One thing is clear: the golden age of decentralized Monero liquidity is upon us. The way it was supposed to be all along. Liquidity isn't about whether you can buy Monero. If every country on Earth banned Monero, and every exchange delisted it, anyone would still be able to trade Monero anywhere in the world, with only an internet connection. Liquidity is how much of it is available at any given price.

All of crypto has relied on this crutch of centralized liquidity that essentially destroys the value proposition of this alternate financial system by putting control of our assets and binding us to a third party's rules when it comes to your privilege to engage in an exchange. Many focused on protocol-level decentralization while ignoring the elephant in the room: centralized liquidity.

Centralized exchanges cater to every whim of central control: regulators, surveillers, law enforcement, and the state. CEXs will do anything that is asked of them in order to have permission to remain in business, including doing background checks, identity verification, freezing of your funds to be held for ransom. This creates a fundamental contradiction: a censorship-resistant asset traded on censored platforms. If the effect of any cryptocurrency is not to give autonomy and power to the user over their own finances, then what is the point?

Not only does KYC not actually prevent crime or money laundering, it also puts user's safety as risk as we've seen time and time before. Exchanges have the responsibility to guard their customers' data, an obligation that often times, exchanges are unable to meet reliably. Customer's data gets hacked, stolen, or leaked, and then sold and exploited. Scam emails, or worse, kidnappers show up at your doorstep demanding your hardware wallet.

No cryptocurrency has kicked the CEX habit quite as aggressively as Monero. The exodus from centralized exchanges seems to have passed a climax and is now in decline. Those who would delist Monero have done so already and the effects have been felt. Any more delistings from here on out would experience diminishing returns. Public sentiment is shifting from delisting = bad (oh god the price!) to delisting = cool, or neutral at the very least. "Its been delisted so many times before, whats new?" The damage is done, but it wasn't enough to kill Monero. Never dismiss the power of the free market. Monero survived, and has in fact outperformed a lot of the crypto market in recent years, rising from top 50 by marketcap at the peak of the CEX delisting spree, to top 12 as of September 2026.

Whether centralized exchanges delisting Monero is net good or bad for Monero is a hotly debated and controversial topic, but we can't deny it has reduced Monero's total liquidity, which is indisputably bad. Large trades move prices, increased volatility, difficulty for businesses to cash out, etc. But we need to make the distinction between Liquidity and Availability. The availability of Monero is the same as before, unchanged. Anyone who wishes to purchase Monero can do so easily, even easier I would argue, due to not needing to submit oneself to the AML/KYC ritual. So, Monero is available, but how much is available has been handicapped.

Fewer places to buy and sell is never a desirable for an asset aiming to act as a money. But while the loss of centralized exchanges has not been beneficial to Monero's price performance, the fact that the liquidity lost might be replaced with decentralized liquidity makes this one of the more bullish cases for Monero.

As Monero enters this golden age of decentralized liquidity, confidence in Monero will grow exponentially. We hear about Bitcoin, USDT, ETH, and even Zcash (https://x.com/xenumonero/status/2098414647292407823) getting frozen by centralized parties due to failing AML checks or other arbitrary reasons. Monero, under fully decentralized liquidity rails, ensures users are protected from: KYC database breaches, random freezing of users' funds, censorship or the need to ask permission. Monero becomes a safer place to park your wealth. The fear of delistings ceases to exist, there is a better way now. Control over liquidity is no longer something that can be held over Monero's head.

There are already several existing decentralized venues in which Monero liquidity already exists, but admittedly the liquidity on these venues has been relatively low. So, how is that about to change? Thorchain and Serai. But first, let's explore what exists:

Existing Monero DEXs and P2P ExchangesExisting Monero DEXs and P2P Exchanges

BasicSwap DEX https://basicswapdex.com/BasicSwap DEX https://basicswapdex.com/

BasicSwap DEX is probably the closest thing on this list to a DEX in the most literal sense of the word. There is no company in the middle matching orders, no custodian holding the coins, and no centralized server running the order book. Instead, every BasicSwap client participates in a peer-to-peer SecureMessaging, or SMSG, network which distributes the order book and carries the messages required to execute atomic swaps. Once two traders agree on an offer, the actual exchange settles directly across the two blockchains. It currently supports roughly a dozen cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Decred, Firo, and Monero, with bidirectional Monero swaps supported.

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BasicSwap uses the Monero atomic-swap work pioneered by h4sh3d together with adaptor signatures, sometimes described as “scriptless scripts.” In simplified terms, both sides construct transactions so that either the swap completes or each participant has a pre-arranged path to recover their funds after a timeout. Completing one half of the trade reveals cryptographic information which enables the other half to be claimed. The result is that neither trader ever needs to hand custody of their coins to BasicSwap or trust the counterparty to voluntarily finish the trade.

The trade-off is usability and liquidity. BasicSwap historically expected users to run the underlying coin software themselves, which could mean downloading and syncing multiple blockchains before making a trade. This has improved considerably: Bitcoin-like chains can now use lightweight Electrum connections and Monero can be connected to a remote node, although running your own nodes remains the more private and sovereign option. But there is no giant pool of coins waiting behind the interface. BasicSwap is still an order-book market, meaning somebody on the other side has to actually be offering the amount you want at the price you want.

RetoSwap (Haveno) https://retoswap.com/RetoSwap (Haveno) https://retoswap.com/

RetoSwap has been operational since May 14, 2024 and is a fork of Haveno, which itself is a fork of Bisq. It's a P2P exchange built on Tor with Monero as the base pair. RetoSwap offers the ability to trade Monero peer-to-peer for crypto: BTC, LTC, ETH, USDT, DAI, as well as just about every major fiat currency in the world via bank transfers, PayPal, Revolut, and even cash by mail. RetoSwap has been relatively successful with a decent amount of volume for a p2p platform. Retoswap average monthly trading volume was approximately $1m-2m USD per month, with an ATH month of $3.5m USD. RetoSwap has a current total liquidity of 9146 XMR ($5m) at time of writing. Source: https://haveno.markets/

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The Haveno protocol itself is not decentralized, but rather a P2P exchange without a central coordinator. Instead, traders lock a refundable security deposit for every trade as collateral, and human arbitrators help resolve disputes and keep traders honest. The arbitrator cannot steal the funds alone because they only control one of the three keys. So RetoSwap is non-custodial, but it would be misleading to describe it as completely trustless. Atomic swaps replace trust with cryptography. Haveno replaces a lot of that trust with collateral and uses human judgement for the parts cryptography cannot solve.

Unlike Bisq, Monero isn't treated as just another payment method on RetoSwap. XMR is the base asset of the entire exchange. Every market is XMR against something else: XMR/USD, XMR/EUR, XMR/BTC, XMR/USDT, etc. You are always either buying or selling Monero. This is a much more meaningful distinction than it might sound. RetoSwap isn't a general purpose P2P exchange that happens to support Monero; the entire exchange exists around Monero as the central money being traded.

RetoSwap also fills a hole that atomic swaps fundamentally cannot: fiat. You can atomic swap Bitcoin for Monero because both sides of the trade exist on blockchains and can be enforced cryptographically. You cannot atomic swap a SEPA transfer, PayPal payment, Revolut payment, or an envelope full of cash.

It is not trustless like BasicSwap or EigenWallet, but it can do something those platforms simply cannot: connect Monero directly to the fiat banking system without requiring a centralized exchange.

EigenWallet https://eigenwallet.org/EigenWallet https://eigenwallet.org/

EigenWallet, formerly called UnstoppableSwap, takes a much narrower approach than BasicSwap. Rather than trying to become a general-purpose exchange supporting a dozen different assets, EigenWallet is built almost entirely around one thing: swapping Bitcoin for Monero trustlessly. The desktop application discovers independent market makers running EigenWallet's Automated Swap Backend, or ASB. These makers hold XMR inventory and publish offers specifying how much Bitcoin they will accept, how much Monero they will return, and their markup. The user selects a maker and the two parties execute an atomic swap directly, without an exchange account, KYC process, or third party taking custody of the funds.

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There is one major limitation: EigenWallet is still essentially a one-way market for ordinary users. The wallet acts as the Bitcoin holder buying Monero, while ASB makers are the Monero holders selling it. In other words, EigenWallet is a very good decentralized on-ramp into XMR, but it is not yet a symmetrical BTC/XMR exchange where either side can freely take either role from the same application. That limits what kind of liquidity it can attract, but what it does do, it does with an unusually small trust surface. There is no escrow agent and no validator set holding a giant shared wallet. The trade is between you and one other peer, enforced by cryptography.

At time of writing, eigenwallet has over 35 BTC ($2,940,000 USD) worth of liquidity in its atomic swap protocol. source: https://eigenwallet.org/liquidity/

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Bisq / Bisq2 https://bisq.network/Bisq / Bisq2 https://bisq.network/

Bisq is the grandfather of this entire category. Haveno itself descends from Bisq. Monero remains one of Bisq's most important and largest volume cryptocurrency markets, but the architecture is Bitcoin-centric. In Bisq 1, Bitcoin is the asset actually integrated into the trade protocol, while Monero is treated as an external “altcoin payment method.”

Monero is normally in the top three traded assets by volume in bisq. source: https://markets.bisq.network/

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THORChain Monero IntegrationTHORChain Monero Integration

THORChain is fundamentally different from BasicSwap, EigenWallet, Bisq, or RetoSwap. There is no individual seller who needs to be online with exactly the amount of XMR you want. THORChain is a cross-chain automated market maker: users deposit native assets into shared liquidity pools, and traders swap against those pools algorithmically. If Monero launches successfully, this is what makes THORChain potentially so important for XMR liquidity. Instead of searching an order book for somebody willing to sell 500 XMR, a sufficiently deep liquidity pool could make that liquidity continuously available. Prices are determined by the ratio of assets in the pools rather than a centralized price oracle, while arbitrage traders have an economic incentive to keep those pool prices aligned with the wider market.

The Monero implementation itself is real, and importantly, it is already part of THORChain mainnet. The foundations for XMR support landed in v3.19, while the v3.20 upgrade deployed a large batch of additional Monero infrastructure to mainnet covering FROST threshold signing, distributed key generation, vault rotation, transaction observation, solvency, and recovery. This distinction is important: Monero support is on THORChain mainnet, but Monero trading is not yet active there. The XMR liquidity pools have not been activated, so users cannot yet deposit XMR liquidity or execute production XMR swaps. Actual Monero trading has instead been exercised on THORChain's stagenet though, with results proving successful thus far.

THORChain devs says new-chain integrations are rolled out progressively while node operators monitor the signing and vault infrastructure, and its August 24th, 2026 announcement stopped short of giving XMR a firm activation date. That makes Monero considerably further along than a planned integration sitting on a roadmap, but it is still one switch away from becoming an actual source of mainnet liquidity.

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https://x.com/THORChain/status/2102512511572451377

The trade-off is that THORChain achieves pooled liquidity by accepting a different security model than an atomic swap. An EigenWallet or BasicSwap trade exists between two peers and neither party ever deposits coins into a giant common wallet. THORChain necessarily does. Native BTC, ETH, XMR, etc. deposited into THORChain are held in protocol vaults whose signing keys are distributed across the active validator set. Validators have to bond RUNE as economic collateral, with the theory being that stealing from the network should cost them more through slashing than they could gain from an attack. This is still radically different from giving Binance custody of your Monero, but “non-custodial” should not be interpreted to mean “there is nobody capable of signing the vault.” A sufficiently serious failure of THORChain's validator, threshold-signing, or protocol security model can put pooled funds at risk. Atomic swaps and THORChain therefore solve different problems: atomic swaps minimize shared trust, while THORChain accepts shared protocol risk in exchange for continuously available pooled liquidity.

The gamechanger is that THORchain enables decentralized liquidity for Monero with an easy, simple user experience. For the first time, this puts Monero in reach of the technical ability of the masses, without needing to understand security deposits, atomic swap procedures, running nodes or any of the other hurdles of decentralized liquidity. A user with no technical inclination beyond creating a crypto wallet can simply navigate to the THORchain frontend on their web browser, connect their wallet, and swap in or out of Monero in minutes.

Serai DEX (In Development) https://serai.exchange/Serai DEX (In Development) https://serai.exchange/

Serai is the other project that could substantially change the shape of decentralized Monero liquidity, and in architecture it actually has more in common with THORChain than with BasicSwap. It is not an atomic-swap order book where every trade waits for an individual counterparty. Serai is its own blockchain, built using Substrate, which coordinates a set of validators and liquidity pools while interacting directly with outside networks including Bitcoin, Ethereum, DAI, and Monero. External funds are controlled through threshold multisignature wallets, meaning no individual validator possesses the key necessary to move the coins. Users will be able to swap against pools or provide liquidity and collect fees rather than waiting for a maker to manually take the other side of every trade.

Serai, like THORChain is a gamechanger because it too enables decentralized liquidity for Monero with an easy and familiar user experience that is optimized for ease of use. A simple swap interface everyone is already familiar with. Connect your wallet -> trade -> done.

Serai has spent an almost comical amount of its development time on cryptography, but that is also what makes the project interesting. Its developers built and audited an implementation of FROST threshold signatures, created Monero-specific threshold signing work that eventually became part of the monero-oxide ecosystem, had portions of its Bitcoin and Ethereum integrations externally audited, had its Substrate blockchain reviewed by Security Research Labs, and most recently had its one-round Distributed Key Generation implementation audited by Least Authority.

But Serai is still not live. This is where I would temper the current wording even more. Serai's own most recent public development update on August 19 did not announce an imminent mainnet. It said the project was continuing testing and working toward its next testnet. There is no firm mainnet date, and the repository still contains active testing work. So I would describe Serai as unusually mature pre-launch infrastructure rather than saying launch is imminent as a statement of fact. Years of “almost here” in crypto have taught us what that word is worth.

I for one, can't wait for Monero to be the first currency in the world whose liquidity is mostly traded peer to peer or via decentralized protocols that cannot be shutdown or censored. This transition won't be instant, and it won't be easy. CEX liquidity didn't appear overnight, and decentralized liquidity won't either. But the infrastructure is finally here, not as a promise, but as running code. The golden age of Monero decentralized liquidity isn't a future dream scenario. It's loading now.