Centralized Exchange Platform Design: How to Build a System that Works

With the cryptocurrency market experiencing a skyrocketing increase, many businesses are looking for efficient solutions that will allow their crypto-exchange projects to succeed. And here, UI/UX role is undoubtedly huge. The way the system functions entirely depends on the interface simplicity, navigation effectiveness, and user journey smoothness. 

Design is especially important for those who opt for building a centralized crypto exchange system. People often use such platforms without rich trading experience, so they should be as clear and intuitive as possible. But how to provide the audience with an exchange that will be both simple and well-functioning?

This post will explain a centralized exchange, provide some examples, and reveal how to design such a system addressing the most common UI/UX challenges.  

What does Сentralized Exchange mean?

A centralized exchange (CEX) is the most common and popular crypto platform type based on the Blockchain architecture. It offers customers to trade their funds with third-party mediation. A centralized operator is responsible for the platform’s security and reliability. The users store their crypto and fiat money in a crypto wallet within the system. A CEX exchange records and keeps all purchases and sales in an order book. 

Nowadays, quite a few crypto exchange types differ from a centralized exchange system in their essence and operation principles. For instance, in decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms, the transactions are held between two users without intermediary involvement. Also, in such systems, the funds are stored outside the system. 

Although many opt for alternative exchange platform types, the centralized model remains the most popular option due to its undeniable benefits:

• High liquidity. 

• Convenient online wallets. 

• Intuitive interface. 

• User-friendly UX. 

• Fast transactions. 

• Feature-rich exchange system.

Examples of Centralized Exchange Platforms

Now, let’s look at some of the most notable centralized platform examples. It’s worth noting that the biggest and most profitable cryptocurrency exchange systems use the CEX model. 

Here are the most popular CEX platforms and their specifics. 

• Binance is the largest crypto exchange system with enormous trading volumes. It enables buying, selling, and holding crypto and fiat currencies online. The transaction fee is relatively low.  

• FTX is a popular crypto exchange market offering to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and other popular currencies. FTX has an intuitive and user-friendly website with many options for advanced trading.

• Crypto.com is another large CEX exchange with an audience of about 10 million users. Despite recent security issues, it remains one of the fastest-growing crypto apps with many helpful features. 

• OKX is the sixth largest crypto exchange worldwide. It’s a feature-rich platform, offering several valuable functions like spot and derivative trading.

• Bybit is a centralized platform with flexible offers for both newbies and experienced traders. It has a robust support system and provides many trading options. 

• Huobi is a Chinese centralized exchange that has gained international popularity. The members can benefit from various trading features, deposits, and credit card payments. 

• Kucoin. This CEX platform offers its users a wide library of altcoins to trade. Also, it offers an advantageous mobile app with numerous offers for new customers.

UX/UI Design Essentials & Pain Points of Centralized Exchange platforms

Suppose you’ve decided to build a Bitcoin exchange platform from scratch. With stiff competition on the one hand and fast-growing audience demand on the other, what should you start with? What are the challenges to overcome and best practices to adhere to? We’re here to help you out. Here are the most crucial UX/UI design essentials and the issues you might need to address when building a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. 

Good Onboarding Experience

Since centralized exchanges are quite vulnerable to hacks, you need to be primarily focused on building a reliable security system. It means that the registration process should be followed with user ID confirmation and mandatory authorization. Hence, new members will have to confirm their identity and fill in some personal information, which can be frustrating for many. 

You can prevent this frustration by providing a good onboarding experience and a streamlined signup process. By guiding new users through their registration and explaining why each step is important, you will hold their attention and make them feel safe. A centralized exchange is a full-fledged eco-system, so good onboarding is vital for introducing your product’s specifics and capabilities.

Easy Navigation

A cryptocurrency platform often has multiple functions, specific offers, and options the community members can benefit from. However, such a feature-rich environment risks being too complex and even overwhelming. One of the core UX functions is streamlined navigation enabling the users to easily move around the platform and immediately find what they need. 

Normally, comprehensive user research and A/B testing help better understand the audience’s needs. For instance, designing a custom dashboard as the user app’s initial screen can significantly simplify navigation. It will provide instant access to the most important information and links, so the users won’t be confused when they enter. 

Intuitive Transaction User Experience

Unlike decentralized systems, CEX is associated with an intuitive interface and a simplified transaction process. It’s possible thanks to effective UI/UX solutions. Instead of overwhelming the users, a good crypto-exchange platform offers a streamlined customer journey equally clear for experienced traders and newcomers. 

It’s a good idea to provide the customers with a transaction process in a few simple steps. Many centralized exchanges enable selling or buying crypto with their credit card. Such a feature will make the trading process available to everybody. 

Lack of Available Tokens

One of the main centralized exchanges’ challenges is a shorter list of available tokens the users can trade. This is due to certain legal restrictions that don’t allow cryptocurrency exchange apps to include all existing options. For instance, NFTs that have been extremely popular for quite a long time just started to appear in big crypto exchanges. 

The cryptocurrency market is developing rapidly, so new trends, features, and coins appear in the blink of an eye. And this is where the key CEX issue hides: each innovation should pass certain verification and legalization processes before it becomes available to the users. 

Arounda`s Experience in Creating Crypto-related Projects

We at Arounda have solid experience in building crypto-related products. Our experts in design and development have dealt with multiple projects of different types and complexity, including CEX systems. 

In particular, we worked on Freedomstocks project. Our team was involved in creating web design, UX/UI design for the website, and mobile app. Freedomstocks is a service that provides research reports and education for topics covering personal finance, stocks, crypto, commodities, and taxes
. It enables navigating the markets and reaching financial goals, including the ones related to crypto currency. 

Meet Your Audience’s Needs with Great Centralized Exchange Design

Building a well-functioning centralized crypto-exchange platform that will satisfy your audience and withstand competition, pay extra attention to its UI/UX. Efficient design solutions will ensure your platform is clear for all user groups, including inexperienced traders. It should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and secure. In this case, you will gain the customers’ trust, which will lead to community growth and increased revenue. 

Looking for effective design solutions to build a user-friendly CEX platform? We at Arounda are ready to help!

We are a product design agency that specializes in product strategy, business analytics, UI/UX and web design, branding, frontend and backend development, and more. Get in touch! Our experts can provide you with a more in-depth consultation.