DeFi Upstart dYdX Briefly Overtook Coinbase in Crypto Trading

In the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it world of decentralized finance, the cryptocurrency exchange dYdX stands out for more than just its unusual name, which is derived from the mathematical notation for a derivative.

Using a combination of low fees, coin rewards and perpetual futures contracts that fueled demand on some of the pioneering crypto exchanges, the autonomous trading platform overtook industry behemoth Coinbase Global Inc. in trading volume for one day last month. While supplanting so-called centralized exchanges such as Coinbase has long been a goal of DeFi advocates, the milestone for dYdX was even more noteworthy in that Coinbase co-founders Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam are among the high-profile crypto investors in the San Francisco-based startup that began in 2017.