TechFlow: How to Find the Optimal Solution for Cross-Chain Trading?
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TechFlow: How to Find the Optimal Solution for Cross-Chain Trading?
Pragmatism plus timing are the two keys to success.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: 0xFat
When cross-chain narratives first gained popularity, the industry generally believed this sector was best suited for exchanges, given their rich experience in asset management and strong grasp of user needs. Unfortunately, no exchange actually stepped in at that time—because from a profitability standpoint, such capital-intensive, low-return businesses were not worthwhile. However, with the maturation of infrastructure on major public chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin, and the continuous growth of decentralized applications across multi-chain ecosystems, real investor demand for cross-chain transactions has gradually emerged. Now is the right time for developers to dive into building.
An industry observer commented: Timing matters. One wallet, unified across all chains—this time, OKX wins.
Timing is one factor; pragmatism is another.
According to official data, OKX Web3 ecosystem infrastructure—OKX DEX—has seen rapid growth in users and trading metrics this year. Daily active traders have surpassed 10,000, daily transaction counts exceed 20,000, and daily trading volume approaches $20 million. This article will take the current state of the cross-chain trading赛道 as a starting point to deeply explore how OKX DEX achieved these results, and what its product development journey looks like—aiming to reveal the pragmatic side of the OKX R&D team.
About OKX DEX: OKX DEX is a key infrastructure component of the OKX Web3 ecosystem, composed of the aggregator SWAP + cross-chain bridge Bridge. Most similar products primarily focus on swap aggregation or asset bridging. Currently, OKX DEX is the only product in the market that integrates both capabilities.
1. On Market Landscape: Improving Trading Efficiency Is the Consensus
1. From your perspective, what is the current state of the cross-chain aggregator space?
OKX DEX: Early DEXs mainly focused on solving on-chain asset trading issues. The flourishing landscape of decentralized protocols gave rise to trading aggregators. As the number of public chains and types of assets continue to grow, on-chain liquidity fragmentation intensifies. To consolidate long-tail asset liquidity across chains, improving trading efficiency has become crucial. Cross-chain aggregators exist precisely to solve this problem.
Currently, cross-chain aggregators consist of a cross-chain bridge and a SWAP aggregator. Due to the complexity and high cost of development, few teams are building such products. Bungee and Li.fi focus primarily on bridge integration, supporting many bridges and serving large user bases. 1inch and Matcha focus more on swap aggregation, featuring stable pricing algorithms—each excelling in their respective areas. OKX DEX, however, is currently the only product in the market that delivers both.
As OKX DEX, we have developed an in-house pricing algorithm system capable of aggregating multiple liquidity protocols to provide users with optimal routes and quotes. On the bridge side, our chain-onboarding speed is fast, with extensive support for various bridges and chains. We support nearly all token types for cross-chain transfers and allow custom bridge selection. We also promptly integrate trending new chains, enabling users to easily engage with emerging ecosystems. Additionally, we’ve built a backend service team that directly receives user feedback, maximizing our responsiveness. In summary, the entire cross-chain aggregator sector is striving to improve trading efficiency—this is the foundation of all R&D efforts—and OKX DEX is fully aligned with this mission.
2. At present, differences between products aren’t very apparent. As a relatively late entrant, do you believe there’s a moat in cross-chain DEX?
OKX DEX: As a decentralized product, DEX itself doesn’t have a moat, but in the cross-chain aggregator space, moats do exist.
First, algorithmic capability is the core strength of any aggregator. No product in today’s market open-sources its aggregation pricing algorithm—only their smart contracts. Our job is to help users find the best path and quote among numerous DEXs, which is essentially a mathematical challenge involving linear programming, knapsack strategies, etc. We must also account for differences in protocol algorithms, algorithm translation, and computational efficiency. From a pricing standpoint, the algorithm must consider prices across different pools, gas fees, and other variables to determine the optimal route for users. In short, it’s about finding the optimal solution within a complex set of variables—a significant challenge for most Web3 startups, which explains why there are so few players in the aggregator space.
Second is algorithm implementation, which hinges on a critical piece of infrastructure—on-chain data parsing capability. To identify optimal paths among numerous DEXs, we must first obtain accurate on-chain data and process it quickly. On-chain data is massive—we must ensure both accuracy and speed. OKX has a team of over a hundred people dedicated to this task, giving us extremely robust infrastructure. Only after securing this data can we process and build upon it, making our algorithms meaningful. For users, this translates into fast, accurate, and optimal pricing—enabled by our powerful on-chain data parsing engine.
Finally, from the bridge (Bridge) perspective, the biggest moat lies in integrating numerous heterogeneous bridges, which differ in algorithmic logic and technical implementation. Market bridges include pool-based models, synthetic asset models, and more, each with subtypes. For example, pool-based models include 1:1 bridging and AMM-based bridging, each with slightly different fee structures and calculation rules. As a result, some bridge aggregators can only connect via APIs, resulting in slow pricing. But OKX DEX has a team of dozens of algorithm engineers who have researched and integrated mainstream cross-chain bridges, creating over a dozen templates based on their characteristics. Whenever a new bridge of a known type emerges, we can automatically detect and onboard it. We currently support over 20+ bridges, including third-party and official ones.
In conclusion, algorithmic capability and bridge integration are foundational infrastructures required to build a super cross-chain aggregator—they form the bedrock of a sustainable moat. Beyond that, micro-innovations built atop this foundation—such as intent-based trading—can further strengthen differentiation.
3. Intent-based trading is a hot concept, but few can clearly articulate its value. As developers, how does this feature benefit users from your perspective?
OKX DEX: Intent-based trading is designed around the user’s trading needs and intentions. In such a DEX architecture, users simply express their intent and receive the outcome—the rest is handled by the protocol. While this may sound complex, the core idea is simple: use a unique auction mechanism to attract on-chain market makers, researchers, and MEV arbitrageurs, encouraging them to compete in quoting, thus achieving better prices while balancing interests among makers, takers, and LPs, ultimately enhancing user experience.
Intent-based DEXs deliver a user experience closer to traditional internet products—users don’t need to understand complex on-chain trading logic. The product serves only the user’s final trading intent. This design reduces operational barriers, lowers transaction costs, improves asset security, and strengthens interaction, paving the way for broader Web3 adoption. It enables smoother, more convenient trading experiences—even personalized scenarios.
Several teams are already pursuing this direction: legacy DEX Uniswap launched UniswapX, leading aggregator 1inch introduced Fusion Mode, and this year’s breakout cowswap also adopts intent-based logic. Our OKX DEX team will soon collaborate with UniswapX to co-develop intent-based trading functionality.
2. On Product Development: Strong Parsing Power and Automation Are Key to Success
4. As a key component of OKX's Web3 ecosystem, OKX DEX represents a major achievement under the "One Wallet, Unified All Chains" vision. How do you define what it takes to build a truly user-centric super cross-chain aggregator?
OKX DEX: Our guiding principle is to combine market trends with fast, secure product delivery. For example, we aim to integrate every viable bridge available. Taking the Bitcoin ecosystem as an example, we’ve already integrated SWFT Bridge and are currently onboarding ThorSwap. Going forward, we’ll keep pace with trending narratives—such as Wormhole for the Solana ecosystem—to continuously expand our bridge coverage.
On another front, we continue investing heavily in algorithmic and parsing capabilities—areas invisible to users but essential for meeting their needs, ensuring optimal pricing and secure asset interactions. Our all-in-one product philosophy also ensures users enjoy a seamless, unified trading experience.
5. Many investors say cross-chain aggregators are the most expensive to build among existing DEX categories. Why is OKX willing to invest so heavily in terms of capital and manpower?
OKX DEX: Swap and Bridge remain fundamental infrastructures in Web3, fulfilling users’ most basic transaction needs. This isn’t a short-term trend. Whether inscriptions, DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, or SocialFi gain traction, they all generate substantial trading demand—in essence, asset trading. The “Fi” element is what gives life to every Web3 vertical. And when users trade, Bridge and Swap are the tools they use most frequently.
From a Bridge perspective, users need to move assets across chains to participate in diverse trending projects. From a Swap perspective, multiple opportunities may arise simultaneously on the same chain, requiring users to swap assets to capture them. Yet, the market lacks a single product that supports both multi-chain Bridging and Swapping, increasing user friction and interaction costs.
To provide a superior user experience—eliminating the hassle of jumping between chains and protocols—we decided to commit resources to this effort. We aim to deliver the most comprehensive and highest-quality cross-chain aggregation service through tangible action. We firmly believe that serving users comes first—that’s our original motivation and why we dare to invest.
6. What has been the development journey of OKX DEX? What challenges did you face during development?
OKX DEX: We launched our cross-chain trading aggregator in January 2022. By December 2022, we completed the first phase of our pricing algorithm framework, using X-routing to automatically discover high-liquidity pools on-chain and integrate them seamlessly. We also implemented automated accuracy checks and factored in gas fees to deliver optimal quotes to users. Earlier this year, the team began developing an in-house automated detection system, covering protocol discovery, algorithm translation, transaction monitoring, and quote comparison—providing robust protection for user transactions on OKX DEX.
The biggest initial challenge was developing our proprietary pricing algorithm. Since no aggregator openly shares its algorithm, we had to build our own from scratch—and make it better than others. This led to extensive research into algorithm selection. Mainstream options included binary search, linear programming, and knapsack strategies. We combined strengths from each to create a fully proprietary pricing algorithm system.
Another challenge came from the diversity of protocol algorithms in the market. Integrating different DEX pricing methods into our own algorithm requires translating and combining them effectively to find the optimal quote. This stage involves split comparisons and route analysis. Accurate algorithm translation is critical. Initially, we used manual translation, but found it error-prone and inefficient. So we built a comprehensive automation system capable of automatically discovering on-chain protocols, translating algorithms, integrating them, and monitoring accuracy—boosting our efficiency exponentially. Today, OKX DEX integrates over 400+ DEXs and 20+ cross-chain bridges, with annualized cross-chain trading volume reaching $1 billion.
7. What is the strategic role of OKX DEX within the OKX Web3 ecosystem? Can you share future development plans?
OKX DEX: DEX has always been a core infrastructure pillar in the OKX Web3 ecosystem. Our goal is to make cross-chain trading as simple as CEX—drastically lowering user barriers. As everyone knows, OKX upholds long-termism and innovation-driven growth. Our achievements in Bitcoin ecosystem development serve as strong proof. We also believe opportunities favor the prepared. Our team focuses on building solid infrastructure—when the timing comes, it will naturally explode.
Regarding future plans, here are three phases:
Phase One: Leverage our existing automation systems and strong full-chain parsing capabilities to further improve trading efficiency and reduce user barriers. We’ll keep integrating more chains and protocols, optimizing algorithm logic and UX to deliver the best all-in-one trading experience for Web3 users.
Phase Two: Embrace intent-based trading by introducing mechanisms that invite on-chain market makers, researchers, and MEV arbitrageurs to compete in quoting. Let experts do what they do best, boosting order efficiency for makers and takers. We’ll explore the future of DEX trading models and introduce innovative features for unique use cases.
Phase Three: Contribute our accumulated technical expertise back to the industry by offering infrastructure-as-a-service (WaaS). We’ll package wallets, DEXs, and UI layers into easy-to-use SDKs and APIs, providing turnkey integration solutions that lower blockchain’s technical barriers—enabling developers to focus efficiently on application-layer innovation.
3. On Industry Evolution: Aiming to Be the Top Choice in Users' Minds
8. The DEX space is highly competitive and increasingly homogenized. Even leaders like Uniswap are evolving. How do you envision the future landscape of DEX?
OKX DEX: Currently, 1inch holds a strong market share. But going forward, as chain infrastructure matures and intent-based trading gains prominence, we expect a shift. Intent-based trading delivers better quotes, requires no gas fees, achieves higher success rates, and—crucially—even failed trades don’t cost gas. Moving ahead, OKX will support both algorithmic quoting and intent-based quoting, aiming to offer users the most advanced trading modes and the smoothest possible experience.
On a broader level, the DEX industry will continue innovating. We see novel protocols and unique algorithms emerging constantly—a sign of rapid industry growth. Within the赛道 itself, competition will intensify. But this is good news for users, as it drives better products. It’s also beneficial for the OKX DEX team—our members can learn, grow, and become stronger through competition. As long as we stay committed to putting users first, deepen our technical foundations, and embrace industry innovations, we’re confident we’ll deliver the product that best meets user needs. OKX DEX aims to become the top choice in users’ minds.
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