# kaal:claim:3936876-018

**Claim.** The unprecedented growth rate of decentralized exchanges may be an early indicator of increasing reliance on decentralized self-custody by retail users, but mainstream institutional adoption of digital assets is unlikely to materialize through self-custody and DEXs.

**Type.** predictive  **Support.** speculative

**Holds when.**

- as of late 2020 and 2021 DEX growth
- distinguishes retail from institutional adoption

**Source quote.**

> If anything, the DEX growth rate may be an early indicator of increasing decentralized self-custody reliance by digital asset retail users. Mainstream institutional investor adoption of digital assets, in turn, may not materialize via self-custody and DEXs.

**From.** Wulf A. Kaal, Hayley Howe, *Custody of Digital Assets* (2021), II.2.a Hot Storage, page 18

**Cite as.** Wulf A. Kaal, Hayley Howe, Custody of Digital Assets (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3936876

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `9bc0903d01910460298e754c451f027df4324367359800a98ee8e638d94aff55` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Kaal%20and%20Howe%20-%202021%20-%20Custody%20of%20Digital%20Assets.pdf

**Topics.** decentralization, defi, institutional-design

**Keywords.** decentralized-exchanges, self-custody, retail-adoption, institutional-adoption, prediction

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