Coinbase Says It’s ‘Expanding to Solana’ with Native DEX Trading

The largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., Coinbase, is set to launch on-chain trading of Solana-based tokens directly through a built-in decentralized exchange in its app, bypassing the need for traditional listings.

The update, unveiled today, Dec. 11, at the Solana Breakpoint conference in Abu Dhabi, per an X post from Solana, routes trades to on-chain liquidity pools, giving retail users access to Solana-based tokens while keeping the experience inside Coinbase’s product.

Speaking at the conference, Andrew Allen, senior protocol specialist at Coinbase, said that users “will get early access to millions of tokens and they can trade these assets the moment they become available on-chain.”

Allen added during the presentation that the update will be available for all tokens with “sufficient liquidity,” without specifying what that threshold might be.

“Coinbase is specifically expanding to Solana. This means very soon you’ll be able to open up the Coinbase app and see native Solana assets on Coinbase, maybe even your own,” Allen said.

Allen’s presentation deck also showed that Coinbase users will be able to trade Solana tokens with a bank card or USDC. Though Coinbase has yet to officially confirm the announcement on its channels, a spokesperson for the firm told The Defiant in comments today that it builds on Coinbase's plans for its DEX integration: “When we launched our DEX trading platform earlier this year, we promised that access to Solana would come soon. That time is almost here."

The spokesperson also added that Coinbase will reveal more details in a livestream event on Dec. 17.

Solana DEX Volumes Dropping

The rollout comes just a month after Coinbase announced its acquisition of Solana-based trading platform Vector to expand its on-chain trading capabilities. As The Defiant reported, the acquisition brings the platform’s team and token-tracking tools into Coinbase’s DEX system, which currently supports the firm's own Ethereum Layer 2, Base, with plans to add more networks after Solana.

After peaking at $313 billion in monthly volumes in January, Solana DEX activity has since dropped, staying mostly above $100 billion per month, according to DefiLlama data. The largest DEX on Solana, HumidiFi, generated over $24.4 billion in volumes over the past 30 days, followed by Raydium and Meteora with $15.2 billion and $14.9 billion, respectively.

SOL is down over 3.5% in the past 24 hours as the broader crypto markets slump.