## Gate's New Competition in the Cryptocurrency Market: A Comprehensive Layout from Perpetual Contracts to CeDeFi

The cryptocurrency market has undergone a fundamental transformation by 2025—institutional capital is replacing retail investors as the main driving force. This change requires exchanges to rethink their service models. As an industry veteran, Gate is responding to this turning point through a series of product innovations.

### **New Demands Driven by the Rise of Institutions**

Looking back at the 2021 bull market, retail investors were the absolute protagonists. But by 2025, the situation has completely reversed. Asset management firms, banks, and professional trading teams have begun to dominate market liquidity. These institutional clients have very different requirements for trading tools compared to retail investors—they need low-latency API interfaces, efficient execution speeds, and cross-platform asset management capabilities.

Recognizing this trend, Gate launched the CrossEx platform in October 2025. The design logic of this product is straightforward: professional traders typically disperse funds across multiple exchanges. CrossEx provides a unified interface that allows them to manage assets and execute orders in one place. This effectively creates a "trading hub" for institutional clients, significantly reducing operational complexity.

### **The Fusion of DeFi Wave and CeDeFi**

Meanwhile, retail investors have not exited the market; instead, they have shifted to decentralized platforms. The DeFi market has attracted a large number of retail users, especially in the fields of perpetual contracts and Meme coins trading. This shift prompted Gate to reconsider: should it abandon the advantages of centralized exchanges (CEX)? The answer is no.

Gate's strategy is to build a CeDeFi (a hybrid model of centralized and decentralized) ecosystem. In 2025, Gate launched Gate Layer, a Layer 2 network developed on the Optimism Stack. This network supports the EVM standard and serves as the infrastructure for Gate's on-chain ecosystem. Products running on it include Gate Perp DEX (an on-chain perpetual contract platform) and Gate Fun (a zero-code token issuance tool).

The core advantage of this design is that users can enjoy the autonomy and openness of decentralized platforms without sacrificing the stable execution and security guarantees of centralized exchanges. Gate aims to retain both retail and institutional clients within its ecosystem through this hybrid approach.

### **Deep Evolution of Security Mechanisms**

In 2020, Gate introduced a reserve proof system, combining Merkle tree verification and zero-knowledge proofs to demonstrate that user assets are fully covered. But security threats are constantly evolving. The Vault accounts launched in 2025 adopt Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology, meaning asset transfers must be explicitly authorized by users.

Vault accounts are also equipped with a withdrawal delay mechanism—users receive a response window before assets are moved out, giving them an opportunity to intervene in case of unauthorized access. These measures may seem cumbersome, but for managing large sums of funds, an extra layer of protection reduces risk.

### **Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence in 2026**

Looking ahead to 2026, Gate plans to make breakthroughs in AI integration. Future trading interfaces might look like this: users only need to express their intent (e.g., "I want to buy 1 Bitcoin"), and the AI system will search for the best prices across all available markets, automatically execute the trade, and minimize costs. This is akin to hiding complex trading logic behind natural language interactions.

The logic behind this vision is that as trading tools become more complex, there is a growing need to use simpler interfaces to abstract that complexity. Gate's goal is to enable anyone, regardless of technical skill, to participate efficiently in crypto trading.

### **Summary: Gate's Three-Pronged Strategy**

In 2025, Gate advances simultaneously on three dimensions: providing professional tools for institutional clients (CrossEx), maintaining a DEX experience for retail users (Gate Layer), and strengthening security foundations for all users (Vault). These three lines are not independent but form a complete ecosystem. In a sense, Gate's strategy reflects the new reality of the entire crypto market—markets are becoming more segmented, but a top exchange must be able to meet the needs of various types of participants.