rate cuts and further easing by the Federal Reserve will support investor confidence, but inflationary pressures and geopolitical risks may keep volatility high. Continued inflows into ETFs and institutional demand are expected to continue supporting major assets such as Bitcoin, while altcoin trading activity is likely to be relatively moderate. It is foreseeable that under stricter compliance and transparency requirements, trading volumes on centralized exchanges will remain strong, and the market share of leading platforms in various sectors may further concentrate.

In the medium to long term, depending on different macroeconomic environments and industry evolution paths, the market share changes between CEX and DEX may exhibit the following scenarios:

Scenario A (Moderate Evolution): In this scenario, while perpetual DEXs continue their rapid development, the regulatory environment remains relatively mild, with countries not imposing excessive restrictions on CEXs. Centralized exchanges maintain their dominance through compliant operations and product upgrades. It is projected that by 2028, DEX trading volume will account for approximately 40%–45%, but CEXs will still control the majority of the remaining fund flows. Leading CEXs like Binance will attract traditional funds by participating in the launch of compliant ETFs/ETNs and regulated derivatives. The Alpha model will become a regular mechanism within the ecosystem, but it will not fundamentally reshape the trading landscape.

Scenario B (Extreme Decentralization): In this scenario, decentralized perpetual platforms like Hyperliquid maintain explosive growth, continuously eroding the activity of centralized platforms. Simultaneously, increasingly stringent global regulations on centralized exchanges (CEXs) significantly increase their compliance costs and operational pressures. If DEXs capture trading volume exponentially, coupled with stricter capital requirements or restrictions on CEX functions implemented in Europe and the US, the overall market share of centralized exchanges may decline rapidly. Ultimately, only a few fully compliant CEXs may survive, while most trading activity shifts to on-chain protocols.

Scenario C (Regulatory Favorability, CEX Counterattack): In this optimistic scenario, major economies such as the US and EU introduce clear and favorable regulatory frameworks, leading to widespread acceptance of crypto assets by mainstream finance. CEXs are able to launch compliant ETFs, ETNs, and regulated futures contracts, allowing large-scale traditional funds to enter the market through compliant channels. Leading exchanges like Binance, with their legal and compliant status, absorb these funds and, further enhanced by the Alpha model within the BNB ecosystem, provide innovative investment opportunities to users, thereby attracting and retaining new users. In this scenario, the overall market share of CEXs will remain stable or even increase—the massive influx of new funds from compliance benefits is sufficient to offset the diversion of existing users by DEXs.

In terms of specific platforms, these four exchanges are expected to evolve along their respective paths over the next 2-3 years:

Binance is expected to gradually transform from a state of "regulatory siege" in recent years into a "systematized" industry leader. Faced with regulatory pressure, Binance may integrate into regional compliance systems through licensed operations of local subsidiaries and proactive cooperation with audits, while continuing to leverage its vast ecosystem to solidify its user base. The Alpha project and the BNB ecosystem will be its two engines for maintaining attractiveness: Alpha gives Binance significant control over traffic from emerging projects, allowing it to continuously control market trends; BNB, as the ecosystem token, strengthens user stickiness through fee discounts and ecosystem applications. With its massive user base and comprehensive industry chain layout, Binance is poised to continue holding the largest global market share.

OKX will continue its investment in derivatives and Web3 infrastructure, striving to act as a bridge between the centralized and decentralized worlds. OKX may expand the functionality of its proprietary wallet and decentralized trading platform, launch on-chain versions of contract products, and maintain its appeal to advanced users. Simultaneously, OKX will acquire compliance licenses in more regions globally, with a particular focus on Asia and other emerging markets, maintaining its leading position in technological strength and risk management to ensure its competitive advantage in the future.

Bitget: Bitget focuses on in-depth development within the vertical field of "contract trading + copy trading." Its platform token, BGB, will continue to serve as the core of its ecosystem, providing user benefits and dividends to maintain loyalty. Bitget may develop more innovative products based on quantitative strategies (such as cross-chain strategy copy trading and decentralized derivatives aggregation) and strengthen cooperation with professional trading institutions. As long as it can fully leverage its automated trading and community advantages within regulatory limits, Bitget can solidify its core user base. For Bitget, continuously enhancing the value of BGB and strengthening user trust will be key to maintaining its competitiveness.

LBank 's future success hinges on its ability to maintain its "100x coin + incentives + security record" model. If it continues to rapidly list promising altcoins and maintains its zero-accident record during the upcoming bull market, LBank is poised to maintain the fastest growth rate among mid-sized exchanges, further increasing its market share (as repeatedly demonstrated in recent years). However, to solidify this position, LBank must consistently deliver on its security promises, provide attractive user incentives, and genuinely protect user rights in critical moments. Otherwise, if user confidence is shaken, its hard-won market position could be challenged.

Finally, from the perspective of ordinary investors, the following aspects need to be considered when choosing an exchange: First, the platform's performance during crises (can the exchange operate stably and ensure the safety of user assets when the next systemic crash occurs?); second, whether the platform can continuously provide new opportunities (does it constantly launch new projects or innovative products with potential, allowing users to participate in future growth dividends?); third, security and transparency (what is the exchange's past security record, and are its reserves and asset certificates fully transparent and publicly available?); fourth, whether the platform's interests are deeply aligned with those of its users (does the exchange regard users as long-term partners, sharing profits and risks with them, or merely treat users as trading counterparties and traffic sources?). After Alpha and Hyperliquid have diverted some of the extremely high-frequency, high-leverage risk capital, the remaining CEX market places greater emphasis on security, compliance, and profit sharing. Who will ultimately divide this "remaining territory" depends on the strategic choices of the aforementioned exchanges—and also on the future choices and actions of each of us investors.