Are Decentralized Exchanges Safe? - Rejolut (2024)

We have experts in the field of crypto exchange development services who claims the difficulty of preserving transparency between an exchange and its consumers was a driving factor in the creation of decentralized exchanges as a potential solution to the problem. Users are confident that the platform can keep their assets protected and secure so that they do not need to be concerned about the possibility of losing them. In addition, decentralized exchanges came into being as a direct result of the influence that external third parties had on the commercial sector. An increase in the number of third parties involved in a transaction contributes to an increase in the costs associated with both the transaction and the trading. Users do not obtain the greatest price possible for their assets as a direct result of this.

What Are Decentralized Exchanges?

Decentralized exchanges, as the name suggests, are exchanges that allow users to trade crypto assets by connecting buyers and sellers directly. Crypto transactions occur on these exchange platforms, which are safe and secure for the user's funds because there are no intermediaries between the parties. There is a significant difference between decentralized and centralized exchanges because decentralized exchanges never have custody of the user's funds or assets. These transactions are powered by fully automated algorithms and are embedded with Smart contracts. Smart contracts make them highly secure and protected, and they are automatically executed if any of the parties notice any violations.

Some users on crypto exchanges were only limited to digital assets trading on centralized exchanges, but this does not align with the ecosystem's core philosophy. As a result, decentralized exchanges were introduced. Third parties managed the users' security and asset transactions in centralized exchanges. Meanwhile, in a decentralized exchange, the platform manages security by storing users' funds in their wallets. On these platforms, users place their funds in the hands of another entity. Several decentralized exchanges are now emerging in the cryptocurrency space. The high demand for exchanges prompted the creation of decentralized exchanges. However, due to the rapid pace of decentralized exchange development, user security was compromised on multiple occasions.

How Do Decentralized Exchanges Work?

Decentralized exchanges serve as a third-party intermediary between users all over the world who want to trade digital or crypto assets but are untrustworthy of one another. Because these exchanges deal with the critical operations of blockchain technology, the risks of failure are reduced. At the same time, it allows the user to have custody of their assets and work on smart contracts, which means that there is transparency between the exchanges and the traders, and anyone can look at the code and understand how the exchange's algorithms work. This ensures the security of the users' crypto or digital assets.

Doubts in Decentralized Exchanges

There is no denying that decentralized exchanges have created numerous new opportunities in the cryptocurrency exchange sector. At the same time, traders and investors are concerned about whether they are safe to use. The use of third-party centralized entities in decentralized platforms for user asset security and exchange management raises many questions about the exchanges. The use of blockchain technology to facilitate trades on the exchange has also been heavily criticized and scrutinized by traders. Even though blockchain technology and smart contracts are used to secure the platform, there are several significant risks that traders should be aware of before investing.

Why Should The Traders Use Decentralized Exchanges?

When traders invest in cryptocurrency, they look for the best crypto exchanges to make trading easier for them. To make an investment decision, they look to the platform's advantages. Traders should consider not only the platform's benefits but also the risks associated with it. The platform's decentralization should not be the only reason for platforms to invest in it; they should also consider its flaws.

Decentralized exchanges were created to solve the problem of establishing transparency between the exchange and its users. Users believe in the platform's ability to keep their assets safe and secure without fear of loss. Furthermore, the influence of external third parties on trade resulted in the establishment of decentralized exchanges. Excessive third-party involvement in trades raises transaction and trading fees, resulting in users not receiving the best price for their assets. These exchanges eliminated that step by eliminating all intermediaries and connecting users directly for trading purposes. On the other hand, you can't dismiss the risks involved until you use them.

Risks Involved In Decentralized Exchanges

By delving deeper into decentralized exchanges, you will gain a clear understanding of the risks associated with trading on these platforms. Before investing in the crypto assets on the exchange the traders should analyze if they are safe or not. Some of the risks are discussed further below to help you understand them better.

Security

Even decentralized exchanges aren't immune to all threats and hacks. The smart contract increases the platform's security, but not completely. Before using the platform, traders should identify these threats to it on their own. Private keys are one of the threats considered on these platforms. On the exchanges, the crypto developers or the blockchain developers should have concentrated on the private keys. It is the fear that prompts questions such as whether they are safe or not.

In decentralized exchanges, investors keep their private keys, implying that the assets are entirely in the hands of the traders. This is the only thing that distinguishes them from fiat currency exchanges. However, the question of whether this feature of decentralized exchanges is safe for the widespread adoption of DEXs remains. Many traders are unwilling to accept responsibility for the cybersecurity and custody of the assets in their possession. The assets are held by the exchanges in centralized exchanges and other third-party entities, and the value is added through custodial services, which are widely accepted by traders in those markets. The traders do not want to be held accountable for bond certificates or physical stock.

Decentralized exchanges are based on smart contracts, and the codes for the smart contracts are kept online and open-source to create transparency between users and exchanges, allowing them to understand how the automated algorithms for their digital assets work. The disadvantage is that there are sometimes exploitable bugs in the code because developers cannot always predict and avoid every hack and bug. Because the code is available to everyone, if a bug is discovered by any of the hackers, it can be exploited, and the users' digital assets and the exchange can be put at risk and face a significant loss.

No Recover Policy

Decentralized exchanges like Whitelabel exchanges and many more have no employees or helplines, and they are not run by private companies. As a result, there is no recovery policy in the event of a loss or theft of assets or funds. Another feature that impedes asset recovery is that no information is collected from users at the time of sign-up. Because no information is stored, in the event of a lost account or forgotten private keys, the account cannot be recovered, and all funds or assets are lost due to a lack of data availability. All the transactions on these exchanges are in smart contracts and are stored in a blockchain that has no owners or overseers, refunds are not available once gone, and the accounts or assets are not recovered.

When people trade on exchanges, they are first concerned with security and whether or not they are protected. However, one of the primary concerns for decentralized exchanges is paying for order flows. This is one of the most significant risks for traders on decentralized exchanges. The miners on the exchanges preview and validate the transactions that are made. As a result, there is a risk that miners and mining pools will anticipate transactions and look for opportunities to manipulate the market in these circ*mstances.

Many users make use of trading bots on decentralized exchanges. These DEX trading bots amassed more than $100 in just 30 days, and this is not a theoretical risk. This puts your cryptocurrency or digital assets at risk in decentralized exchanges.

When considering trading on decentralized exchanges, it is reasonable to consider this threat as a result of market manipulation by miners and mining pools through front-running trading. These exchanges run on the public blockchain by default, and mining pools are located all over the world and have been in operation for decades, but are becoming more common nowadays, increasing the risks and threats.

Liquidity Risks

Expert traders are aware of the liquidity on the exchange platform, which makes attracting assets and funds easier and keeps them safe from loss. Exchanges require liquidity on their platforms for all financial instruments or crypto digital assets to be easily traded on the exchange. Users want liquidity, and this is an issue that many decentralized exchanges are still grappling with for a variety of reasons. DEX liquidity risks arise as a result of new traders on the platforms due to a lack of information and education, whereas many experts and long-term users are aware that this option exists on various exchange platforms.

Because the exchanges are decentralized, there are liquidity issues. This causes problems in user exchanges, slows down transactions, and compromises transparency in cost and pricing elements. Another issue that raises liquidity risks on decentralized exchanges is the average trading volume on centralized exchanges. When compared to centralized platforms, the trading volume on these exchanges is a very small percentage. The reason for this distinction is that decentralized exchanges are newer than centralized exchanges. At the same time, the crypto scope has not been expanded significantly to increase trade volume on DEXs.

Because the exchanges are decentralized, there are liquidity issues. This causes problems in user exchanges, slows down transactions, and compromises transparency in cost and pricing elements.

Support for trading

Another disadvantage of decentralized exchanges is their limited trading functionality. The reduced speed of transactions on exchanges creates obstacles in trading for users because it slows trading and causes users to participate less in DEX trading as a result. These exchanges have recently gained popularity due to the ease with which they facilitate the purchase and sale of crypto assets. Furthermore, most decentralized exchanges do not provide advanced trading functionalities such as lending, stop losses, margin trading, and so on.

Scalability

Scalability is another risk in decentralized exchanges. Because of scalability issues, decentralized exchanges frequently experience network congestion. Without scaling solutions, decentralized exchanges will be unable to prepare for mainstream adoption of the exchange, where trading margins will increase dramatically. It is because if the number of users on decentralized exchanges is large, buying and selling assets will be simple and easy to trade between users. These exchanges continue to adhere to the first layer network transaction limits, resulting in scalability issues. Many decentralized exchanges are operational and will soon implement large network upgrades with scalability solutions to address these issues.

Limited Speed of Transactions

When a transaction is performed in a decentralized exchange, it is first checked on the blockchain and then validated. In general, the process takes time to complete. The transaction speed is determined by the miners and mining pool that validates the transactions rather than the exchanges. The slow speed of transactions irritates platform users, and as a result, trades on exchanges are slowed and reduced. However, because all tokens can be traded on exchanges, traders must choose them even though transaction speeds are limited.

Only 8% of DEX Deemed Safe

According to a paper published by CryptoPotato, there are several risks associated with decentralized exchanges that can be mitigated to some extent by centralized exchanges, such as fake tokens, high slippage to avoid purchasing coins at higher prices than actual prices, and a lack of trading pair data. Many DEXs do not offer any kind of insurance to protect their users' assets or cryptocurrency. However, when compared to decentralized exchanges, there is a significant number of hacks on centralized exchanges.

The claim, evidence, and reasoning examined the 25 DEX based on their security audits, bug bounty program, liquidity score, and many other factors and concluded that only one out of every ten exchanges is safe, secure, and reliable as it should be.

Decentralization in cryptocurrency exchanges has significantly increased financial resources. DEX is still evolving and becoming more useful to users all over the world. As DEXs seek liquidity from other markets, user adoption of these exchanges will become the focal point. As users around the world prepare for decentralized exchanges, it is critical that the risks associated with them be addressed.

Before beginning investment in decentralized exchanges, traders should be aware of the risks involved. A thorough examination of the risks, including liquidity issues, slow transactions, front-running trades, and security risks. Other risks should be considered, such as the lack of advanced trading facilities, which can be a huge risk if traders choose to deal with it that way. Understanding decentralized exchanges and the risks associated with them can provide insight into potential improvements.

Next Article

Why Rejolut?