Centralized exchanges will become gateways for DeFi — dYdX Foundation CEO

The dYdX Foundation, an independent decentralized finance (DeFi) nonprofit founded to support the dYdX protocol, recently launched a public testnet for its latest version, v4. According to the foundation, this puts dYdX ahead of schedule for the impending launch of the v4 mainnet, something the foundation claims represents complete decentralization for dYdX.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, the July 5 testnet launch represented the fourth of five milestones the dYdX Foundation laid out in a roadmap toward decentralization last year.

In its current live version, dYdX is still considered partially centralized. While it doesn’t actually take custody of any user assets, it still uses a centralized order book and matching system. The newest version, once fully launched, is purported to solve this issue.

Currently, dYdX moves a little more than $1 billion in funds daily and is considered the world’s largest decentralized exchange for perpetuals — bonds with no maturity date.

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In an interview with Cointelegraph at the Ethereum Community Conference in Paris, dYdX Foundation CEO Charles d’Haussy discussed the move toward total decentralization and what that would mean for centralized providers of perpetuals.

“They are not the competitors of the dYdX protocol, honestly,” said d’Haussy, adding, “I think they do their job well. They have been supporting the market early on. We should not forget that perpetuals were invented by BitMex, which is a centralized entity.”

The CEO described the current state of the industry as transitional, saying it was headed toward “decentralized disruption.”

However, he was quick to point out that this didn’t necessarily put centralized organizations in competition with DeFi. In his view, there’s room not only for both sides to co-exist, but opportunities for collaboration that could benefit crypto customers in general.

He added that, whether in the coming months or the next few years, he expects centralized exchanges to serve as gateways to decentralized exchanges.

“I can definitely imagine a world where maybe a centralized entity with KYC [Know Your Customer] and risk profiles on customers […] will offer spots trading in-house. Maybe they will offer their customers a better experience [compared] to DeFi, with a more simple integration and connecting from the centralized exchange to DeFi.”

The CEO explained that the proposed situation wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, using the idea of multi-service traditional financial banking institutions as an example.

“If you think about this in your bank today, the core business of your bank is your deposit. And your bank sells you insurance, your bank sells you mortgages, your bank sells you different things.”

The pattern in finance, according to d’Haussy, is to begin with a core business, “your bread and butter,” and then find relevant services to bundle alongside it.

He calls this “a positive for the ecosystem,” as long as it empowers people to adopt crypto services in a method that works for them.

According to d’Haussy, “People want to consume things in different ways. And if it’s easier for you or if you feel more comfortable with one entity helping you to manage your crypto experience, and this entity provides you access to DeFi, I think that’s great.”