DEX (Decentralized Exchange)

A Decentralized Exchange (DEX) is a trading venue built on smart contracts where users swap tokens peer-to-contract without surrendering custody to an intermediary.

On a DEX, trades settle on-chain against a smart contract, most often an AMM pool, so users keep custody of funds until the swap executes. This makes every trade a public transaction with fully auditable pricing, unlike a centralized exchange whose order book is off-chain. DEX activity is a rich data source: our decoded transaction feed surfaces swaps, pool reserves and prices directly from the chain, letting builders track DEX volume and derive execution prices.