CEX Vs Onchain Is Over—The Real Fight Is For Institutional Flow And Market Control, Say Panelists At HSC Cannes
On April 1st, the Hack Seasons Conference in Cannes introduced collectively business leaders to discover the most recent developments and alternatives in institutional digital belongings.
Among the standout periods was a panel titled “The Future of Trading Venues”, which examined how buying and selling infrastructure is evolving to raised serve each retail and institutional members. Moderated by Nathan Chow, Global CEO of BitMart, the dialogue featured Côme Prost-Boucle, Listings International Expansion Lead at Coinbase; Charles Guillemet, CTO at Ledger; Fernando Lillo, Marketing Director at Zoomex; Tika Lum, Head of Global Business Development at KuCoin; Dorian Vincileoni, Head of Regional Growth at Kraken; and George V, Strategic Partnership Lead at 0G.
The audio system unpacked the rise of hybrid market fashions, the persistent challenges of cross-venue liquidity fragmentation, and the more and more essential position of mixed centralized and decentralized infrastructure in shaping institutional order movement.
Centralized Vs Onchain: Strengths And Trade-Offs
The panel opened with a broad however well timed query: what are centralized exchanges nonetheless doing higher than onchain venues, and the place is onchain clearly forward? From the beginning, the audio system framed the talk not as a easy “CEX versus DEX” rivalry, however as an ongoing redesign of market construction.
First, they agreed that centralized venues nonetheless lead in compliance, belief, deep liquidity, execution high quality, threat administration, and consumer expertise. Several panelists pointed to regulated markets, custody, and institutional onboarding as areas the place centralized platforms stay the sensible default. Onchain, in contrast, was praised for what it does greatest: programmability, composability, transparency, self-sovereignty, and the power to maneuver worth with out handing belongings to a 3rd social gathering.
Hybrid Markets, Fragmentation, And The Path To Convergence
The dialog then shifted towards hybrid fashions and liquidity fragmentation. Rather than asking whether or not buying and selling needs to be fully centralized or absolutely onchain, the audio system described a future the place every layer is positioned the place it really works greatest. Identity, compliance, custody, and onboarding have been repeatedly described as features that can probably stay centralized, whereas tokenization, funds, settlement, and different efficiency-driven elements transfer onchain. That led naturally right into a dialogue of why hybrid merchandise have been slower to ship: they’re technically attainable, however typically too advanced for retail customers and nonetheless constrained by regulation.
From there, the panel moved to liquidity fragmentation and routing. The audio system traced fragmentation again to blockchain scalability limits, the rise of a number of chains, and the explosion of layer-2 options. Their view was that the market will ultimately consolidate, with fewer profitable chains and fewer wasted infrastructure. They additionally debated whether or not block area remains to be a compelling cause to launch new chains, with a number of panelists suggesting the true battle now’s about use instances reasonably than infrastructure.
One of essentially the most energetic sections centered on prediction markets. The panel explored whether or not these merchandise are playing, data markets, or one thing in between. Some described them as a extra rational method to value uncertainty, whereas others emphasised their enchantment to retail customers who’re drawn to narrative, hypothesis, and leisure. Institutions, nevertheless, have been constantly portrayed as approaching these markets with way more construction, evaluation, and regulatory warning.
The dialogue in the end converged on a forward-looking theme: the struggle for institutional movement. Looking 5 years forward, audio system argued that profitable venues shall be those who combine custody, buying and selling, financing, compliance, and liquidity right into a unified stack whereas bridging conventional finance and crypto-native markets. The closing takeaway was that the business is leaving its experimental section behind—credibility, infrastructure high quality, and institutional belief are actually the defining battlegrounds.
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