The crypto industry today is almost unrecognizable from 7 years ago, both in size and scale. Just for decentralized exchanges (DEX), trading volume grew roughly 9,260x from 2019 to a record $4.7 trillion in 2025.  In 2026, however, activity moderated to $1.63 trillion year-to-date. 

It’s not down to one chain or sector. Liquidity is now distributed across more blockchains, venue types, protocols, and execution environments, without one clearly replacing the others.

SwapSpace recently published its State of Crypto Swaps 2026 report, which shows the massive extent of this growth. One of the clearest findings comes from its own platform data. Over 90.12% of its users interacted…