I have my own understanding what DEX is, and nothing will change it. The rule of thumb is as simple as 2x2 :
A trully decentralised exchange is the one which do NOT requires any login, sign up or registration. Period.
Just as I need NO registration to use Bitcoin network.
When looking to identify if an exchange is truly decentralized, ask yourself these 10 questions:
- Does it require an email, Facebook or Google sign up?
- Are the coins ever sent to a third party address that is not your own?
- Does the exchange use a replacement, IOU / intermediate token/coin or use a coloured coin approach?
- Is there a central company, entity or individual running the exchange?
- Do a percentage of the profits go back to a company, entity or individual?
- Are there withdrawal limits?
- Are the orderbooks and order matching centralized?
- Are any of the other exchanges four core functions (1-Capital deposits, 2-Order broadcast, 3-Order matching, 4-exchange of tokens) centralized?
- Are there any costs to be listed on the exchange?
- Can only certain pairs of coins be traded?
If there is even one single "YES" answer to any of these questions, then it is NOT a truly decentralized exchange. Amen.