🌏 Macro & Liquidity Cycles ₿ Bitcoin & L1 (SOL, BNB, ETH, BASE) ⚙️ Trading protocols: JUP · MET · UNI · PUMP · HYPE · ASTER 🚀 Web3 startup insights
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Mark Alpha retweeted
The Battle for Crypto Trading: Can Onchain Exchanges Challenge CEX Dominance?
Token Insight | Industry Intelligence & Strategy
Research #01 | October 25, 2026
1. The battle for crypto trading is entering a new phase
For years, centralized exchanges (CEXs) have dominated cryptocurrency trading.
Binance @binance , Bybit @Bybit_Official , OKX @okx , and other major platforms built their competitive advantages around liquidity, execution speed, user experience, fiat accessibility, and global distribution.
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs), meanwhile, introduced a fundamentally different model: trading without surrendering custody of assets to a centralized exchange.
But the competitive landscape is changing.
The emergence of onchain perpetual exchanges such as Hyperliquid @HyperliquidX and Aster @Aster_DEX raises a strategic question:
Can onchain exchanges evolve from DeFi alternatives into serious competitors to the world's largest centralized trading platforms?
To answer this, we need to look beyond trading volume.
We need to understand the structure of the trading industry, the sources of competitive advantage, and how value may shift between centralized and onchain infrastructure.
2. CEXs still dominate — but onchain competition is becoming meaningful
The dominance of centralized exchanges remains substantial.
According to CoinGecko's Q3 2026 @coingecko industry report:
The top 10 spot CEXs generated approximately $1.65 trillion in quarterly trading volume.
Binance controlled 42.7% of that top-10 spot CEX volume.
Open interest across the top 10 perpetual CEXs exceeded $100 billion at quarter-end.
Meanwhile, DefiLlama @DefiLlama reported approximately $607.6 billion in 30-day perpetual DEX trading volume as of October 25, 2026.
Hyperliquid alone accounted for approximately $198.2 billion in reported 30-day volume, followed by other major players including Variational, Lighter, and Aster.
These figures demonstrate that onchain perpetual trading has become a meaningful market segment.
However, spot CEX volume, perpetual CEX open interest, and perpetual DEX volume measure different activities and periods. They should not be directly compared to calculate market share.
The real question is whether onchain exchanges can consistently attract liquidity, traders, and trading activity away from centralized competitors.
3. Understanding the trading value chain
An exchange is more than a trading interface.
The broader crypto trading value chain consists of several interconnected layers:
Asset access: Fiat on-ramps, stablecoins, custody, and capital movement.
Market access: Asset listings, trading pairs, and market discovery.
Liquidity: Market makers, order books, and available trading depth.
Execution: Matching engines, transaction costs, speed, and reliability.
Risk management: Margin, collateral, liquidations, and insurance mechanisms.
Settlement and custody: Ownership, clearing, and final settlement.
Distribution: User acquisition, APIs, integrations, and institutional relationships.
CEXs historically integrated many of these functions into centralized platforms.
Onchain exchanges are challenging this structure by separating certain functions from centralized operators and moving them into blockchain-based systems.
But decentralization does not automatically create a superior trading product.
For traders, the winning platform must still deliver competitive liquidity, execution quality, reliability, and costs.
The strategic opportunity for onchain exchanges is not simply decentralization. It is delivering CEX-level trading performance with stronger ownership, transparency, and composability.
...
KHI CUỘC CHƠI ĐÃ THAY ĐỔI LUẬT
Có một thời, ai cũng tin rằng:
→ chỉ cần xây một blockchain đủ tốt, đủ nhanh
→ là có thể tạo ra một “đế chế” riêng.
Nhưng thị trường đã thay đổi.
Ngày hôm nay, những vị trí quan trọng nhất gần như đã có chủ:
Ethereum @ethereum giữ vai trò nền tảng tài sản và DeFi
Solana @solana chiếm lĩnh dòng tiền retail và trading
BNB @BNBCHAIN tận dụng sức mạnh từ hệ sinh thái sàn
TON @ton_blockchain sở hữu distribution từ Telegram
Base @base đi cùng dòng tiền từ Coinbase
Đây không còn là cuộc chơi “ai build chain tốt hơn”.
Mà là cuộc chơi của user, liquidity và distribution.
---
Trong bối cảnh đó, một điều thú vị xảy ra:
Những cái tên đang tạo ra doanh thu thực sự…
lại không phải là blockchain.
Jupiter @JupiterExchange bắt đầu từ một trading protocol nhỏ trên Solana
→ giờ trở thành nơi dòng tiền đi qua mỗi ngày
Meteora @MeteoraAG chọn làm liquidity hub
→ âm thầm đứng sau, nhưng ăn phí từ mọi dòng tiền
Birdeye @birdeye_so – một team đến từ Việt Nam, sinh sau đẻ muộn
→ chỉ làm data
→ nhưng lại trở thành công cụ không thể thiếu với các traders và đối tác doanh nghiệp
Họ không xây chain.
Họ chọn đứng trên những hệ đã thắng là Solana
Và họ execute cực tốt.
---
Đến đây, câu chuyện không còn là “build cái gì”.
Mà là “ai làm được đến đâu”.
Lịch sử đã từng có câu trả lời.
Lưu Bang có thiên thời
Nhưng nếu không có binh tiên Hàn Tín
→ sẽ không bao giờ có thiên hạ
Trong crypto cũng vậy.
- Ý tưởng có thể giống nhau.
- Cơ hội có thể giống nhau.
- Thậm chí nguồn lực đôi khi cũng không quá khác biệt.
Nhưng người thực thi
→ mới là thứ quyết định ai thắng, ai bị bỏ lại.
---
Khi cuộc chơi đã thay đổi,
câu hỏi quan trọng nhất không còn là:
> “Làm sao để xây một đế chế mới?”
Mà là:
> “Mình đang đứng ở đâu trong dòng chảy chuỗi giá trị này?
Và mình đang tận dụng nó… hay đang cố chống lại nó?”
---
Không phải lúc nào tiếp tục chiến đấu cũng là dũng cảm.
Và cũng không phải lúc nào thay đổi hướng đi là từ bỏ, mà là rút lui có chiến lược.
Mark Alpha retweeted
50 years ago, millions of Vietnamese had to flee war.
Today, children grow up in peace.
Vietnam shows what peace can build.
#Vietnam
#Peace
#ChoosePeace
Mark Alpha retweeted
Vietnam 50 years ago vs Vietnam today. A country once destroyed by war is now one of the most beautiful places in Asia. This is what peace can build.
#Peace
#Vietnam
#ChoosePeace
#StopWar
Mark Alpha retweeted
With $MET, I wanted to level up the space, and build a core of crypto investors/traders, who look for fundamentals.
This way, we can fix tokens, which will all trade on @MeteoraAG.
We will champion this mission, for $MET, for Meteora, and for all of crypto.
Mark Alpha retweeted
Here are our top priorities for 2026 at Coinbase:
1) Grow the everything exchange globally (crypto, equities, prediction markets, commodities - across spot, futures, and options)
2) Scale stablecoins and payments
3) Bring the world onchain through @CoinbaseDev, @base chain, and @baseapp
We're making major investments in product quality and automation underlying each of these as well. Goal is to make Coinbase the #1 financial app in the world.
Mark Alpha retweeted
After #Uniswap's fee burn proposal was approved, the #Uniswap treasury burned 100M $UNI($591M) 4 hours ago.
intel.arkm.com/explorer/addr…
As a @MeteoraAG user, I’d love to see a simple public dashboard with:
📊 Total volume (24h)
💰 Total fee share (24h)
📈 Total revenue earned (24h)
(+ 7D / 30D views if possible)
Transparency like this would be super helpful for LPs 🙏
Any plans for this, @realdezen @0xSoju ? 👀
Mark Alpha retweeted
LESSON # 9: How to get richer as the world economy crashes.
The FED just let the world know their plans for the future.
The FED lowered interest rates…signaling QE (quantitative easing) or turning on the fake money printing press….What Larry Lepard calls “The Big Print” the title of his great book.
This will lead to Hyper-Inflation… making life very expensive for the unprepared.
My suggestion is the same…buy more real gold, silver, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.
I bought more real silver as soon as the Fed announced another rate cut last week.
Silver is going to the moon, possibly $200 an ounce in 2026.
Silver was $20 an ounce in 2024.
Q: Did I need to buy more silver?
A: NO. I just hate getting screwed by my own government….and I am going to get richer when the fake economy crashes.
What are you doing?
Take care.
Why I’m paying attention to $MET 👇
Meteora @MeteoraAG is one of the few DeFi infra projects showing real business discipline:
• $17.1M cashflow (Oct–Nov 2025)
• $10.67M used to buy back $MET (62% of spend) ≈ ~2.3% of total supply in just Q4
• Not VC-driven. Not hype-driven. Cashflow-driven.
👉 If Meteora maintains market share and continues this policy, annualized buybacks could reach $40–45M/year, equivalent to ~8–10% of token supply bought back annually at current prices.
Buybacks + deep MET–USDC LP = a soft price floor most tokens don’t have.
One note as an investor: I hope the team keeps the treasury strong — bear markets can last longer than expected, and liquidity = survival. @realdezen @0xSoju
This isn’t a “number-go-up-now” token.
It’s a re-rating play if volumes + ICM keep scaling on Solana.
Not financial advice.
Mark Alpha retweeted
🔥 LATEST: Binance adds major USD1 trading pairs and plans to convert BUSD collateral to World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin.
🧵 THREAD: Why these 5 countries search “Bitcoin” the most (12 months data)
I analyzed Google Trends + GDP + demographics + crypto regulation.
The result is VERY interesting 👇
---
1/
Top 5 countries searching “Bitcoin” the most worldwide (last 12 months):
1️⃣ Nigeria
2️⃣ Switzerland
3️⃣ Cambodia
4️⃣ El Salvador
5️⃣ Slovenia
These countries have *nothing in common* at first glance.
---
2/
So what’s the key question?
👉 *Why do both poor & rich countries show extreme Bitcoin interest?*
Answer:
Bitcoin plays different roles in different economic structures.
---
3/
Let’s look at the data 👇
Nigeria 🇳🇬
• Population: ~237M
• Median age: ~18 (VERY young)
• GDP per capita: ~$2,000
• Currency instability
• Crypto = alternative finance
Bitcoin here = financial survival tool
---
4/
Switzerland 🇨🇭
• Population: ~8.7M
• Median age: ~43
• GDP per capita: ~$110,000
• Strong regulation, Crypto-friendly
• Advanced financial system
Bitcoin here = investment & portfolio diversification
---
5/
Cambodia 🇰🇭
• Population: ~17M
• Median age: ~27
• GDP per capita: ~$2,600
• Young + mobile-first economy
• Limited traditional investment access
Bitcoin here = economic opportunity
---
6/
El Salvador 🇸🇻 (special case)
• Population: ~6.3M
• GDP per capita: ~$5,700
• Bitcoin was legal tender (2021–2024)
Bitcoin became a national-level topic, not just an asset.
Policy alone can massively boost search interest.
---
7/
Slovenia 🇸🇮
• Population: ~2.1M
• Median age: ~44
• GDP per capita: ~$30,000
• EU-style regulation (MiCA)
Small country, but very high per-capita Bitcoin attention.
---
8/
Key insight 🔑
Bitcoin search interest comes from 3 structural drivers:
1️⃣ Economic necessity (young & poor countries)
2️⃣ Financial sophistication (rich & regulated countries)
3️⃣ Political / policy relevance (El Salvador)
---
9/
Important note 👇
Google Trends is *normalized*.
This means:
• It’s not about total population
• It’s about intensity of interest
A small country can rank #1 if Bitcoin matters enough.
---
10/
Conclusion 🧠
Bitcoin is NOT one thing globally.
It can be:
• A hedge
• A payment rail
• An investment asset
• A political tool
That’s why adoption doesn’t follow GDP alone.
---
11/
This explains something many investors miss:
👉 Bitcoin adoption is driven by demographics + regulation + economic stress,
not just price or hype.
---
12/
If you want to understand where Bitcoin grows next:
Follow
• Young populations
• Weak currencies
• Regulatory clarity
• National-level narratives
That’s where search → usage → adoption happens.
Mark Alpha retweeted
Relaunch of the public sale phase for $WET goes LIVE in FIVE HOURS at dtf.jup.ag!
Mark the time: 8th Dec 10am ET
We’ve implemented counter-bot measures and lowered the wallet cap to give everyone a fair chance to get into the sale - botters can GTFO.
Having said that, the sale will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and expected to end extremely fast. Be wet and prepared at your stations before launch time for the best chance to get $WET.
Public Sale Relaunch Details:
Sale allocation: 30m tokens (3.0%) of total supply
Purchase price: 0.069 USDC per token (69m FDV)
Wallet cap: 500 USDC per wallet
Start time: 8th December, 10am EST
End time: 8th December, 10pm EST
Mechanism: First come first served
Successful contributors for the public sale and all previous whitelist sales will be able to claim their $WET tokens from the DTF website on 9th December, 9am EST. Liquidity pools will go live at the same time.
Since 2017, the market has moved in clear up-down cycles.
🔹 2017–2018: Up 13m → Down 13m
🔹 2019–2021: Up 26m → Down 20m
🔹 2023–2025: Up 31m → Next down 20–25m? (nearly Aug 2027)
History doesn’t repeat exactly — but it often rhymes.
Are we near the end of this cycle? 🤔📉📈
#Bullrun #downtrend @Bitcoin $BTC
Mark Alpha retweeted
State of Meteora: November 2025
As we head into the final month of the year, here is a look at how Meteora performed this month.
Mark Alpha retweeted
BIG BREAKING $ NEWS:
BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa announces the “UNIT”
a gold backed “money.”
BYE BYE US DOLLAR!!!!!
Stand by, stay awake, stay tuned in.
DONT BE A LOSER
My forecast is Savers of US dollars biggest losers.
If you own US Dollars…. Hyper inflation may wipe you out.
I stand by my mantra, own gold, silver, Bitcoin, and Ether.
Take care stay alert.
Mark Alpha retweeted
We had ZERO chance to buy $WET …
because it sold out in 0.1 seconds 💀💨
Congrats on the fastest launch in crypto history 😂
@JupiterExchange @humidifi
I’m LPing on @MeteoraAG every day using the Jupiter mobile app @JupiterExchange .
This is just feedback, not FUD about Jupiter DTF’s first launch (@humidifi ) $WET .
1. The public DTF site went live at the exact same time as launch day.
This suggests the team was rushing, which increases the chance of bugs or risky issues.
2. Important information was changed very late — just hours before launch.
Launch time was changed 6 hours before launch
Wetlist allocation was changed from 6% → 4%
This shows the planning wasn’t fully careful, and many updates came only after user feedback.
3. What happens if the Wetlist allocation doesn’t sell out?
What if the JUP staker allocation doesn’t sell out?
Can the public buy the leftover?
I couldn’t find any information — so I assume NO.
This also suggests the team didn’t prepare all edge cases for the launch.
So, what’s next?
I still believe the JUP team can execute much better in future launches.
For this launch, I’m only allocating a small amount because I don’t expect $WET to be a major launch.
$JUP $WET $MET
@weremeow @sssionggg @kashdhanda
Mark Alpha retweeted
Meteora is shaping a new world.
A world where a teenager in his bedroom can launch a market from their phone.
A world where a developer can build the next revolutionary launchpad.
A world where a student can turn passion + study into real on-chain creation.
A world where a trader can buy gold and precious metals in the click of a button.
A world where a business can bring their assets on-chain with a tap.
This is what Meteora rails are built for.
Mark Alpha retweeted
📊 Total DEX Volume (24h): $15B
🔥 Top 10 DEXs:
1️⃣ PancakeSwap @PancakeSwap — $3B
2️⃣ Uniswap @Uniswap — $2.9B
3️⃣ HumidiFi @humidifi — $1B
4️⃣ Curve Finance @CurveFinance — $733M
5️⃣ Meteora @MeteoraAG — $719M
6️⃣ Aerodrome @aeroxyz — $718M
7️⃣ Orca @orca_so — $565M
8️⃣ Fluid @0xfluid — $562M
9️⃣ Tessera V 🧐 — $516M
🔟 Raydium @Raydium — $467M
💥 DeFi is heating up.
👉 Which DEX are you using today? LIKE & RETWEET to represent your favorite! 🚀🔥
#DeFi #DEX #Crypto #Blockchain
