OKX Ventures Q3 Quarterly Report: Still Focused on Mainstream Ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and AI
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OKX Ventures Q3 Quarterly Report: Still Focused on Mainstream Ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and AI
The meme "super cycle" concept has drawn more attention, introducing new variables to AI development, while entertainment-oriented IPs attract even greater focus.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insights
1. Industry Insights
On the macro front, the Federal Reserve's rate cut has brought favorable conditions at the macro level, benefiting major DeFi protocols. In September, the Fed cut rates by 50 basis points, bringing the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75%–5%. This caused short-term volatility, but Bitcoin’s long-term outlook remains solid. As global financial systems grow increasingly reliant on monetary expansion, BTC’s appeal as a global asset independent of central bank policies continues to rise, with spot ETFs accumulating a net inflow of $21.3 billion.
Ethereum mainnet data remains stable, and anticipation around the Pectra upgrade promises improvements in network functionality, security, and efficiency. On-chain metrics show an average of 480,000 daily active users and 1.2 million daily transactions. Combined utilization rates of USDC, USDT, and DAI across major lending platforms have surged to 87%, reaching their highest levels since late June 2024. With rising DeFi yields, rate cuts are expected to revive the crypto credit market and drive robust growth in on-chain activity.
At the public chain ecosystem level, various Layer 1 blockchains, represented by Sui, are delivering strong performance, signaling further innovation potential. Total Value Locked (TVL) has surpassed $1.4 billion, DEX daily trading volume reached $180 million, and both daily transaction volume and active addresses have hit new highs. NAVI Protocol, a leading liquidity protocol, boasts a TVL exceeding $500 million, while top-tier DEX Cetus ranks among the top 10 cross-chain DEXs by trading volume, surpassing $1 billion in weekly volume. Trading volumes for mainstream assets in the SUI ecosystem continue to grow steadily, and volumes for Memecoins and community-driven tokens have surged dramatically. We are also optimistic about parallel blockchain projects like Monad and its ecosystem project aPriori.
The Meme "super cycle" concept is drawing significant attention, introducing new variables into AI development, with entertainment-focused IPs capturing increasing interest. The total market cap of AI-related Memecoins has now exceeded $2 billion, and average Memecoin trading volume has grown more than fivefold compared to last year. The surges behind Terminals of Truth and GOAT have introduced novel use cases combining AI-generated content, meme culture, and speculative market behavior, driving Solana to over 4.5 million daily on-chain transactions and 6.9 million daily active users—a peak level. DEXs heavily tied to memes have also set new records in fee generation.
2. OKX Ventures Q3 Investment Portfolio Overview
In Q3, OKX Ventures invested across key sectors including the Bitcoin ecosystem, Ethereum and other Layer 1 networks, as well as AI and blockchain data platforms, backing projects such as zkLink, Monad, aPriori, Space and Time, and Prodia. Below are details on these projects.
1. zkLink
zkLink is a multi-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure built on zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology, designed to address fragmented liquidity and high cross-chain transaction costs in today’s blockchain ecosystem. By building an aggregated Layer 3 zkEVM network (zkLink Nova), it enables seamless connectivity and liquidity aggregation between Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks.
As the first aggregated Layer 3 zkEVM network, zkLink Nova resolves liquidity fragmentation across Ethereum L2s, allowing DApps to deploy seamlessly across multiple L2s. It provides a customized scaling engine for high-performance ZK applications, supporting diverse use cases such as spot trading, derivatives, and NFT trading.
Key problems addressed:
￮ Cross-chain liquidity aggregation and seamless multi-chain interaction: zkLink connects different L1s and L2s via its protocol, simplifying cross-chain transactions so users can freely trade across blockchains without frequently switching networks or wallets.
￮ Rich ecosystem partnerships: zkLink has collaborated with numerous projects, forming a vibrant ecosystem that attracts substantial user participation in its DeFi activities.
￮ Innovative technical solution: By integrating ZK-Rollup and oracle networks, zkLink offers an efficient and secure mechanism for cross-chain interactions, greatly enhancing ecosystem integration efficiency.
￮ Improved user experience and advancement of the decentralized finance ecosystem, serving as a critical bridge connecting disparate blockchains.
2. Monad
Monad is a Layer 1 blockchain designed for ultra-high performance and scalability. It supports up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), features a 1-second block time, and achieves finality with a single confirmation. Monad is fully compatible with the existing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), enabling developers to easily migrate and use existing applications and libraries.
Monad’s low hardware requirements allow nodes to run on standard consumer-grade hardware, offering a viable path toward decentralization. Additionally, the design of MonadDB stores most state data on SSDs rather than RAM, reducing node operation costs and improving scalability.
Project features:
￮ High Performance: Delivers 10,000 TPS, ensuring smooth user experiences.
￮ Low Fees: Near-zero transaction fees enable massive application scalability.
￮ Fast Confirmations: 1-second block time and single-confirmation finality enhance transaction efficiency.
￮ EVM Compatibility: 100% EVM-compatible, supporting all existing Ethereum ecosystem applications.
￮ Scalable Decentralization: Low hardware barriers enable broader participation, promoting decentralization.
￮ Innovative Execution Model: Employs optimistic parallel execution and asynchronous processing to significantly boost transaction throughput.
3. aPriori
aPriori is an MEV infrastructure and liquid staking protocol natively built for the era of parallel execution, deployed on the Monad platform. The project aims to optimize blockchain transaction processing efficiency through an innovative block space auction mechanism, thereby reducing spam transactions caused by MEV. By aligning block producers with network objectives, aPriori enhances user experience and overall network efficiency.
Key problems addressed:
￮ Block Space Auction: Due to limited block space and monopolistic control over transaction ordering by block producers, aPriori introduces a competitive auction mechanism for block space. This transparently reveals the true economic value of transactions, improving resource allocation efficiency.
￮ Minimization of Spam Transactions: aPriori’s auction model shifts searcher incentives, reducing MEV-driven spam. This ensures orderly and predictable transaction execution, improving user experience.
￮ Incentive Compatibility: In the post-MEV era, the auction mechanism ensures incentive alignment—transaction fees reflect real economic value rather than private valuations by block producers—optimizing user experience.
￮ Transparency and Fairness: Competitive bidding increases transparency in transaction processing and reduces unfair practices like front-running.
4. Space and Time
Space and Time is a decentralized data warehouse purpose-built for blockchain applications. Founded in 2022, it aims to provide a next-generation data platform meeting the analytical needs of decentralized applications (dApps), DeFi protocols, and other projects requiring powerful data insights. Space and Time integrates enterprise-grade SQL and APIs, enabling users to seamlessly combine and analyze on-chain and off-chain data within a single query.
Supporting multi-chain operations, it allows easy access and analysis of data across multiple blockchains. By introducing SQL Proof technology, Space and Time ensures data security, integrity, and transparency without sacrificing performance.
• Key features:
￮ Decentralized Architecture: The first Web3-native data warehouse, fully decentralized to ensure data security and user privacy.
￮ Enterprise-Grade SQL and APIs: Users can leverage familiar SQL commands and tools for querying and loading data, streamlining data workflows.
￮ Multi-Chain Support: Enables seamless data access and analysis across multiple blockchains, enhancing flexibility and scalability.
￮ SQL Proof Technology: Guarantees data security while maintaining integrity and transparency, building user trust.
￮ Real-Time Data Processing: Supports high-volume real-time transaction processing and leverages columnar storage and GPU acceleration for large-scale dataset analytics.
￮ Customizable Dashboards: Offers dynamic visualization capabilities, allowing users to tailor dashboards to brand needs and automatically generate charts and visual reports.
5. Prodia
Prodia is an innovative platform focused on artificial intelligence and distributed cloud computing, offering image and music generation services via powerful APIs. Leveraging advanced machine learning models, particularly Stable Diffusion technology, Prodia converts text into high-quality images. Additionally, Prodia has built a distributed GPU network that delivers efficient cloud computing services at lower costs, supporting a wide range of applications. Beyond providing cutting-edge AI tools, Prodia drives innovation in cloud computing infrastructure.
• Key features:
￮ AI Content Generation: Offers multiple models via API for efficient text-to-image conversion, meeting demand for high-quality content creation.
￮ Distributed Cloud Computing: Utilizes a distributed GPU network to deliver powerful computational capacity at reduced costs, adaptable to projects of any scale.
￮ Diverse Use Cases: Extends beyond image generation into areas like music creation, offering creators greater flexibility and options.
￮ User-Friendly API: Simple and intuitive API design enables rapid integration, boosting developer productivity.
￮ Web3 Infrastructure: Integrates Web3 technologies to offer decentralized services, enhancing data security and user privacy.
3. Conclusion
From the developments in Q3, OKX Ventures remains highly optimistic about the market outlook. Favorable macro conditions driven by rate cuts, continuous innovation on Ethereum, record-breaking on-chain metrics, cultural innovations from public chain ecosystems like SUI, and meme-driven trends are collectively fueling sustained industry growth. This quarter, we focused on strategically promising projects that not only align with emerging market opportunities but also demonstrate unique competitive advantages in their respective fields.
Whether advancing Bitcoin restaking and DeFi applications, integrating cross-chain liquidity, enhancing blockchain performance, or optimizing data processing, these projects are driving technological breakthroughs and expanding real-world use cases. Furthermore, we remain bullish on the future of AI-generated content and distributed computing, which will serve as new engines powering innovation across the industry.
OKX Ventures Disclaimer applies. Please read in full:
https://www.okx.com/zh-hans/learn/okx-disclaimer.
Risk Warning and Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only. It reflects the views of the author and does not represent the positions of OKX or the aforementioned organizations. This article does not constitute (i) investment advice or recommendations; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information provided. Holding digital assets—including stablecoins and NFTs—involves high risk and may result in significant price volatility. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For specific advice, please consult your legal/tax/investment professionals. You are solely responsible for understanding and complying with applicable local laws and regulations.
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