Why Orderbook Mainstream

The Shift from Pools to Orderbooks

For the last cycle (2020-2024), Automated Market Makers (AMMs) like Uniswap dominated because they were easy to bootstrap for standard ERC-20 tokens. However, as Web3 moves to real utility, the AMM model hits a wall.

The "Square Peg, Round Hole" Problem

AMMs are great for ETH/USDC. They are terrible for:

• Binary Outcomes (Prediction Markets) AMMs suffer from "impermanent loss" equivalent to losing 100% of capital if an event resolves to 0 or 1.

• Unique Assets (Game Items)

  You cannot pool "Level 50 Swords" with "Level 1 Swords" effectively without losing pricing granularity.

User Expectations have Changed

Users in 2026 are not the "DeFi Degens" of 2020. They expect:

Instant Feedback: Waiting 12 seconds for a block confirmation is unacceptable for a game or a live bet. Professional Pricing: Traders demand limit orders, stop-losses, and exact execution prices. Capital Efficiency: Market makers want to concentrate their capital exactly where the action is, not spread it across an infinite curve.

As Web3 applications try to compete with Web2 (Robinhood, DraftKings, Steam Marketplace), the underlying infrastructure must match Web2 performance. That is why the market is aggressively pivoting back to the Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) model.