Binance Gives Sneak Peek of a Future Decentralized Exchange

News and Analysis
09.08.2018

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance took a big step towards becoming a decentralized exchange when it revealed a “rough, pre-alpha” demo version of its upcoming new DEX platform.

The platform could eventually take over from Binance’s current, centralized exchange platform, which currently handles more trading volume than any other exchange in the world, BitcoinExchangeGuide reports.

The Binance decentralized exchange is built on the Binance Chain, a public blockchain project first announced by the exchange in May.

In a video walk-through, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao described the demo release as a “small step” for the Binance Chain project but a “big step” for Binance overall. Zhao claims that Binance “will transition from being a company to a community,” and sees decentralized technology as the way of the future.

“As a public blockchain, Binance Chain will mainly focus on the transfer and trading of blockchain assets, as well as provide new possibilities for the future flow of blockchain assets,” Binance announced back in May.

The long-term goal of Binance Chain is to launch a high-performance, easy-to-use, liquid blockchain platform capable of supporting Binance’s trading activities.

“Binance Chain will focus on performance, ease-of-use, and liquidity. Binance Coin (BNB) will be upgraded to exist on its own blockchain mainnet, becoming a native coin. At the same time, Binance will transition from being a company to a community.”

There is no further information about future releases for Binance DEX, with the exchange insisting the platform is “still in early pre-stage development.” The video in Zhao’s tweet is described as “a casual early pre-alpha demo,” however one can see developers create a mock-up token, issue it on the Binance Chain blockchain, sell that token, and create a buy order for it.

Binance and Binance DEX Will “Coexist for Some Time”

According to Zhao, Binance isn’t going to immediately transfer to become a decentralized exchange. Instead, he sees the current centralized trading platform and DEX “coexisting for some time,” allowing the market to choose what it prefers.

Binance Criticized For Not Being a Truly Decentralized Exchange

A major exchange like Binance launching a decentralized exchange platform might seem like a good thing for the crypto community. However, certain members of the community are criticizing Binance’s DEX for not being truly decentralized.

For example, a Twitter user writing as DecentralizedMatt claims Binance DEX can’t be considered a fully decentralized exchange because the company can freeze or de-list coins at will.

He also brings up the point that Binance charges a 400 BTC (around $2.6 million at current rates) listing fee, something Christopher Franko, co-founder and CEO of blockchain platform Expanse, claimed recently on social media.

As reported earlier this summer, Binance made its first public acquisition, having bought a decentralized Trust Wallet, a decentralized wallet service for digital tokens that also serves as a browser for so-called decentralized applications. It allows users to hold Ethereum, and over 20,000 different Ethereum based tokens.

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