Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

By Wenser ( @wenser 2010 )

As August arrived, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization surpassed $4.25 trillion, with ETH reaching new highs. The crypto market ushered in another wave of trading peaks. However, unlike in the past, CEX trading volume declined significantly: According to TokenInsight data , total spot trading volume in Q2 was $36.3 trillion, down 21.7% from $46 trillion in Q1. Derivatives trading fell 3.6% to $20.2 trillion compared to Q1. Average daily trading volume for derivatives in Q2 decreased from $233 billion to $226 billion.

With Wall Street dominating Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, CEXs face new challenges and opportunities: consolidating their base of crypto natives while seizing the opportunity to capture the attention and engagement of mainstream investors. This primarily tests CEXes' future strategic capabilities—their ability to strategically plan and iterate platforms tailored to future industry developments and user needs. CoinW, a long-established CEX founded in 2017, has taken the lead in providing this answer. On August 15th, it officially announced the completion of a comprehensive upgrade of its platform architecture and business layout, encompassing four core modules: centralized and decentralized trading, public chain infrastructure, and a proprietary trading platform . The upgrade aims to usher in a new era of "future trading"—a digital asset trading platform integrating diverse assets, diverse scenarios, and diverse models.

Odaily Planet Daily will use this article, combined with the CoinW platform upgrade, to explore the future development and competitive trends of CEX for readers' reference.

The Infinite Future of CEX: Diversified Assets, Unified Liquidity, and AI-Powered Trading

In the early days of the industry, CEX's main businesses were spot trading of currency pairs, C2C deposits and withdrawals, and derivatives trading. As CEX's business scale expanded and its voice strengthened, Launchpad and Launchpool mechanisms emerged, and the platform's wealth-creating effect became a focus of market attention. In recent years, due to the explosive development of the on-chain ecosystem, wallet entrances and new on-chain token issuance have become the focus of a new round of competition in CEX.

If the key words for CEX competition in 2024 are "Meme+Wallet", then after 2025, the overly single entry layout and high-frequency listing of hot coins in rotation will no longer be sufficient to support the long-term development of CEX.

Three Key Elements for CEX Breakthrough: Assets, Liquidity, and AI

For the current CEX, its breakthrough direction focuses on the following three aspects:

The first is the introduction of diversified assets. With the accelerating mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency, RWA assets, represented by stablecoins and tokenized US stocks, have become an integral part of the cryptocurrency landscape. Furthermore, on-chain assets have become a key focus for crypto natives, as evidenced by the record-breaking trading volumes on on-chain contract platforms like Hyperliquid. For CEXs, introducing a diverse range of assets will be crucial to maintaining competitive advantage in the future.

The second is unified ecosystem liquidity. Unlike the traditional, clearly defined asset segregation within platform ecosystems, with the evolving stablecoin landscape and the rapid development of on-chain ecosystems, unified liquidity across different sectors within CEXs has become essential. This can be seen in the efforts of platforms like Binance, OKX, Coinbase, and Backpack to break down barriers to trading and financial management (see "Breaking Down the Barriers of "Trading & Earning": The CEX Financial Management Paradigm is Ushering in a Dramatic Transformation" for details). For both individual and institutional users, efficient and convenient transfers of funds within CEX accounts will significantly enhance the user experience. For CEXs, these improvements will further bridge the gap between DEX and CEX assets, unify user account data, and improve platform trading efficiency, resulting in increased trading volume and fees.

The third is the use of AI strategy trading. AI models and AI applications are developing rapidly, and DeFAI is rapidly integrating into industry development. AI strategies and trade execution have become a part of traders' daily operations. For CEX users, secure and efficient order trading has always been a fundamental need. AI strategy trading will be able to further meet diverse needs such as trading, settlement, custody, and assetization based on platform functions.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the future CEX competition, whoever can make the above three aspects of layout earlier, faster and better will be able to seize more initiative in the development of the industry - after all, for users, whoever provides a better trading experience, higher trading efficiency and better trading returns, then they will naturally "vote with their feet".

CoinW's new solution: assetization, modularization, and intelligence

In response to the above market demands, CoinW provides a very targeted solution:

• First, the CoinW platform provides comprehensive access to assets in multiple scenarios. It supports access and transactions of multiple types of assets, including on-chain settlement and MPC self-custody, effectively meeting users' diverse trading needs.
• Second, the organic combination of modular functions : CoinW platform users can enable centralized, decentralized or institutional trading functional modules as needed, making it convenient for individual users, professional traders and institutional users to flexibly mobilize funds in their accounts and achieve seamless liquidity.
• Third, AI intelligent strategy optimization execution : The CoinW platform system can automatically set up routing between AMM (Automated Market Maker, the automated market maker mechanism of the DEX system) and CLOB (Central Limit Order Book, the central limit order book mechanism of the traditional CEX system) based on user operating habits and market conditions, supplemented by order execution optimization strategies to further improve transaction efficiency and reduce transaction friction.

In summary, the key words for CoinW's platform upgrade are "assetization, modularization, and intelligence," meaning a greater diversity of trading targets, more operational trading functions, and more flexible trading strategies. This significantly improves the trading experience, making it a win-win for both the platform and its users. Furthermore, to provide users with a more intuitive and clear understanding of the platform upgrade, CoinW has also implemented a comprehensive suite of features: integrated trading management, on-chain asset aggregation, public chain performance and liquidity, and a proprietary trading platform. Together, these features form a "next-generation CEX & DEX trading ecosystem."

CoinW Full Stack Upgrade: 4 Platforms, New System, Market Expansion, and Brand Building

As mentioned earlier, the cryptocurrency industry is undergoing unprecedented structural change. CEXs are no longer simply competing for traffic; instead, they face the challenge of building a more diversified service ecosystem, unifying liquidity across different asset classes, and improving trading efficiency through intelligent methods. These shifting trends are redefining the value creation logic of CEXs.

Seven years is enough time for a platform to accumulate deep technical expertise and a broad user base, but it also means pushing the boundaries of its existing growth model and finding new paths to value creation. As the "seven-year cycle" phenomenon in corporate development theory reveals, mature platforms often require fundamental strategic restructuring at this point to achieve the staged transition from quantitative change to qualitative transformation.

Therefore, CoinW's strategic expansion ambitions are not simply business diversification, but a comprehensive transformation from a single trading service provider to a comprehensive digital asset ecosystem builder based on a deep insight into industry development trends and a clear understanding of its own development stage. This is both a proactive response to external challenges and an inevitable choice based on its own internal development logic.

CoinW's 8th Anniversary: Ecosystem Integration and Upgrades Lead the Transformation of Trading Models

This September, CoinW will celebrate its eighth anniversary. On the eve of this significant milestone, the platform is proactively pursuing innovation and change by initiating an "ecosystem integration and upgrade." This transformation represents both a systematic integration of nearly eight years of development and a strategic layout for future trading trends. According to an official announcement, with trading as its core goal, the CoinW investment ecosystem currently encompasses the following four platforms:

• CoinW Integrated Trading Platform: An intelligent spot and contract matching system. CoinW's average daily trading volume exceeds $5 billion, ranking fourth on the Coingecko platform for contracts. It boasts over 15 million registered users, covering over 200 countries and regions worldwide. Its core platform, spot and contract trading, incorporates AI strategy tools and multi-layered risk control, combined with intelligent order routing and matching optimization, for a smoother CEX trading experience.
• GemW is an on-chain asset aggregation platform: a one-click trading system that eliminates the need for wallets and gas fees. Focusing on early-stage assets and popular memes, the platform supports wallet-free registration and zero-gas transactions. It includes automated strategy tools, popular asset discovery, one-click copy trading, and a creator rebate mechanism. Its LENS smart selection of tokens features a concentration of popular projects, serving as the "first screening checkpoint for high-quality projects," allowing users to smoothly conduct on-chain transactions while balancing alpha projects and investment returns.

GemW interface

• DeriW on-chain contract platform: a zero-gas-fee DEX Perp trading system. As the industry's first decentralized perpetual contract platform to achieve zero gas fees, DeriW distinguishes itself from competitors by balancing the security of the Ethereum mainnet with Layer 3 scalability. With a throughput of up to 80,000 TPS, its DEX Perp trading experience rivals that of CEX trading, while its high-yield LP liquidity pool provides users with a more diverse range of return channels. Furthermore, DeriW recently launched the first season of the SuperNova points incentive program , which may be linked to the platform token airdrop in the future.
• PropW is the world's first proprietary cryptocurrency trading platform : a trading system that prioritizes both capital support and profit sharing. The platform is dedicated to identifying and cultivating top traders through a CPTC challenge assessment mechanism, providing them with trading opportunities and financial support. Furthermore, PropW offers up to 90% profit sharing to top traders. Currently, PropW has 100,000 users in over 50 countries and regions.

Following the new business layout, CoinW's market expansion and brand building are also proceeding in full swing.

Market and brand are equally important: CoinW's path to breaking through the circle and connecting

In the fierce competition in the CEX market, technical infrastructure is certainly important, but market communication and brand influence building are equally important.

As a long-established exchange in the industry, CoinW is well aware of the importance of brand building and has therefore made long-term investments in this area: from its partnership with LaLiga in the sports field, to its status as a major sponsor of the East Asian Football Cup , to the fashion trend event Taiwan GQ STYLE FEST , CoinW is constantly breaking industry boundaries through various cross- border collaborations. The exposure of various activities has also allowed mainstream groups such as sports enthusiasts and trend groups to recognize the new charm of crypto culture. The sponsorship of the East Asian Football Cup allowed CoinW to make its debut on mainstream media such as CCTV 5, and received wide exposure on 11 major platforms in 7 countries and regions. As the largest sponsor of GQ STYLE FEST, CoinW's appearance at the Taipei World Expo Park has achieved a deep integration of cryptocurrency and fashion trends.

WConnect is also a key component of the CoinW platform's ecosystem development. CoinW Chief Strategy Officer Nassar Achkar stated at the recently concluded Coinfest, "WConnect will serve as a flagship forum connecting the blockchain ecosystem, uniting diverse ecosystems, builders, innovators, and influential leaders to explore the latest industry development opportunities and cross-border collaborations, identify potential high-quality projects and collaborations, and contribute to the disruptive development of the cryptocurrency industry."

WConnect Mission

Trot On To Infinity: The Future of CoinW After Eight Years

CoinW's eighth anniversary theme, "Trout On To Infinity," fully demonstrates its ambitious future-oriented strategy. In today's fierce competition among CEXs, only organizations and platforms that embrace crypto and look to the future can forge a clear path through the volatile crypto landscape.

As CoinW Chief Strategy Officer Nassar Achkar previously stated, "The success of the crypto industry is not achieved by the power of one person or one platform alone. Instead, it relies on the close collaboration and joint efforts of every user, trader, developer, trading platform, and investment institution. Standing in the new crypto cycle, CoinW, with its Chinese name 'Biying', hopes to find more possibilities in collaboration and build a win-win crypto market for users and partners."

Looking ahead, CoinW will continue to accompany its users through the crypto era and into the future, adhering to its mission of "enabling every user to trade freely in trust and move towards the future in security." (Here for Crypto, Here for the Future).