dYdX Foundation, a decentralized finance (DeFi) organization committed to supporting the dYdX protocol, has recently unveiled its latest version, v4, through a public testnet. This launch has put them ahead of schedule for the forthcoming release of the v4 mainnet, marking a significant step towards complete decentralization for dYdX, as outlined in their roadmap.
As per Cointelegraph’s recent report, the testnet launch on July 5 was the fourth milestone in a series of five planned by dYdX Foundation to achieve full decentralization, starting from last year.
The current live version of dYdX still retains some centralized elements, despite not having custody of user assets. It operates on a centralized book order and matching system. The upcoming v4 version is expected to resolve this centralization concern upon its full deployment.
Presently, dYdX facilitates more than $1 billion in daily fund transfers and holds the position of the world’s largest decentralized exchange for perpetuals – bonds without a maturity date.
During an interview at the EthCC conference in Paris, France, dYdX Foundation CEO Charles d’Haussy discussed the transition towards complete decentralization and its implications for centralized providers of perpetuals.
According to d’Haussy, centralized providers are not direct competitors of the dYdX protocol. He acknowledged their early support for the market and emphasized that perpetuals were originally introduced by BitMex, a centralized entity.
Describing the current state of the industry as transitional, he believes it is moving towards “decentralized disruption.” However, he pointed out that this does not necessarily imply a competition between centralized organizations and DeFi. Instead, he sees opportunities for collaboration that could benefit the broader crypto community.
d’Haussy envisions a future where centralized exchanges could act as gateways to decentralized exchanges. He explained that it’s possible that a centralized entity, equipped with KYC (know-your-customer) and customer risk profiles, may offer in-house spot trading and provide customers with a smoother integration to DeFi compared to direct DeFi access.
He drew parallels with traditional financial institutions that bundle relevant services alongside their core businesses, considering it a positive development for the crypto ecosystem, empowering people to adopt crypto services in ways that suit them best.
According to d’Haussy, allowing different ways of consuming crypto services is essential, and if users find it more comfortable to have a single entity manage their crypto experience while offering access to DeFi, that’s a positive step for the industry.
