coindesk.com
Decentralized crypto exchanges facilitated a record high $25 billion of daily trading volume on Saturday, according to Defi Llama data.
The previous high of $24.3 billion was in May 2021, when bitcoin (BTC) was worth roughly $65,000 and ether (ETH) $4,400.
Trading activity surged on a wave of panic as USD Coin ($USDC), the second-largest stablecoin, lost its peg to the dollar following a short-lived banking crisis in the U.S.
The majority of trades took place on decentralized exchange Uniswap, with weekly volume of $31.7 billion. On the Curve protocol, meanwhile, traders rushed to flee $USDC – a move that prompted an unbalancing of the protocol's equally weighted stablecoin liquidity pool.
Circle, the company that issues $USDC, calmed concerns by reiterating that every $USDC token remained backed by one U.S. dollar, despite having $3 billion in exposure to the troubled Silicon Valley Bank.
Volume across the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has remained high in the wake of the depegging with a weekly increase of 255%, according to Defi Llama.
Traders' confidence in $USDC was demonstrated by a surge in on-chain leveraged positions, with $70 million being at risk of liquidation if the stablecoin was to lose its peg again.