For now, the app allows users to trade Base-issued assets from projects such as Virtuals AI Agents, Reserve Protocol DTFs, Soso Value Indices, Auki Labs, and Super Champs. Coinbase integrated liquidity routes from 1inch and 0x, enabling non-custodial token swaps without users surrendering control of their wallets.
Funding can come directly from an existing Coinbase balance or USDC, while the company absorbs gas fees in exchange for a “small, transparent” trading charge.
The launch follows a limited August trial with selected testers and signals a full-scale entry into on-chain trading for the exchange’s retail base.
The DEX launch also arrives amid a wave of similar efforts from competitors.
BitMart and MEXC have followed suit with their own on-chain venues, each aiming to keep users within their trading environments as liquidity fragments across networks.
These firms’ moves are unsurprising, considering industry data shows that crypto traders increasingly turn to DEX platforms for their trades.
That divergence pushed the DEX-to-CEX volume ratio to 0.23, up from 0.13 in the prior quarter.
Considering this, Youngsun Shin, Flipster’s head of product, noted:
“CeDeFi convergence will be a thing sooner than we all think.”
In this market environment, crypto traders have a growing preference for platforms offering transparency and self-custody of their assets. By integrating a DEX directly into their app, the CEXs aim to bridge that gap by offering the control of DeFi with the reliability and speed users expect from their exchange.
