Institutional crypto spot trading is increasingly distributed across OTC desks, derivatives venues, and hybrid execution models, while growth in centralized exchange order books remains relatively subdued.
Institutional crypto spot over-the-counter (OTC) trading rose 109% year-over-year in 2025, according to a report by Finery Markets. Over the same period, the report estimates that spot volumes on the top 20 centralized exchanges (CEXs) grew by around 9%.
Independent data broadly supports slower growth in CEX spot markets, though figures vary. CoinGecko’s 2025 annual data shows that top-10 CEX spot volume increased 7.6% year-over-year to $18.7 trillion. However, derivatives activity on CEXs expanded more significantly, with perpetual futures volume rising 47.4% to $86.2 trillion.
Binance has also reported double-digit growth in institutional and VIP trading activity, suggesting that institutional flow on large exchanges remains substantial, particularly in derivatives.
The contrast indicates that while spot order book growth has been limited, institutional activity has not necessarily exited centralized venues altogether. Instead, market structure appears to be evolving across multiple channels, including OTC, derivatives, and hybrid execution models.
Spot vs. Derivatives and Liquidity Concentration
The Finery report focuses specifically on spot OTC activity. Other market participants, including Wintermute, have noted that OTC liquidity in 2025 was concentrated in large-cap assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, alongside increased use of options for risk management.
Broader data from The Block and other analytics providers indicates that institutional participation has remained focused on blue-chip assets, with shorter altcoin cycles and limited depth outside the top tokens.
This suggests that OTC growth may reflect concentration in large-cap block trading rather than a broad-based expansion across the full asset universe.
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Hybrid Market Structure
Growth in OTC activity is occurring alongside expansion in other segments. CoinGecko reports that decentralized exchange (DEX) perpetual volume rose 346% year-over-year to $6.7 trillion, increasing the DEX-to-CEX perpetual ratio to 7.8%.
This indicates that some institutional participants are incorporating on-chain venues into execution strategies rather than shifting exclusively to OTC networks. Overall, available data suggests that crypto market structure in 2025 is becoming more diversified.
Spot OTC activity has expanded rapidly within certain institutional channels, while CEX derivatives, DEX venues, and hybrid models continue to attract significant volume. The trend points to fragmentation and specialization in execution rather than a single-direction migration away from centralized exchanges.
