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

As the crypto market approaches 2025, the Web3 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 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 mainstream 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 Friendliness and VC-Style Selection

Platform Positioning and Vision

DAO Maker connects retail users with a VC-like project screening system through its innovative "Strong Holder Offering" (SHO) mechanism. Users need to stake $DAO tokens and have a long-term holding record to qualify for allocations, emphasizing the concept of "loyalty staking," which aligns the long-term interests of investors and projects. Since 2019, DAO Maker has facilitated over 179 token offerings, 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 such as DAO Farms and Vaults allowing users to continuously earn token rewards during the staking period (with annualized returns of up to 300-1500%), thereby extending the community's fund lock-up period. Its core vision is to create a retail-friendly Web3 launch platform with VC-level screening and ongoing incentive mechanisms.

2025 Representative Project

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

• SpeedThrone: An AAA racing project that integrates AI elements, supporting staking and mining for 6-12 months.
• 0xFútbol: A blockchain fantasy sports platform themed around soccer, combining collectibles and prediction gameplay, in line 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 operating scenarios.

These cases show that DAO Maker is compatible with gaming, 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 about 0.14× of the IDO price, and the highest historical average ROI being 3.65×. Most projects quickly experienced price declines after listing, although there were still a few breakthrough results. The platform alleviated the losses from price declines through a staking mining mechanism, allowing token holders to continue earning returns even when prices fell. The SHO mechanism has somewhat suppressed selling behavior, but it is still difficult to fully hedge against the overall market weakness. 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 several 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, thereby fostering loyalty. The "DAO Power" system records users' holding points to prevent quick sell-offs.

These mechanisms strengthen the sustainability of IDOs in the later stages while maintaining market enthusiasm, and they 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 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 looking 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 the incubation of high-quality projects in the NFT, gaming, AI, and DeFi sectors 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, employing a $SFUND staking tier mechanism to ensure user allocation rights, and introduces community reviews to replace closed private placement screenings. In 2025, Seedify continues its technological innovation, 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 projects

• 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 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 launch in May 2025, utilizing a dual-channel model of $SFUND + public offering, raising approximately $175,000. Early user engagement is high, but the token price performance is average.
• P33L (P33L): An AI satire-themed meme project, issued in April 2025 through a bond curve method, with a total valuation of $250,000, selling 28% of the supply, raising approximately $70,000, reflecting Seedify's strategy to support culturally innovative projects.

Investment Return Performance

Despite the overall cooling of the market, the historical average highest ROI of the Seedify project remains at around 8×. Several projects are expected to have considerable initial heat upon launch in 2025, but a general price correction tends to follow. 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 rises with purchasing demand, and after selling out, automatically generates the $SFUND-project token LP pool, achieving liquidity upon launch, and built-in measures against "Rug Pull" and "sniping": a 24-hour refund window and progressive pricing prevent bots from buying tokens and ensure buyer rights.
• Layered Access Mechanism (Staking + Social): In the early stages, priority access will be granted to $SFUND stakers and users with high "social scores" (gained through referrals, interactions similar to Kaito, and community activities). Later, it will be opened 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 unlock or short-term linear unlocking (1-4 weeks) to balance trust and sales pressure. Additionally, each token issuance has a 24-hour refund window that allows buyers to opt for a refund in case of uncertainty. 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 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 → 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 benefits from the ecosystem it drives.

Track Focus and Strategic Positioning

Seedify, with a core focus on games 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 yield, AI gaming, and Meme culture. The platform prides itself on being 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 aims to provide new projects with upside potential while enhancing investor protection.

Unique Strategy Summary

Seedify creates an "open yet protected" issuance model by integrating multiple mechanism advantages. Its permissionless bond curve platform, set to launch by the end of 2025, allows any team to issue tokens autonomously, combining automated liquidity and anti-siphoning mechanisms, similar to the openness of CoinTerminal but with added protections. The curation 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 deep incubation through technical support (smart contract audits, AI analysis) before project launch. 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 can 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 games:

• Omnia Protocol (OMNIA): A privacy-focused blockchain access provider (RPC relay) that is crucial for AI data feeding. ATH ROI is approximately 5 times.
• Arcade (ARC): An interoperable, NFT-based competitive gaming platform that heralds a new 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). Issued via whitelist in April 2025.
• AdixAI (ADIX): An AI advertising optimization network. Uniquely, ADIX will be distributed to eligible $CGPT stakers in May 2025 through a "Launchdrop" airdrop (instead of a sale).
• Matchain (MAT) & Blink Game AI (BLINK): Two Launchdrops in May 2025 - a zk-rollup chain (MAT) and a gamified AI battle game (BLINK) - offered free to community members to promote adoption.

Investment Return Performance

ChainGPT Pad is very active, having conducted about 35 IDOs in the past 6 months.