Core Insights - The announcement of a 100% tariff on Chinese imports by US President Donald Trump triggered significant market volatility, affecting both traditional and digital markets [1] - The event highlighted the limitations of major centralized crypto exchanges, which struggled to handle the surge in trading activity [2][3] Centralized Exchanges - Following the tariff announcement, traders exhibited two behaviors: cutting losses and buying the dip, leading to an overload of exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken [2] - Users reported issues such as frozen dashboards and failed trades, indicating that centralized platforms may not scale effectively during high volatility [2][3] Decentralized Finance (DeFi) - In contrast to centralized exchanges, DeFi protocols operated smoothly during the market turmoil, with Aave liquidating approximately $180 million in collateral without downtime [4] - Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange, maintained zero latency despite record traffic, attributing its performance to its HyperBFT consensus system [5] - Uniswap processed an estimated $9 billion in daily trading volume without notable slowdowns, showcasing the resilience of DeFi platforms during market stress [5]
DeFi Passes Real-World Stress Test As Major Exchanges Buckle Under Trump’s Tariff Shock