The common abbreviation for a decentralised exchange, a smart-contract trading venue where users swap assets without surrendering custody to a central operator.
Semantic Classification
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- DEX is the shorthand used across the sector for a decentralised exchange. The term covers automated market maker designs, on-chain order books, and aggregators that route orders across several venues to find the best execution.
- A DEX differs from a centralised exchange in that it does not take custody of user funds and does not maintain an off-chain ledger of balances. Trades settle directly on the underlying ledger, so users bear network fees and on-chain execution risks but avoid the counterparty risk of an operator holding their assets.