Uniwap (UNI) topped Coinbase (COIN) in terms of market share last month as traders turned to decentralized exchanges (DEXs) amid the U.S. regulatory clampdown and a banking crisis that caused key stablecoins to depeg from $1.

Uniswap handled more than $70 billion of trading in March, exceeding centralized exchange (CEX) Coinbase’s $49.2 billion, according to CCData (the company formerly known as CryptoCompare.) The surge coincided with overall DEX volume surging to a 10-month high.

Coinbase was told in March that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was pursuing an enforcement action.

Also, Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse drove two key parts of decentralized finance (DeFi) – Circle Internet Financial’s USD coin (USDC) and MakerDAO’s DAI – down from their customary price of $1, prompting a flurry of DEX trading as scared investors shifted money around. Amid that crisis, Uniswap saw $13.3 billion of volume on March 11, whereas Coinbase had $1.7 billion.

(by Nick Baker)