‘They are making $200M/yr off this:’ How DEX Screener became hub for predatory investors and crypto scammers

DEX Screener is facing criticism for allegedly promoting scam tokens, with claims that it prioritizes paid listings over legitimate projects.

DEX Screener was once a go-to tool for tracking decentralized exchange activity. Traders relied on it to find new tokens across multiple blockchain networks, analyze charts, and gain early access to tokens not yet widely recognized.

But lately, things have taken a quick U-turn. Instead of a platform for discovery, it’s turning into a hotspot for scammers. At least, that’s what some in the industry are claiming.

Today marks 6 months since launch.

In the last 12 hours, we were featured on $TRUMP’s website as THE way to buy, processed nearly $400m in volume, crushed fiat onramp records by orders of magnitude, and brought 200k+ new people onchain.

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— Moonshot (@moonshot) January 18, 2025

Conor Grogan, head of product business operations at Coinbase, appears to be frustrated with what DEX Screener has become. According to him, the platform has embraced “dark patterns” by promoting scams and prioritizing paid fraudulent listings over legitimate projects.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a widely used website steer into dark patterns like Dexscreener has. Nearly the entire front page is promoted bundled scams, and if you search for a real coin CA [contract address], scams are actively boosted ahead of the token. They are making $200M/yr off this.”

Conor Grogan

Created in 2021 by Alexandre Bini and Andreas Diegues, DEX Screener started as a data analytics platform for decentralized finance. It tracks live token prices, liquidity, and historical charts across such networks as Solana, Ethereum, Base, and many others. Users can find tokens like Coke On Sol (COKE), a Coca-Cola knockoff, Robinhood (HOOD), named after the trading app, and Harry Pothead (POT), which has on its logo the famous wizard.

DEX Screener interface | Source: DEX Screener

On top of boosting tokens on the website, DEX Screener is also seemingly making a lot of money from fees. According to 0xngmi, the founder of DefiLlama, DEX Screener was pulling in a moment up to $250,000 a day by charging teams to update their token’s branding and info.

just started tracking dexscreener fees on defillama

they’re making 150-250k/day by charging 300$ per token to add information like tg link and picturehttps://t.co/ECJCMmvSGd pic.twitter.com/lyWVhYR6Ym

— 0xngmi (@0xngmi) August 15, 2024

It looks like that business model paid off. According to data from crypto venture fund Hashed shows DEX Screener earned more than $50 million in fees, while DefiLlama reports the platform is generating over $250 million annually.

DEX Screener platform quickly became a favorite among traders on the lookout for fresh opportunities. It became a must-have in the decentralized finance space, especially for those trying to spot the next big thing before it hits the centralized exchanges.

But Grogan’s claim suggests a shift in how the platform operates. He implies that DEX Screener is not just showing market data — it’s influencing what users see. And, according to him, it’s boosting scam tokens ahead of legitimate ones.

Best tech in business

So, is DexScreener really full of scams? Well, that actually depends on how you define it. The platform does allow token creators to pay for promoted listings, pushing their projects to the top of search results and homepage recommendations.

As of press time, DEX Screener notes that those seeking “an advertising solution that requires customization to your exact needs” would have to be ready to spend $100,000 on this as well as “users and companies will have to pass the verification process, including KYC, to be able to launch their campaigns.”

DEX Screener’s ads page | Source: DEX Screener

In theory, this should help highlight promising new projects. But in practice, it seems to be a different story. Many of these promoted tokens turn out to be low-quality at best — and outright scams at worst.

The irony is that this isn’t new for crypto. The industry has long faced issues with bad actors using paid promotions to deceive unsuspecting investors. For instance, scammers frequently exploit Google Ads, impersonating in advertisements legitimate projects to steal funds from users.

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The concern with DEX Screener is how aggressive and widespread it has become. When searching for a token by its contract address, fake listings may appear before the legitimate one. This poses a danger, especially for newcomers or those easily caught up in FOMO, who rely on DEX Screener’s data to make quick decisions.

Grogan admits that DEX Screener has some of the “best tech in the business,” adding that he hopes the platform would rethink its strategy. While DEX Screener’s analytics appear to be effective for traders, the high number of questionable ads raises concerns about whether the platform is still living up to its original goal of serving customers.

Crypto.news reached out to the DEX Screener team multiple times but didn’t hear back by the time of this public. We’ll update the article once and if we get the response.

Read more: Scammers deployed 6,800 fake tokens amid TRUMP meme coin craze: Blockaid

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