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The On-Chain Trading Shakeout: Platforms Battle for Supremacy, Some Surge Ahead

2025/04/24 03:20:31

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Authors: KuCoin Ventures (Oasis, Mia, Claude)

I. The Evolution of On-Chain Trading Platforms: From Efficiency Tools to All-in-One Asset Discovery and Trading Engines

The launch of Pump Fun greatly simplified the issuance process for new assets on the Solana network, significantly accelerating the creation speed of Memecoins. Pump-like tools continue to spread to networks such as Base and BNB Chain, becoming the mainstream method for launching on-chain assets. User demand for discovering and quickly purchasing potential Memecoins as early as possible is growing stronger, driving trading tools to continuously evolve around trading efficiency and early identification capabilities. Trading tools centered on on-chain assets have roughly undergone three stages of change: from general trading DEX/DEX aggregators -> Telegram Bots focused on trading speed -> All-In-One on-chain trading platforms integrating fast trading and multi-dimensional analysis.
 
In this development process, DEX have always been the party controlling token liquidity. Telegram Bots and on-chain trading platforms have significantly improved trading efficiency through optimizations like server-side signing, trade execution, and trade routing. They also support users in bribing validators for priority packaging to front-run transactions by presetting Gas priority fees. However, interaction with DEX liquidity pools cannot be bypassed in the underlying transactions. Therefore, when users trade tokens using Telegram Bots or on-chain trading platforms, they need to pay two layers of fees: one layer comes from DEX LP fees and protocol fees, and the other layer is a 1% handling fee paid to the Telegram Bot or on-chain trading platform. For Telegram Bots and on-chain trading platforms, having more newly launched Memecoins with short lifecycles but moderate potential caps generates more volume and fee income than having a single token with a long lifespan and high market cap.
 
On-chain trading platforms have gradually become the mainstream for trading new assets, representing a further iteration upon Telegram Bots, expanding the user base from degen traders to ordinary users and even complete novices. Telegram Bots, designed purely for speed, leverage Telegram’s efficient communication architecture and Bot API to execute commands directly, typically outpacing on-chain trading platforms in trading speed. They also implement automated buy/sell functions like sniping, copy trading, take-profit, and stop-loss, better suiting the habits of degen players familiar with on-chain operations. The advantage of on-chain trading platforms lies in offering relatively faster trading speeds while enabling ordinary users to discover and identify early Meme coins through multi-dimensional analysis covering on-chain data and social media, thereby attracting more new users into the Meme space. Currently, some on-chain trading platforms do not completely abandon Telegram Bots but make them a branch of the platform's functions to match the habits of different traders.

II. Seeing the Truth Through On-Chain Data: Deconstructing Trading Platform Traffic Migration and User Behavior Trends

Following the President-elect and First Lady-elect of the world's strongest economic power releasing Memecoins on the Solana network, on-chain trading platform volume hit consecutive all-time highs on January 19th and 20th. On January 20th, the single-day volume reached a peak of $1.73 billion. The craze for $TRUMP and $MELANIA swept the globe, triggering unprecedented speculative frenzy. Some early players and community leaders made a fortune in this speculative feast.
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After the peak, as community leaders exited with huge profits, capital began to cool down. However, driven by the Trump Memecoin frenzy, leaders of smaller nations authorized copycat token launches, resulting in market chaos. Market liquidity nearly dried up, and on-chain trading platform volume plummeted, with daily volume shrinking by nearly 90% from the peak. The market officially entered an era of zero-sum competition.
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With the Trump Memecoin launch as a watershed moment, before $TRUMP, the volume of on-chain trading platforms was mainly dominated by Photon, BullX, and GMGN, representing both Western and Eastern on-chain degen players. Moonshot, with its fiat on-ramp, served as the primary entry point for off-chain users purchasing on-chain Memecoins. During the $TRUMP frenzy, the volume represented by Moonshot's non-crypto native users briefly surpassed that of any other single platform, though its capital inflow lagged slightly. In the post-$TRUMP era of zero-sum competition, Axiom, backed by Y Combinator incubation and employing strategies like points vampire attacks and YouTube live stream promotions, rapidly rose, achieving a daily volume level reaching 50% of the market share.
 
On-chain trading platforms are also PMF products that can continuously attract users without relying on token incentives, with the continuous profit potential from new assets serving as the ultimate dopamine driver. Compared to the general 90% decline in trading volume from the peak, the decline in the number of active addresses for most on-chain trading platforms is relatively controlled, showing user stickiness resilience in a zero-sum market. For platforms like Photon, BullX, and GMGN, which operate without points or airdrop incentives, the total daily active addresses in the zero-sum market remain above 60k, with each platform averaging over 20k daily active addresses. This level of engagement is exceptionally rare for crypto products not driven by token incentives.
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It is worth mentioning that Moonshot might have also set an unprecedented record. Without any token incentives, its active addresses reached over 160k for two consecutive days during the $TRUMP $MELANIA frenzy. Furthermore, due to Moonshot's one-account-one-address model, this better reflects the true influx of new users driven by viral Memes. However, off-chain users are mainly driven by major events and have poor retention rates.
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Of course, points/airdrop vampire attacks remain a powerful means for newcomers to challenge established players. There is nothing new under the sun—this scene has played out before in tracks like DEXs and NFT Marketplaces. As a newcomer who missed the $TRUMP $MELANIA wave, Axiom was one of the first on-chain trading platforms to launch points incentives. In just two months, its daily active addresses grew from 0 to nearly 30k, slightly higher than Photon. However, a notable characteristic of points-driven platforms is that, during the same period, the average transaction amount per address is significantly higher than other platforms without points incentives. This suggests potential volume farming behavior, such as Axiom's recent average daily transaction amount per address being almost double that of Photon.
 
Besides the platforms that have already emerged, newcomers are also eyeing the market covetously, attempting to capture users and capital in the zero-sum environment with differentiated features and refined operational strategies, hoping to make a mark when the next on-chain bull market arrives. On-chain trading platforms do not directly own or provide liquidity, making their moats weaker compared to DEXs. The core to attracting and retaining users and capital still lies in continuously optimized product features and efficient operational strategies.

III. How to Fight the Battle of On-Chain Trading Platforms? A Multi-dimensional Contest from Feature Polishing to Operational Breakthrough

In a preliminary comparison of monthly/daily trading volumes across various on-chain asset trading platforms, we observed that GMGN, Axiom, Photon, and Moonshot not only differ in absolute transaction volumes but also exhibit differentiated growth trajectories. However, a particularly crucial and insightful finding lies in the significant differences in the peak trading hours of each platform. This provides important clues for understanding their potential user personas and market positioning.
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According to trading data statistics from the past half-month, GMGN's trading peak is mainly concentrated between 22:00 and 00:00 UTC+8. In contrast, the trading peaks for Axiom and Photon generally occur relatively later, between 02:00 and 05:00 UTC+8 the next day.
 
This clear time distribution characteristic strongly suggests that their core user bases may have significant geographical emphasis: GMGN might be more favored by users in Asian time zones, while Axiom and Photon might have higher activity among European and American user groups.
 
This fundamental difference in core users is often not coincidental; it likely profoundly influences or even determines the platform's specific choices in product feature polishing, interaction experience design, and even marketing strategies. Next, we will conduct a more detailed comparative analysis from dimensions such as each platform's functional characteristics, product design philosophy, and market operation strategies, attempting to reveal how these differences formed and ultimately how they influenced user flow and the platform's overall trading performance.
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Moonshot: The Double-Edged Sword of Low-Barrier Fiat On-Ramp Advantage and Differentiated Market Positioning

Moonshot's biggest advantage is supporting various fiat deposit methods like credit cards, Apple Pay, and bank transfers. The official $TRUMP website also mentioned the app as a trading method. Its keyless concept, purely email-based registration, the convenience of fiat deposits, and minimalist user experience allow new users to enter the world of crypto on-chain assets with an extremely low barrier. It captures the user demand mismatch arising between Coinbase's inability to list the latest on-chain assets promptly and the markets in countries and regions that many other offshore CEXs cannot touch.
 
Moonshot's core competitive advantage lies in its user-friendly onboarding mechanism. By supporting multiple fiat deposit methods like credit cards and Apple Pay, it significantly lowers the entry barrier for new users into the cryptocurrency market. The $TRUMP coin's official website listing Moonshot as a recommended trading channel brought it considerable exposure and users.
 
The platform uses pure Email registration, eliminating the need to understand complex private key concepts. Its overall user interface and functions are also very simple, allowing crypto newcomers to get started quickly. This simplified user experience strategy precisely targets two market gaps:
  1. Addressing the supply gap caused by traditional exchanges like Coinbase being unable to list the latest on-chain assets promptly due to compliance, liquidity, or other reasons.
  2. Targeting countries and regions that many offshore exchanges, capable of quickly listing assets, cannot serve due to regulatory restrictions.
 
Through this differentiated positioning and keen sense of market demand, Moonshot once successfully seized the mismatch between market needs and existing services. However, the fiat deposit channels provided by partners are not an indestructible moat for Moonshot. As competitors begin to integrate similar services, Moonshot will face challenges.
 
As users on the platform become increasingly professional, their trading needs and desire for new assets may prompt them to seek more professional platforms with a wider asset selection, leading to the churn of mature users seeking a more professional trading experience and larger trading volumes. If Moonshot wishes to retain these users, the development and launch of a MoonShot Pro version must be prioritized.

GMGN: Data-Driven On-Chain Trading Terminal, Building a Professional Moat in the Meme Market

GMGN is a tool platform specifically designed for on-chain Meme coin traders, distinguishing itself in the market with its powerful data analysis capabilities and automated trading functions.
 
In terms of trading functions, GMGN has deeply explored the real usage needs of on-chain users. It not only provides rich order visualization features but has also built a multi-dimensional trading metrics system, greatly enhancing user decision-making efficiency. The platform's unique features like the Blue-Chip Index, Rug Pull Probability, visual tracking of KOL buy/sell behavior, and Twitter scraper have created clear differentiation in the vertical niche of on-chain trading intelligence. Its address tagging system provides fine-grained labels for bots, smart money, whale addresses, etc. Combined with comprehensive analysis of on-chain data and social media, it strengthens the product's appeal to users involved in new coin launches and fast arbitrage. It can be said that the rich trading indicators and address tags accumulated through this data-driven trading product path constitute GMGN's most solid moat. However, this also leads to extremely high information density on the product page, making it less friendly to novice users and somewhat hindering broad penetration of the user base.
 
On the other hand, GMGN has opened its API, allowing whitelisted users and institutions to fetch platform data, customize strategy modules, and develop automated trading scripts based on the API, further reducing operational costs for professional users and enhancing the platform's infrastructure attribute. However, it should be noted that some strategies rely on Telegram Bot execution, requiring users to entrust their private keys to the platform, which poses non-negligible security risks. To mitigate this, GMGN has introduced security measures like Google 2FA verification and whitelisted address restrictions.
 
In terms of operational strategy, GMGN demonstrates clear differences from projects with a Western product orientation, typical of Asian development teams. It continuously activates community engagement and expands user sources by launching on-chain trading competitions, KOL collaborations, and project partnerships. To date, the platform has collaborated with multiple ecosystem partners like BNB Chain, 1000X GEM, and X Community to host 6 trading competitions. Simultaneously, it co-authored educational materials like "GMGN: A Guide to Trading MEME from $0 to $1000" with renowned industry KOLs, further cultivating market awareness and allowing new users to quickly get started and join the on-chain world. GMGN is gradually building an operational moat based on community, events, and meticulous service, driven by external cooperation, multilingual communities, and Telegram customer support groups.

Axiom: Rising Prominently on the Solana Chain with Ultimate Trading Experience and Community-Driven Strategy

Axiom has rapidly risen on the Solana chain, thanks to its deep understanding of on-chain trader needs and continuous polishing of the product experience. Its core interface, Pulse, offers features like project icon hover previews, Twitter username change history queries, and tweet pop-up windows, helping users efficiently gather information within a single interface, reducing the frequency of switching contexts, and improving chain scanning efficiency.
 
Specifically, Axiom's floating window monitoring interface allows users to track the operations of smart money addresses and the latest updates from followed Twitter KOLs in real-time, further enhancing the convenience of information access. This enables users to monitor the latest actions of smart money addresses and follow the latest news from Twitter KOLs within a single screen, highly aligning with the current market situation where on-chain trading hotspots are heavily concentrated in the news trading segment.
 
The feature to query Twitter username change history helps users understand if a project has previously issued other coins, while the tweet preview pop-up allows understanding community information without leaving the trading page. These address pain points previously experienced by dedicated on-chain traders during their scanning process. The essence of introducing these features is to reduce user context switching, shorten the user journey, facilitate chain scanning, continuously optimize product details, and pursue the ultimate experience for on-chain user needs.
 
In terms of trade execution, Axiom uses a custom engine and node optimization technology to achieve transaction speeds "less than one block" (approximately 0.4 seconds) and supports professional users using custom RPC nodes, further enhancing transaction flexibility and efficiency. This is particularly important for users pursuing speed in new coin launches.
 
Regarding user incentive mechanisms, Axiom has introduced a points system and the expectation of potential token airdrops. Users accumulate points through trading, inviting others, and completing tasks, potentially receiving airdrop rewards in the future. Additionally, the platform features a three-tier referral reward system: direct referrals earn a 30% share of trading fees, while indirect and extended referrals earn 3% and 2% respectively, effectively stimulating users' proactiveness in promotion.
 
Axiom's success is also reflected in its continuous optimization of user experience and keen insight into market demands. By constantly iterating product features, improving trading speed, and enriching incentive mechanisms, Axiom has secured a significant position in the Solana ecosystem, becoming one of the preferred platforms for on-chain traders, independently capturing about 50% of the market share.

IV. Who Will Rise and Fall? The Future Landscape of On-Chain Trading

We have conducted an in-depth analysis of representative on-chain trading platforms like GMGN, Axiom, Photon, and Moonshot, spanning data, product, and operational dimensions, revealing a currently vibrant and fiercely competitive track. Reviewing the trading frenzy sparked by on-chain hot assets like MEME and AI Agents, we not only witness the rapid iteration and maturation of on-chain trading platforms under competitive pressure but can also clearly identify several key trends shaping the industry's future:

Trend One: The New On-Chain Paradigm – Evolution of Traffic Portals and Exploration of "Binance-ization"

  • Frontier of New Assets & Value Discovery Center: Given the current market structure and shifts in user behavior, DEXs have become the primary launch venue for new assets like Meme coins and low-cap potential coins, serving as their main liquidity source for a considerable period. However, such assets change rapidly and are numerous, making trading solely through DEX frontends or TG Bots inconvenient. Against this backdrop, on-chain trading platforms have rapidly risen with superior trading experiences and powerful data analysis capabilities, effectively meeting users' needs to capture early opportunities and substantially helping many quality assets achieve initial price discovery. In fact, leading on-chain trading platforms have, to some extent, replaced some of the early listing and liquidity bootstrapping functions of CEXs, becoming the preferred venue for retail and professional traders participating in early to mid-stage on-chain asset speculation.
  • Reinforcement of the "On-Chain Wealth Creation" Narrative & User Migration: One of the core charms of the crypto industry lies in the high-multiple wealth effect within its permissionless environment. Traditionally, CEXs were the first stop for asset listing and price discovery, where users engaged in early speculation. However, with a large number of assets (especially attention assets like MEME) launching directly on-chain in this cycle, some early adopters achieved astonishing returns by participating in very early projects via on-chain trading platforms. This has made a broader user base truly feel the high-multiple gold-digging potential hidden on-chain. Coupled with the fact that on-chain trading platforms are often deeply tied to KOLs, widely spreading profit screenshots bearing platform logos via social media, the narrative of "getting rich quick on-chain" is constantly reinforced, deeply associating the wealth effect with these platforms. The result is that even CEX leaders like Binance are facing significant challenges to the wealth effect generated by their newly listed spot assets.
  • Transformation Pressure on CEXs & the "Deconstruction" Challenge from On-Chain Tools: Although CEXs currently dominate overall trading due to their strong fiat channels, integrated features, liquidity advantages, and status in institutional compliance, emerging on-chain tools like Moonshot (simplified deposits), GMGN (professional data), and Axiom (one-stop research & trading) are gradually eroding the functional territory of CEXs. They offer users more convenient (often KYC-free), timely, and native on-chain trading options. The evolution of on-chain trading platforms from single tools to comprehensive trading terminals integrating security, data, copy trading, etc., directly impacts the one-stop service model of CEXs. Even though CEXs retain user stickiness and liquidity moats, they are forced to accelerate strategic adjustments and product innovation to cope with the serious situation of user demand shifting towards on-chain platforms.

Trend Two: Mutual Convergence – Blurring Boundaries and Integration Exploration Between CEX and On-Chain Scenarios

  • OKX's Early Exploration & Path Divergence: In fact, OKX launched MetaX (later renamed OKX Web3 Wallet) as early as 2022, integrating an NFT marketplace and a multi-chain non-custodial wallet, making it one of the first exchanges to attempt deep integration of a wallet with a CEX. Although its NFT market performance was mediocre, its wallet business seized the opportunity during the 2023 inscription craze, leveraging its first-mover advantage and technological expertise to become a market focus. OKX's previous strategic intent to build a Web3 Super App, aiming to connect on-chain and intra-exchange ecosystems through a single application, was clear. However, subsequent industry events and regulatory compliance pressure forced it to separate its exchange App from the Web3 wallet. This also reveals the inherent tension between KYC-free/non-custodial wallets and strongly KYC'd/strictly regulated CEX businesses in the current compliance environment, highlighting the real-world challenges of deep integration.
  • Binance/Bitget's Alternative Integration & Model Innovation: However, exchanges' exploration of CEX and on-chain integration has not stopped. This year, the Binance Web3 Wallet launched its Alpha feature and iterated rapidly, allowing users to trade specific on-chain tokens directly using their exchange accounts without needing an external wallet. Unlike OKX, which emphasizes non-custodial wallets and strict scenario separation, Binance adopted a bolder, relatively centralized integration approach. Through the "KYC Wallet + Exchange Account Direct Access to On-Chain" product combination, it pioneered breaking the traditional barriers between CEX and on-chain asset interaction. Bitget closely followed suit, launching Bitget Onchain to achieve similar functionality, while also retaining Bitget Wallet as a fully self-custodial, decentralized option to cater to different user preferences. This indicates that CEX and on-chain trading scenarios are undergoing mutual penetration and learning, and the boundaries between the two at the product level are expected to blur further in the future.

Trend Three: Experience is King – The Continuous Revolution in User Experience and the Wave of Intelligence

  • Underlying Technology Driving Usability Leap: Over the past few years, the proposal and development of concepts like high-performance public chains, Account Abstraction (AA), Chain Abstraction, and Intent-Driven systems have aimed corely at continuously simplifying user operations and shielding the complexity of underlying technology, significantly lowering the barrier for Web2 users to enter Web3. With the increasing adoption of mobile apps by on-chain trading platforms and the continuous pursuit of low-barrier experiences, it is foreseeable that in future crypto booms, these tools will empower a broader user base to seamlessly access on-chain assets and diverse participation methods.
  • Deep Integration of Trading Intelligence and Socialization: This market cycle has clearly shown strong demand for social trading and comprehensive decision support tools based on news/on-chain data, areas where on-chain trading platforms have already demonstrated a leading edge. Besides standard KOL copy trading, features like "smart money" tracking and automated trading strategies based on off-chain community signals/key events are maturing. In the future, integrating advanced tools like AI-driven sentiment analysis and pattern recognition is an inevitable trend, expected to further lower the barrier to professional trading.
  • Broad Prospects Empowered by AI: We also anticipate more powerful AI capabilities deeply empowering on-chain trading platforms. Currently, AI has already shown great potential in areas like strategy recommendation and generation, and natural language interactive operations. Given time, AI might enable users without programming skills to achieve highly personalized and professional-grade trading automation, completely revolutionizing the on-chain trading experience.
In summary, on-chain trading platforms, as crucial bridges connecting new asset discovery with user trading behavior, are rapidly transitioning from "tools" to "portals." They are not only continuously breaking through in product features, user experience, and operational strategies but are also playing an increasingly critical role in the structural transformation of crypto trading. From CEXs ceding some dominance over early liquidity to on-chain trading platforms actively absorbing asset discovery, social trading, and user mindshare, the underlying logic of this round of competition is no longer just about speed and efficiency, but an exploration of the "next-generation trading infrastructure."
 
In the future, driven by technological advancements such as high-performance chain infrastructure, account abstraction, and AI empowerment, the boundaries of on-chain trading platforms will continue to expand. On one hand, they will further challenge the monopoly position of CEXs in liquidity, entry points, and user mindshare; on the other hand, they may also form deeper levels of integration with CEXs, pushing the entire trading system from centralization towards a more flexible, diverse hybrid structure.
 
This is not just an innovation at the product level, but a reshuffling concerning the crypto market's power structure, user behavior paths, and value distribution methods. Before the next cycle truly arrives, this "battle for the entrance" will continue to evolve, and the story of on-chain trading platforms has only just begun.

About KuCoin Ventures

KuCoin Ventures, is the leading investment arm of KuCoin Exchange, which is a top 5 crypto exchange globally. Aiming to invest in the most disruptive crypto and blockchain projects of the Web 3.0 era, KuCoin Ventures supports crypto and Web 3.0 builders both financially and strategically with deep insights and global resources.
As a community-friendly and research-driven investor, KuCoin Ventures works closely with portfolio projects throughout the entire life cycle, with a focus on Web3.0 infrastructures, AI, Consumer App, Defi and PayFi.