Antonio Juliano, the founder of decentralized crypto exchange dYdX, announced on Thursday his return as CEO of the for-profit firm building out the protocol.
“dYdX has had a challenging year. We’ve faced tough competition and a tough market. It’s become obvious to me we need to revitalize the company or we will fade,” Juliano wrote in a blog post.
In January, dYdX v3 and v4 took first and second place among all decentralized trading platforms by monthly volume, garnering $20.7 billion and $18.2 billion respectively.
However, dYdX has since ceded its lead to alternative trading platform Hyperliquid, which has been the top protocol by volume for eight out of the past 10 months in 2024, data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis.
Juliano’s return as CEO of dYdX Trading comes nearly five months since he announced stepping down from the executive position, citing at the time how he was not only “profoundly [and] personally satisfied” with his achievements, but also believed it wasn’t necessary for him to run the firm.
Times have changed. In what has been a bullish year for the crypto market with BTC reaching all-time highs in price, gaining 37.5% year-to-date, dYdX is well below its starting price back in January.
The native token for dYdX has plummeted over 70% from above $3 to 90 cents at presstime, according to TradingView. “In my time away from dYdX, execution went well, but I saw everyone slowly start to ask, ‘Wait… what are we really doing here again?’ I now know the company needs me, and that is ok,” Juliano wrote.
