Depth comparison of the 8 major mainstream Launchpads, who will be the version king of 2025?

As the cryptocurrency 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 new schemes such as 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 eight major Launchpad platforms, including Binance Launchpad, DAO Maker, ChainGPT Pad, Virtuals, CoinTerminal, Fjord Foundry, CoinList, and Seedify, 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) issuance mechanism. Users must stake $DAO tokens and maintain a long-term holding record to qualify for allocation, emphasizing the concept of "loyalty staking," which aligns the long-term interests of investors with those of the 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 (annual yields of up to 300--1500%), thereby extending the community's fund lock-up time. Its core vision is to create a retail-friendly Web3 launch platform with VC-level selection and ongoing incentive mechanisms.

2025 Representative Projects

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

• SpeedThrone: An AAA racing GameFi project that integrates AI elements, supporting staking mining for 6 to 12 months.
• 0xFútbol: A blockchain fantasy sports platform themed around soccer, combining collectibles and prediction gameplay, closely aligned with the World Cup trends.
• 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, aimed at 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 an average current ROI of approximately 0.14× of the IDO price, while the highest historical ROI average was 3.65×. Most projects saw their prices quickly decline after listing, although a small number of breakthrough results still emerged. The platform mitigated the losses from price drops through a staking mining mechanism, allowing token holders to continue earning profits even when prices fell. The SHO mechanism has somewhat suppressed selling behavior, but it is still difficult to completely hedge against the overall weakness of the market. It is worth noting that DAO Maker's past returns were better (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.

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 tokens sold 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, thus fostering loyalty. The "DAO Power" system records users' holding points to prevent quick selling.

These mechanisms strengthen the sustainability of the post-IDO phase 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 GameFi 2.0 (SpeedThrone), sports/fan interaction (0xFútbol), DeFi infrastructure (Kayen), and AI/enterprise services (Fusio). Compared to chasing trends with "meme-type platforms", DAO Maker is more inclined to build a project ecosystem with 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: Community-Driven Next-Generation Launchpad

Platform Positioning and Vision

Since 2021, Seedify ($SFUND) has been committed to promoting high-quality project incubation in the fields of NFT, gaming, AI, and DeFi through a community consensus mechanism. So far, 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, adopting a layered mechanism for $SFUND staking to ensure user allocation rights, and introducing community reviews to replace closed private placement selections. In 2025, Seedify continued its technological innovation, launching a permissionless bond curve issuance platform, a decentralized curation DAO, and an on-chain social allocation mechanism, becoming one of the most advanced launchpads in the tech stack.

2025 Representative Project

• Stable Jack (JACK): A fixed/leverage yield protocol deployed on Avalanche, completing its IDO in April 2025, with an FDV valuation of 20 million USD, raising approximately 300,000 USD. The tokens will be fully unlocked after TGE, but market response has been relatively weak.
• Aiki (AIKI): An AI × gaming prediction platform on the Solana chain, set to launch in May 2025, utilizing a $SFUND + public offering dual-channel model, raising approximately $175,000. Early user engagement is high, but the price performance is average.
• P33L (P33L): An AI satire Meme project, issued via a bond curve method in April 2025, with a total valuation of $250,000. 28% of the supply was sold, 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 set to launch in 2025 show considerable initial enthusiasm, but generally experience price corrections thereafter. This phenomenon has become the current norm for IDOs. Seedify aims to avoid severe sell-offs and promote long-term value by introducing bond curves and flexible unlocking mechanisms.

Mechanism Innovation Highlights

• Smart Unified Curve Issuance: The token price dynamically rises with purchasing demand, and after selling out, $SFUND -- project token LP pool is automatically generated, ensuring liquidity upon launch. Built-in measures against "Rug Pull" and "Sniping" include a 24-hour refund window and progressive pricing to prevent bots from snatching up tokens, thereby protecting buyer rights.
• Layered Access Mechanism (Staking + Social): In the early stages, priority access is given to $SFUND stakers and users with high "social scores" (obtained through referrals, interactions similar to Kaito, and community activities). Later on, it will be opened to the public, creating a gamified entry logic that encourages active contributors. This "social allocation 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. In addition, each token release 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 an extra layer of confidence.
• 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 event injects new use cases for $SFUND. Staking Level → Token Distribution → Token Issuance → Liquidity Creation → Purchase Pressure and Token Destruction. 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 games and culture as its core starting point, is gradually expanding into the fields of AI and DeFi. Its recent project line (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 and is 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 strives to enhance investor protection while providing new project upside potential.

Unique Strategy Summary

Seedify integrates multiple mechanism advantages to create an "open yet protected" issuance model. Its unpermissioned bond curve platform planned for launch by the end of 2025 will allow any team to issue tokens autonomously, combining automatic liquidity with anti-sniping mechanisms, similar to the openness of CoinTerminal but with added protections. The curatorial 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 prototype of a new generation Launchpad.

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 depth incubation before projects go live through technical support (smart contract auditing, AI analysis). Participation requires holding or staking $CGPT tokens, which are supported by the 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 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 Project

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 feeding. ATH ROI approximately 5 times.
• Arcade (ARC): An interoperable, NFT-based competitive gaming platform that heralds a new trend in GameFi.
• Flash Protocol (FLASH): A DeFi utility token for ultra-fast DEX trading, equipped with AI predictive analytics.
• NextGem AI (GEMAI): An AI-driven cryptocurrency content discovery platform (an "alpha feed" platform). Issued through a whitelist method in April 2025.
• AdixAI (ADIX): An AI advertising optimization network. Uniquely, ADIX will be distributed to eligible $CGPT stakers through a "Launchdrop" airdrop (rather than a sale) in May 2025.
• Matchain (MAT) & Blink Game AI (BLINK): Two Launchdrops in May 2025------one