@meltem-demirors
2026 is the year centralized exchanges are categorically disrupted by onchain markets (aka decentralized exchange)
Onchain market supply, liquidity and infrastructure has crossed the threshold such that anyone can spin up a production-grade exchange that competes head on with the incumbent CEX core business (e.g. fomo). Many large exchanges are aggregating markets onchain which is accelerating this trend.
What used to be a moat (kyc/licenses/regulation first) is now a competitive disadvantage against new trading apps, while value capture has moved upstream to issuance (pump, polymarket, zora, clanker etc) and the network level (solana is really an exchange disguised as an L1).
Years of infrastructure work is culminating into the most open and exciting time to build new markets and exchanges.
Centralized exchanges will need to be judicious in where they choose to compete as the barriers have come down and the nature of the game has changed.
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