OKX is widening its push into CeDeFi by adding support for Ethereum and Arbitrum to its in-app onchain trading rails.
“CeDeFi” is a hybrid model that lets users tap decentralized liquidity while staying inside a centralized exchange workflow.
The crypto exchange said customers can now trade tokens native to Ethereum and Arbitrum directly from their OKX balance, with the platform handling wallet creation, gas and routing behind the scenes. OKX framed the update as a bid to shorten the gap between when tokens first trade on decentralized exchanges and when they eventually list on centralized venues, a lag that often determines who captures the earliest — and typically most volatile — price moves.
“When we talk to customers, the message is consistent: they want access to onchain opportunities early, without complexity,” OKX said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain.
OKX’s CeDeFi now supports Ethereum, Arbitrum, Solana, Base and X Layer
OKX said its CeDeFi feature now spans Ethereum, Arbitrum, Solana, Base and its own X Layer network under a “one balance” experience, aiming to remove the operational steps that have historically defined DeFi usage — separate wallets, seed phrases, gas management and cross-chain bridges.
The exchange is charging a flat 0.85% fee per trade, while subsidizing or abstracting away gas costs, and it says trades are routed across 100+ liquidity pools to optimize execution. The product also creates a self-custody wallet “instantly” and secures it with passkey technology rather than seed phrases, according to OKX.
OKX’s broader strategy has been to blur the line between centralized and decentralized trading inside its main app. In November 2025, OKX integrated DEX trading across Base, Solana and X Layer.
Why Ethereum and Arbitrum matter to the CeDeFi bet
OKX is anchoring the expansion on the networks where DeFi liquidity and activity are deepest — and where new “narratives” (from tokenized real-world assets to onchain derivatives) typically surface first.
Ethereum’s DeFi footprint remains the largest, around 68% of total DeFi TVL and around $70 billion locked (figures vary by methodology and whether L2s are included).
Arbitrum, as a major Ethereum layer-2, has positioned itself as an execution layer for higher-throughput activity. DefiLlama’s chain dashboard shows Arbitrum with $8.32 billion in bridged TVL and roughly $772.9 million in 24-hour DEX volume at the time of publication.
For CeDeFi products, that liquidity depth matters because the pitch hinges on giving centralized-exchange users “DEX-like” access without forcing them to learn the full operational stack of self-custody and cross-chain settlement.
The competitive landscape: exchanges and fintechs are going “DeFi in the back”
OKX isn’t alone in trying to productize DeFi as an embedded service.
- Coinbase has been using DeFi protocols as backend infrastructure for consumer products. It launched crypto-backed loans powered by Morpho (a DeFi lending protocol) and later expanded Morpho integrations to products such as USDC lending, keeping the experience inside Coinbase while routing activity onchain.
- Binance has pushed “keyless” wallet designs that remove seed phrases using MPC/ keyless approaches — a similar usability wedge for bringing more users into onchain activity.
More broadly, “CeFi front, DeFi back” model is expected to be on-ramp for the next wave of users and institutions. GSR, for example, has argued that this “mullet” pattern could become a standard as regulatory frameworks firm up and institutions seek DeFi yield or efficiency without DIY self-custody operations.
That shift is also being reflected in market structure data: one datapoint from 2025 research noted decentralized venues handling a growing share of spot activity relative to centralized platforms. This supports the idea that exchanges risk losing flow if they don’t integrate onchain liquidity directly into their consumer funnels.
The article “Ethereum and Arbitrum Join OKX’s CeDeFi Onchain Trading” was first published on AlexaBlockchain. Read the complete article here: https://alexablockchain.com/ethereum-arbitrum-join-okx-cedefi-onchain-trading/
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