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

As the crypto market enters 2025, the Web3 launch platform (Launchpad) 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 to 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 the eight major mainstream Launchpad platforms, including DAO Maker, Seedify, ChainGPT Pad, Virtuals, CoinTerminal, Fjord Foundry, CoinList, and Binance Launchpad, covering their project profiles, issuance mechanisms, return performances, 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 "loyalty staking" to align the long-term interests of investors and projects. Since 2019, DAO Maker has facilitated over 179 token issuances, raising approximately $107 million, with representative projects including My Neighbor Alice and XCAD. The platform has gradually expanded 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 of community funds. Its core vision is to create a retail-friendly Web3 launch platform with VC-level selection and ongoing incentive mechanisms.

2025 Representative Project

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

• SpeedThrone: An AAA-level racing GameFi project that integrates AI elements, supporting staking mining for 6 to 12 months.
• 0xFútbol: A football-themed blockchain fantasy sports platform that combines collectibles and prediction gameplay, aligning with the World Cup hot topics.
• Kayen Protocol: Provides DeFi data verification and modular security services, suitable for re-staking and DePIN systems.
• Fusio: An enterprise-level DePIN platform equipped with AI monitoring mechanisms, designed for enterprise validator operation scenarios.

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

Investment Return Performance

In the first half of 2025, the overall returns of the DAO Maker project were mediocre, with the average current ROI being approximately 0.14 times the IDO price, and the highest historical ROI average at 3.65 times. Most projects saw a rapid price drop after listing, although a few breakthrough results did emerge. The platform mitigated the losses from price declines through a staking mining mechanism, allowing token holders to continue earning returns even during price drops. The SHO mechanism has somewhat suppressed selling behavior, but it has yet to fully hedge against the overall market weakness. It is noteworthy that DAO Maker had better returns in the past (for example, Orion Protocol achieved 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.

Highlights of Mechanism Innovation

• Strong Holder Offering (SHO): Acquire allocation rights by staking $DAO tokens, rewarding long-term holders.
• Yield Mining/Vaults: New projects often come with several 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 in DAO Maker must hold $DAO to participate, thereby fostering loyalty. The "DAO Power" system records user holding points to prevent rapid sell-offs.

These mechanisms enhance the sustainability of the post-IDO phase while maintaining market enthusiasm, reflecting 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 GameFi 2.0 (SpeedThrone), sports/fan interaction (0xFútbol), DeFi infrastructure (Kayen), and AI/business services (Fusio). Compared to chasing the trends of "Meme-type platforms", DAO Maker is more inclined to build project ecosystems that possess real value and return mechanisms. Its strategy is to create a "community-driven accelerator" that attracts entrepreneurs who wish to balance retail traffic with long-term healthy development.

Seedify: The Next Generation Launchpad Driven by Community

Platform Positioning and Vision

Since 2021, Seedify ($SFUND) has been dedicated to promoting the incubation of high-quality projects in the fields of NFT, gaming, AI, and DeFi through a community consensus mechanism. To date, Seedify has facilitated the issuance of over 100 tokens, raising approximately $40 million to $55 million in total. The platform combines the advantages of CEX and DeFi, using a layered staking mechanism with $SFUND to ensure user allocation rights, and introduces community reviews to replace closed private placement screening. In 2025, Seedify continues 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 most cutting-edge Launchpads in the tech stack.

2025 Representative Project

• Stable Jack (JACK): A fixed/leverage yield protocol deployed on Avalanche, with an IDO completion in April 2025, an FDV valuation of $20 million, raising approximately $300,000. The token will be fully unlocked after TGE, but the market response has been relatively weak.
• Aiki (AIKI): An AI × gaming prediction platform on the Solana chain, set to be launched in May 2025, using a dual-channel model of $SFUND + public offering, raising approximately $175,000. Early user participation is high, but the price performance is average.
• P33L (P33L): An AI satire Meme project, issued in April 2025 through a bond curve method, 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×. Several projects are expected to have considerable heat during their initial listings in 2025, but generally experience price corrections afterward. This phenomenon has become the current norm for IDOs. Seedify aims to avoid severe selling 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 increases with purchasing demand, and after selling out, it automatically generates $SFUND--the project token LP pool, achieving liquidity upon launch, and includes safeguards against "Rug Pull" and "Sniping": a 24-hour refund window and progressive pricing to prevent bots from seizing tokens and ensure buyer 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), and later it will be 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 schedule, Seedify offers instant unlocking or short-term linear unlocking (1-4 weeks) to balance trust and sales pressure. Moreover, each token issuance has a 24-hour refund window, allowing buyers to opt for a refund in uncertain situations. This mechanism is similar to the down-risk protection of the CoinTerminal model, providing users with additional confidence assurance.
• Decentralized Curator Program: A curator network 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 Allocation → Token Issuance → Liquidity Creation → Buy 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 benefits 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 gaming, and Meme culture. The platform prides itself as a leader in the "Web3 culture and gaming" space while progressively embracing cutting-edge trends such as on-chain AI and DePIN 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 aims 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 their own tokens, combining automatic liquidity with anti-sniping mechanisms, similar to the openness of CoinTerminal but with additional protections. The Curated DAO absorbs the "review spirit" of DAO Maker 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 in-depth incubation through technical support (smart contract audits, AI analysis) before projects go live. Participation requires holding or staking $CGPT tokens, which are supported by the platform's AI product fees (a portion of user fees will be burned). The vision of ChainGPT Pad is to become the primary DEAI (Decentralized AI) issuance tool: any project launched on it will receive customized guidance for AI, while stakers of $CGPT will gain participation rights in token sales.

2025 Representative Projects

The 2025 project portfolio of ChainGPT Pad integrates AI infrastructure and some GameFi:

• Omnia Protocol (OMNIA): A privacy-focused blockchain access provider (RPC relay), crucial for AI data feeds. ATH ROI approximately 5 times.
• Arcade (ARC): An interoperable, NFT-based competitive gaming platform that heralds a new GameFi trend.
• Flash Protocol (FLASH): A DeFi utility token for ultra-fast DEX trading, featuring AI predictive analytics.
• NextGem AI (GEMAI): AI-driven crypto content discovery platform (an "alpha feed" platform). Whitelist issuance scheduled for 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------one zk-rollup chain (MAT) and one gamified AI battle game (BLINK)------provided for free to community members to promote adoption.

Investment Return Performance

ChainGPT Pad is very active, the past 6