Binance CEO Predicts DEXes Will Overtake CEXes Within the Next 10 Years

CZ, Co-Founder and CEO of the world’s largest centralized crypto exchange (CEX) by trading volume, recently shared his thoughts on decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized exchanges (DEXes).

Speaking in an interview with the two co-hosts of the Bankless podcast, Binance chief Changpeng “CZ” Zhao predicted that DeFi and decentralized exchanges (DEXes) would be far superior to their centralized competitors within the next decade. 

As reported by The Daily Hodl, he said, 

I think in five or 10 years, decentralized exchanges will be bigger than centralized exchanges… I would say maximum, in 10 years, DEXes [and] DeFi are going to be bigger than CeFi.

While CZ admitted it would take a long time for centralized exchanges to “go to zero,” he predicted decentralized platforms would only require another 5 to 10 years to dominate the market. Despite being bullish on DeFi, the Binance CEO still believes centralized exchanges will play a role for “many decades to come.”

CZ explained that customers were both familiar and comfortable with centralized exchanges and that many clients would continue to prefer to use an email and password, compared to the alternative of a decentralized network. He highlighted his parents’ generation as a group that would be particularly resistant to the idea of using an encrypted USB stick for their private key login.

However, CZ predicted that decentralized technology and its user interface would continue to improve to the point of being “much more usable.” He argued that in some ways decentralized options were “actually easier to use” due to the lack of know-your-customer (KYC) processes that are often tedious for exchanges.