Institutional crypto spot trading is increasingly distributed across over-the-counter (OTC) desks, derivatives venues, and hybrid execution models, while growth in centralized exchange (CEX) spot order books remains comparatively modest.
According to a report by Finery Markets, institutional crypto spot OTC trading rose 109% year-over-year in 2025. Over the same period, spot volumes across the top 20 centralized exchanges grew by approximately 9%.
The divergence suggests that institutional flow is becoming more fragmented rather than concentrated in traditional exchange order books.
Slower Spot Growth on Centralized Exchanges
Independent data supports the view of slower expansion in CEX spot markets, though figures vary slightly by methodology.
Data from CoinGecko shows that top-10 centralized exchange spot volume increased 7.6% year-over-year to $18.7 trillion in 2025.
However, derivatives activity on centralized exchanges expanded much faster. Perpetual futures volume rose 47.4% to $86.2 trillion, highlighting the growing importance of leveraged products in institutional strategies.
Meanwhile, Binance has reported double-digit growth in institutional and VIP trading activity, particularly in derivatives markets. This indicates that institutional capital has not exited centralized venues entirely but may be reallocating within them.
Spot vs Derivatives and Liquidity Concentration
The Finery Markets report focuses specifically on spot OTC activity, which often facilitates large block trades with minimal market impact.
Other liquidity providers, including Wintermute, have noted that OTC liquidity in 2025 remains concentrated in large-cap assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Options markets are also seeing increased use as institutions adopt more structured risk management approaches.
Broader analytics from The Block and other data providers indicate that institutional participation continues to favor blue-chip assets. Altcoin cycles appear shorter, with limited depth beyond the largest tokens.
This suggests that the sharp rise in OTC volume may reflect concentrated block trading in major assets rather than a broad-based expansion across the entire crypto market.
Expansion of Hybrid and On-Chain Execution
Growth in OTC activity is occurring alongside expansion in decentralized venues.
CoinGecko data shows that decentralized exchange (DEX) perpetual futures volume rose 346% year-over-year to $6.7 trillion in 2025. The DEX-to-CEX perpetual volume ratio climbed to 7.8%, indicating rising on-chain derivatives participation.
Rather than signaling a full migration away from centralized exchanges, the data points to a hybrid market structure. Institutions appear to be combining:
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OTC block execution for large spot trades
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Centralized derivatives for leverage and liquidity
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On-chain venues for specialized strategies
This diversification reflects evolving execution preferences rather than a single-direction shift.
Fragmentation Defines 2025 Market Structure
The available data suggests that crypto market structure in 2025 is becoming increasingly specialized.
Spot OTC trading has expanded rapidly within certain institutional channels. At the same time, centralized derivatives markets continue to dominate total volume, and decentralized perpetual venues are gaining share.
Instead of a decline in centralized exchanges, the trend indicates fragmentation across multiple execution layers. Institutions are distributing flow across OTC desks, derivatives platforms, and hybrid models to optimize liquidity, manage risk, and reduce market impact.
In that sense, 2025 may be defined less by migration and more by structural diversification in how institutional crypto trading is executed.
