Decentralized exchange Curve has attracted record volumes after revealing plans for the retroactive distribution of its forthcoming governance token.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pools continue to surge in popularity, with the Curve Finance decentralized exchange (DEX) consistently hosting more than $60 million in daily volume for the first time this past week, according to Dune Analytics.
With daily volume closer to $1 million at the start of June, the explosive hype surrounding yield farming propelled an increase in trade activity of more than 50 times in just two months.
Curve daily trade volume: Dune Analytics
Curve’s growth has seen the platform emerge as the second-largest decentralized exchange by trade volume, with Dune Analytics estimating that Curve represents 28% of combined weekly DEX volume with $531.1 million.
A spike in volume above $148 million on July 25 saw Curve outperform Uniswap to briefly rank as the top decentralized exchange by trade activity.
Curve unveils DAO roadmap
Last month, Curve revealed plans to restructure into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and issue a governance token. The CRV token is slated for distribution to the platform’s liquidity providers, with tokens also set to be distributed retroactively to traders providing liquidity to the protocol prior to the CRV’s launch.
The promise of retroactive CRV distribution may have played a part in Curve’s surging popularity.
Traders flock to DeFi platforms
The top DEX by volume, Uniswap, also posted record volumes over recent days — breaking above $50 million for the first time on July 20 before consistently setting records on route to a local high of $137.6 million on July 28.
Uniswap 24-hour trade volumes: CoinGecko
Dune Analytics estimates that Uniswap currently represents 46% of 24-hour DEX trade with $112.5 million, and roughly 40% of DEX weekly volume with almost $740 million.
Despite its dominance, Uniswap is the third-ranking DEX by weekly unique traders with 3,960 — sitting behind Kyber with 6,759 individual speculators, and IDEX with 5,957. Curve ranks fifth with 1,180 behind Bancor Network’s 1,745.
