Depth Comparison of 8 Major Launchpads: Who Will Be the King of Versions in 2025?

As the crypto market enters 2025, the Web3 launch platform ecosystem has evolved into a diverse landscape, with various platforms developing differentiated layouts around different types of projects, users, and financing models. From issuance platforms supported by centralized exchanges to decentralized IDO mechanisms, and new solutions like LBP (Liquidity Bootstrapping Auction), Launchpad has become the core vehicle for early investment and project initiation in the crypto world. This article provides an in-depth comparison of 8 major Launchpad platforms, including DAO Maker, Seedify, ChainGPT Pad, Virtuals, CoinTerminal, Fjord Foundry, CoinList, and Binance Launchpad, covering their project profiles, issuance mechanisms, return performance, track positioning, and unique innovations.

DAO Maker: A Launchpad Balancing Retail-Friendly and VC-Style Selection

Platform Positioning and Vision

DAO Maker connects retail users with a VC-like project selection system through its innovative "Strong Holder Offering" (SHO) mechanism. Users must stake $DAO tokens and have a long-term holding record to qualify for allocations, emphasizing the concept of "loyal staking" to align the long-term interests of investors and projects. Since 2019, DAO Maker has facilitated over 179 token launches, raising approximately $107 million, with representative projects including My Neighbor Alice and XCAD. The platform has gradually evolved from one-time sales to an "accelerator ecosystem," with new features like DAO Farms and Vaults allowing users to continuously earn token rewards during the staking period (with annual yields of up to 300-1500%), thereby extending the lock-up period for community funds. Its core vision is to create a retail-friendly Web3 launch platform with VC-level selection and continuous incentive mechanisms.

2025 Representative Projects

DAO Maker has recently focused on projects with clear narratives and diverse types, including:

• SpeedThrone: An AAA racing game project that integrates AI elements, supporting staking mining for 6-12 months.
• 0xFútbol: A blockchain fantasy sports platform themed around football, combining collectibles and prediction gameplay, aligned with the World Cup hotspot.
• Kayen Protocol: Provides DeFi data validation and modular security services, suitable for re-staking and distributed physical infrastructure network systems.
• Fusio: An enterprise-level distributed physical infrastructure platform equipped with an AI monitoring mechanism, aimed at enterprise validator operating scenarios.

These cases show that DAO Maker is compatible with gaming, sports/fan economy, and AI/infrastructure projects, covering a wide range of themes.

Investment Return Performance

In the first half of 2025, the overall returns of the DAO Maker project were mediocre, with an average current ROI of about 0.14× of the IDO price, and the highest historical average ROI being 3.65×. Most projects saw a rapid price decline after listing, although there were still a few breakthrough results. The platform mitigates the losses from price declines through a staking mining mechanism, allowing token holders to continue earning even when prices fall. The SHO mechanism has somewhat suppressed sell-off behavior, but it is still difficult to completely hedge against the overall weakness of the market. It is worth noting that DAO Maker previously had better returns (such as Orion Protocol achieving several times growth), and the current low ROI is more a reflection of the overall market environment rather than a flaw in the platform's mechanism.

Mechanism Innovation Highlights

• Strong Holder Offering (SHO): Obtain allocation rights by staking $DAO tokens, rewarding long-term holders.
• Yield Mining/Vaults: New projects often come with months of mining activities, distributing the sold tokens as rewards to DAO stakers or liquidity providers. This "stake to earn" model creates demand and liquidity after the IDO.
• DAO Token Binding: Participants of DAO Maker must hold $DAO to participate, thereby fostering loyalty. The "DAO Power" system records user holding points to prevent quick sell-offs.

These mechanisms strengthen the sustainability of IDOs while maintaining market enthusiasm, and reflect DAO Maker's dual positioning that combines the breadth of retail investors with the depth of project review.

Track Focus and Strategic Positioning

DAO Maker focuses on emerging narratives and practical projects, with its 2025 project layout covering Game 2.0 (SpeedThrone), sports/fan interaction (0xFútbol), DeFi infrastructure (Kayen), and AI/business services (Fusio). Compared to chasing trends with "meme-type platforms," DAO Maker is more inclined to build project ecosystems with real value and return mechanisms. Its strategy is to create a "community-driven accelerator" that attracts entrepreneurs looking to balance retail traffic with long-term healthy development.

Seedify: A Community-Driven Next-Generation Launchpad

Platform Positioning and Vision

Since 2021, Seedify ($SFUND) has been dedicated to promoting the incubation of high-quality projects in the fields of NFTs, gaming, AI, and DeFi through a community consensus mechanism. As of now, Seedify has facilitated the issuance of over 100 tokens, raising approximately $40 million to $55 million in total. The platform combines the advantages of centralized exchanges and DeFi, adopting a $SFUND staking tiered mechanism to ensure user allocation rights, and introducing community reviews to replace closed private placement screenings. In 2025, Seedify continued its technological innovation by launching a permissionless bond curve issuance platform, a decentralized curation DAO, and an on-chain social distribution mechanism, becoming one of the leading Launchpads at the forefront of the tech stack.

2025 Project Representative

• Stable Jack (JACK): A fixed/leverage yield protocol deployed on Avalanche, completing its IDO in April 2025, with an FDV valuation of $20 million, raising approximately $300,000. The tokens will be fully unlocked after the TGE, but the market response has been relatively weak.
• Aiki (AIKI): An AI × gaming prediction platform on the Solana chain, set to launch in May 2025, using the $SFUND + public fundraising dual-channel model, raising approximately $175,000. Early user participation is high, but the token price performance is average.
• P33L (P33L): An AI satire meme project, issued via a bond curve in April 2025, with a total valuation of $250,000, selling 28% of the supply and raising approximately $70,000, reflecting Seedify's strategy to support cultural innovation projects.

Investment Return Performance

Despite the overall cooling of the market, the historical average highest ROI of the Seedify project remains around 8×. In 2025, several projects are expected to have considerable initial excitement upon launch, but a general price correction follows. This phenomenon has become a current norm for IDOs. Seedify aims to avoid severe sell pressure and promote long-term value by introducing bond curves and flexible unlocking mechanisms.

Mechanism Innovation Highlights

• Smart Joint Curve Issuance: The token price dynamically rises with purchasing demand, and after selling out, automatically generates the $SFUND project token LP pool, ensuring liquidity upon launch. It also includes safeguards against "rug pulls" and "sniping": a 24-hour refund window and progressive pricing to prevent bots from buying tokens and protect buyers' rights.
• Layered Access Mechanism (Staking + Social): In the early stages, priority access is granted to $SFUND stakers and users with high "social scores" (obtained through referrals, interactions similar to Kaito, and community activities), while later stages will open to the public, forming a gamified entry logic that encourages active contributors. This "social distribution layer" rewards community builders, not just whales.
• Investor-friendly unlocking/refund mechanism: Each project can choose a flexible vesting plan, Seedify offers instant unlocking or short-term linear unlocking (1-4 weeks) to balance trust and sales pressure. In addition, each token issuance has a 24-hour refund window, allowing buyers to choose a refund in uncertain situations. This mechanism is similar to the downside risk protection of the CoinTerminal model, providing users with an additional layer of confidence.
• Decentralized Curator Program: A network of curators composed of KOLs, VCs, guilds, and DAOs selects projects for the platform, and can earn revenue sharing, allocation quotas, and community whitelists.
• $SFUND Incentive Flywheel: Each issuance activity injects new use cases for $SFUND. Staking Level → Token Distribution → Token Issuance → Liquidity Creation → Buying Pressure and Token Burn. As the issuance quantity increases, the intrinsic demand for $SFUND tokens also grows. Seedify's design ensures that its native token can benefit from the ecosystem it drives.

Track Focus and Strategic Positioning

Seedify, with a core focus on gaming and culture, is gradually expanding into the fields of AI and DeFi. Its recent project lineup (Stable Jack, Aiki, P33L) covers multiple sectors including DeFi yields, AI games, and meme culture. The platform prides itself as a leader in the "Web3 culture and gaming" space and is progressively embracing cutting-edge trends such as on-chain AI and distributed physical infrastructure protocols. Seedify positions itself as a community-first alternative: more open than Binance, more engaging than CoinList, and more orderly than Virtuals. By integrating joint curves and refund mechanisms, it strives to provide new project upside potential while enhancing investor protection.

Unique Strategy Summary

Seedify integrates multiple mechanisms to create an "open yet protected" issuance model. Its permissionless bond curve platform, scheduled for launch by the end of 2025, will allow any team to issue tokens autonomously, combining automatic liquidity and anti-sniping mechanisms. This concept is similar to the openness of CoinTerminal but adds more protection. The curation DAO absorbs DAO Maker's "review spirit" and enhances user engagement through social incentive mechanisms (such as Kaito or Ethos points), ultimately forming an integration of CoinTerminal's openness, Fjord's fairness mechanism, DAO Maker's interest binding, and community-oriented culture, heralding the emergence of a new generation of Launchpads.

ChainGPT Pad: A Launchpad Focused on Artificial Intelligence

Platform Positioning and Vision

ChainGPT Pad is the preferred launchpad for AI-first Web3 startups. It is part of the ChainGPT ecosystem, known for its AI chatbot and developer tools, and undergoes deep incubation through technical support (smart contract audits, AI analysis) before project launch. Participation requires holding or staking $CGPT tokens, which are supported by fees from the platform's AI products (a portion of user fees will be burned). The vision of ChainGPT Pad is to become the primary decentralized AI issuance tool: any project launched on it can receive customized guidance for AI, while stakers of $CGPT can gain access to token sales.

2025 Representative Projects

The 2025 project portfolio of ChainGPT Pad combines AI infrastructure and some games:

• Omnia Protocol (OMNIA): A privacy-focused blockchain access provider (RPC relay) that is crucial for AI data feeds. ATH ROI is approximately 5 times.
• Arcade (ARC): An interoperable, NFT-based competitive gaming platform, heralding a new trend in gaming finance.
• Flash Protocol (FLASH): A DeFi utility token for ultra-fast decentralized exchange trading, equipped with AI predictive analysis features.
• NextGem AI (GEMAI): An AI-driven cryptocurrency content discovery platform (an "alpha feed" platform). Issued via whitelist in April 2025.
• AdixAI (ADIX): An AI advertising optimization network. Uniquely, ADIX is distributed to eligible $CGPT stakers through the "Launchdrop" airdrop (rather than a sale) in May 2025.
• Matchain (MAT) & Blink Game AI (BLINK): Two Launchdrops in May 2025 - a zk-rollup chain (MAT) and a gamified AI battle game (BLINK) - provided for free to community members to promote adoption.

Investment Return Performance

ChainGPT Pa