The Reshaping Moment of Centralized Exchanges: The Evolution Divides of the Chinese Three Giants in 2025

As the hands of time point to the second half of 2025, the air in the crypto market is filled with a distinctly different atmosphere compared to the past. This is no longer the frenzy driven purely by speculation as seen in 2021, but rather a more stable and structured prelude to a bull run. Bitcoin has reached a new high of $100,000, and Ethereum is aiming for $3,000, backed by the orderly entry of institutional funds, the compliance of spot ETFs, and the grand narrative of a progressively clearer global regulatory framework. A consensus is forming: the next round of rise in the market will be led by platforms that truly possess technical depth, application value, and ecological integration capabilities.

In this profound industry transformation, centralized exchanges stand at a historical crossroads. The once purely transactional role of being a "trading matcher" has become obsolete; today's competitive dimension has fully upgraded from trading depth and listing speed to a "three-dimensional war" concerning ecology, security, compliance, and innovation. Particularly, the once-clear walls between CeFi and DeFi are being broken down, giving rise to a brand new "on-chain landscape". Users are no longer satisfied with simple spot trading; they crave seamless access to the on-chain world, a blue ocean filled with infinite opportunities, under the convenience and security of centralized platforms.

If the focus in 2021 was on "who can list coins faster and have stronger traffic," then the question for 2025 is: which platforms can truly reconstruct the asset path for users? Which CEXs are capable of establishing a complete closed loop from Spot, derivatives, to on-chain discovery and intelligent configuration? Against this background, Binance, OKX, and Gate have become the three most representative platforms in the Chinese context. The commonality among these three platforms is that they are not content with being merely "trading matchmakers"; instead, they are attempting to become more comprehensive hubs for user assets along different paths. The difference lies in their evolutionary directions and strategic rhythms, which vary.

The Path and Future Direction of the Three Giants of Chinese Exchanges

Binance remains the largest centralized platform in the world in terms of trading volume, and its volume and product system constitute a strong network effect. From perpetual contracts to Launchpad, and then to wealth management, lending, and its own public chain ecosystem, Binance's expansion logic has always revolved around the user asset lifecycle. However, as the global regulatory environment becomes increasingly complex, Binance's ecological expansion has entered a relatively cautious rhythm, and the platform is gradually introducing Web3 wallets and on-chain asset management functions, aiming to find a balance between conservatism and innovation.

OKX is a typical representative of the on-chain ecological integration path. Over the past two years, it has continuously promoted the construction of products such as OKX Wallet, multi-chain support, public chain OKBChain, DEX aggregator, and NFT market. It can be seen that OKX is attempting to build a complete on-chain financial platform with its own wallet as the core, transitioning CeFi users to explorers and long-term participants of on-chain assets. This integration capability gives OKX strong ecological connectivity, but also raises higher requirements for its on-chain activity and user retention.

In contrast, Gate's path is more special. Founded in 2013, this exchange is one of the few "veterans" in the industry that has steadily developed and continued to rise through multiple cycles. While most established platforms have gradually become marginalized due to growth bottlenecks, Gate has shown significant upward momentum on multiple key dimensions, becoming a representative sample of "old platform new breakthroughs."

Especially in the derivatives market, according to Coindesk's just-released May 2025 monthly exchange report, Gate is one of the strongest performing perpetual contract platforms this year, with its open interest ranking globally rising to fourth, and its market share increasing from 11% at the end of last year to 16%. This achievement is not due to the strength of a single product, but rather the integrated result of its "strategy tools + user education + trading experience." The platform has introduced AI strategy trading, copy trading features, and an intelligent risk control system, allowing derivatives products that originally served only professional traders to open up to a broader user base, eliminating the high barriers between strategy trading and ordinary users.

In terms of on-chain participation, Gate has carved out a path distinct from other platforms. Its embedded platform "Gate Alpha" is not an independent DApp browser, but rather a Depth asset discovery platform that is deeply integrated within the exchange system. Through real-time monitoring of on-chain popularity, capital flow, address behavior, and other data via an AI engine, Gate Alpha can identify early assets with growth potential and quickly complete internal review and listing processes. More importantly, users can conduct on-chain asset transactions directly with a centralized account without having to switch wallets or pay Gas, significantly lowering the participation threshold. Data shows that as of May 2025, the trading volume of Gate Alpha has exceeded $3 billion, with over 60% of tokens doubling in price within a week of listing.

It is worth mentioning that Gate is also promoting unified upgrades at the product architecture level. The new version of Gate Wallet, to be released in 2025, is no longer a single wallet application, but an "Investment Control Center" that integrates trading entry, strategy management, NFT market, asset security management, and hardware wallet. AI is widely embedded within, supporting users in predictive configuration, on-chain strategy execution, and even one-click asset migration. The hardware card product Gate Wallet Touch is also being launched simultaneously, further consolidating its infrastructure capabilities in user asset security.

This integration path of "centralized experience + on-chain functionality" reflects, to some extent, Gate's evolutionary logic as an established platform: it does not blindly pursue the pure freedom of DeFi, but continuously brings users into a larger on-chain space within a controllable experience. Perhaps it is this realistic product perspective that has allowed it to exhibit unique growth momentum in today's cycle, which emphasizes practicality and efficiency.

Conclusion: Choose to Walk with Visionaries on the Eve of Transformation

Looking back at the market evolution in the first half of 2025, it is not difficult to find that the competition among CEX has entered the "second half." The core of this competition is no longer about who can attract the most traffic, but rather who can create the most comprehensive, safe, and efficient value ecosystem for users.

Binance, OKX, and Gate represent three different paths—from global integration, to on-chain layout, and to strategic fusion—but their commonality is: they are all redefining the role that a centralized platform should play in their own ways. For ordinary users, this means that choosing a platform is no longer just about looking at the transaction fees or the speed of listing coins, but rather thinking: which platform can truly accompany you through the entire process from off-chain trading to on-chain creation?

In this new cycle, perhaps what truly deserves attention is not just the hottest projects or the highest growth rates, but the foundational platforms that continue to evolve and respond to new user needs.

Gate may be the most noteworthy one among them.