The market share of mainstream exchanges in Q3 has solidified; the on-chain ecosystem is the "fresh water" that can break the deadlock.

The market landscape is quietly changing

In the recent quarter, several phenomena in the cryptocurrency market have been particularly interesting. On one hand, the market share of top exchanges has basically stabilized, with everyone holding onto their own territories, making it difficult for significant shifts to occur. On the other hand, all attention has begun to turn to the blockchain, especially BNBChain, which is gradually rewriting the ecological landscape of the market with its increase in activity and trading volume.

To put it simply, the logic behind this transformation is not complicated. As competition among exchanges becomes increasingly fierce, where can we find growth? On-chain. The sudden popularity of those “XX life” style Meme coins may seem like mere superficial hype, but in reality, it reflects a shift in the competition for traffic.

Data Speaks: Q3 Performance of a Leading Exchange

Entering the third quarter of 2025, the total market value of crypto assets has exceeded $4.02 trillion, an increase of 16.2% compared to $3.46 trillion in the second quarter. The total trading volume of the entire TOP 10 exchanges reached $28.7 trillion, up 32.87% from $21.6 trillion in Q2.

In this scale of the market, a leading exchange is still the absolute leader. It contributes over $9.93 trillion in total trading volume (including spot and derivatives), accounting for 34.59% of the market share. This is the only platform that can consistently hold 1/3 of the market share.

Other exchanges with considerable volume include a certain exchange (12.60%), a certain exchange (11.58%), a certain exchange (11.45%), and a certain exchange (11.36%), but the gaps between them did not show significant changes in Q3. The overall pattern has indeed become more solidified.

In detail, in terms of spot trading, a leading exchange's market share reached 41.26%, which is a slight increase of 3.27% compared to Q2; in terms of derivatives, it holds a market share of 33.20%, also growing by 1% from Q2. Another notable figure is that this exchange's net inflow in Q3 reached $14.8 billion, a historical high.

On-chain is the new growth story

But behind this data lies a trend that deserves more attention: a leading exchange is no longer just focusing on being an exchange. It has set its sights on the blockchain.

BNBChain's performance in Q3 has been remarkable. According to the latest industry report, it ranks alongside Solana and Avalanche as the best-performing blockchains in Q3. The DEX trading volume on BNBChain reached $225 billion, setting the highest level since Q4 2021. Although it is still below Solana's $365 billion and Ethereum's $337 billion, in terms of active addresses, BNBChain has surpassed them, reaching a new high of 52.5 million in September, a month-on-month growth of 57%. In the same period, Solana had 45.8 million and Ethereum only had 8.9 million.

What does a high number of active addresses mean? It means that more people are interacting on the chain. The number of transactions on BNBChain has also exploded, increasing from 892 million in Q2 to 1.22 billion in Q3.

Such growth is directly reflected in revenue. BNBChain has already generated $357.3 million in fee revenue before the end of Q3, with a single-month revenue of $2.2 million in September, the highest since March.

The ecological integrity is also rapidly improving. The number of protocols on BNBChain has reached 1,033, which is 2.7 times that of Solana (381), and it is not far from Ethereum's 1,638. In terms of TVL, BNBChain has reached $8.729 billion. Although there is still a gap compared to Ethereum's $87.415 billion, it is only $2.6 billion less than Solana's $11.368 billion, and the monthly growth rate is as high as 15.02%, making it the fastest-growing among the TOP 10 public chains.

The “little brothers” of DEX are shining brightly

If the Alpha product launched by a leading exchange was the spark that ignited the on-chain craze in Q2, then Aster, the perpetual contract DEX, is the torchbearer for Q3. This DEX achieved a single-day revenue of up to $7.2 million in September, even surpassing the well-known derivatives platform in the industry ($2.79 million). Thanks to products like Aster, the perpetual contract trading volume on BNBChain soared by 55% in Q3, reaching $36 billion.

To encourage more participation, BNBChain conducted a fee optimization on September 24, reducing the minimum Gas price from 0.1 Gwei to 0.05 Gwei, while shortening the block generation interval from 750 milliseconds to 450 milliseconds. This is already the third major fee reduction in the past 18 months, with a long-term goal of lowering the transaction fee to around $0.001.

In fact, the history of fee reductions on the BNBChain is quite interesting: in April 2024, it decreased from 3 Gwei to 1 Gwei, and in May 2025, it further dropped from 1 Gwei to 0.1 Gwei, resulting in a cumulative reduction of 75%. During the fee reduction in May, the median transaction fee directly decreased by 75% (from $0.04 to $0.01), and the daily transaction volume surged by 140%, surpassing 12 million transactions. This clearly demonstrates the strong correlation between fee reductions and network usage.

A New Story of BNB is Unfolding

When the price of BNB reached a new high of $1376 and its market capitalization returned to the TOP 3 position, what is the market anticipating? Perhaps it is not just the rise in price, but the true acceptance of this chain by the mainstream world.

Starting from June this year, some traditional listed companies announced that they would incorporate relevant assets into their balance sheets. By Q3, this trend further accelerated. A well-known Web3 organization announced a $1 billion financing to establish a publicly listed company in the United States, which will hold relevant assets and invest in the ecosystem. In mid-October, a prominent investment bank announced that it had raised $600 million to launch a fund in the United States focused on relevant assets. All of this indicates that institutions are actively participating in this space.

Interestingly, “big players” have also begun to enter the market. In September, investment giants managing $1.6 trillion in assets announced they were expanding their proprietary technology platforms to the BNBChain ecosystem, intending to leverage the low costs and high throughput advantages of this chain to strengthen institutional-level tokenization capabilities. In mid-October, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a large commercial bank will put a money market fund exceeding $3.8 billion on-chain, allowing investors to participate using fiat currency or stablecoins.

This is what is known as RWA (Real World Asset Tokenization) applications. Compared to the hype around Meme coins, this is the real transformation. As more traditional financial institutions start adopting infrastructures like BNBChain, this chain gets one step closer to its ultimate goal - to become the cornerstone of the financial system.

Ultimately, the prosperity of the on-chain ecosystem is not driven by FOMO, but by real usage, real transactions, and real value creation. From the current trends, these elements are gradually being established.