Arkham Exchange is not shutting down despite reports to the contrary and is instead redesigning itself as a decentralized trading platform, the company confirmed to Cointelegraph.
The crypto trading platform launched by data analytics firm Arcam Intelligence is moving from a centralized model to a fully decentralized exchange (DEX), Arcam CEO Miguel Morell told Cointelegraph on Wednesday.
“The future of crypto trading is decentralization, and that’s what we’re building for,” Morrell said.
Launched in 2024, Arkham Exchange allows users to trade both spot cryptocurrencies and perpetual contracts. The platform launched a mobile app in late 2025. As of this writing, Arkham’s average daily trading value is reported to be around $640,000, according to data from CoinGecko.
Centralized platforms have become “unresponsive” to user needs
Arcam’s move to a DEX comes amid an intensifying debate over how centralized exchanges (CEXs) manage their token lists, with a growing view that decentralized rivals offer more flexibility and openness.
“Centralized incumbents have become too bloated to meet the needs of their users, making them worse than the traditional financial system they pretend to be better,” Morrell said, adding: “We don’t want to invest in that.”
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This move is also in line with broader trends in the industry, as the DEX to CEX volume ratio has more than tripled since 2020 and reached a new high in 2025, according to CoinGecko.
Perpetual DEX in particular has experienced explosive growth. In 2025, PERP DEX trading volume nearly tripled from $4.1 trillion at the beginning of the year to ~$12 trillion. This spike reflects a sudden surge in on-chain derivatives usage as PERP DEX absorbed an increasing share of leveraged cryptocurrency trading activity.
Related: Ledger adds OKX DEX integration for on-device token swaps
“The explosion in decentralized trading, especially perpetual trading, is because it’s a return to what made cryptocurrencies so exciting in the first place,” Morrell said, adding:
“It’s cheaper, faster, and gives users more control over their assets. We’re excited to return to the frontier of finance and offer our users the best trading experience.”
Arcam did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for additional details regarding the DEX transition schedule. This article will be updated when more information becomes available.
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