Space Review | When Trading Returns On-Chain, Decoding the Core Logic of the New Cycle DeFi Ecosystem

When the market narrative gradually fades, the industry's focus is returning to its essence: trading behavior continues to settle on-chain, and liquidity begins to break free from short-term incentives, moving towards a healthier endogenous cycle. In this transition, what kind of system can truly carry value and retain users, becoming the core proposition of the current cycle?

Against this backdrop, DeFi, especially decentralized trading systems, has once again become the center of discussion. This is not only a rotation of hot topics but also a structural shift in driving logic. This is precisely the critical stage that the SUN.io ecosystem is currently entering, transitioning from an innovative concept to a trading and financial protocol that truly possesses the ability to carry and circulate liquidity.

This issue of the SunFlas roundtable revolves around the theme "As trading behavior returns on-chain and liquidity begins endogenous circulation, why does the core of the new cycle fall on the DEX ecosystem?" In-depth dialogues were held with several industry observers and builders. Various viewpoints collided and validated each other during the discussion, forming a consensus that the market is shifting from "narrative-driven" to "structure-driven," and providing an in-depth analysis of how SUN.io can build a sustainable financial protocol ecosystem. Below are the core content extracts from this dialogue.

When the Tide Goes Out: Why is the Market Refocusing on the Essential Value of DeFi?

In the discussion in Space, the guests unanimously agreed that when market incentives recede and emotions cool, the reason DeFi can return to the center of market discussion lies fundamentally in the industry's shift from emotion and narrative-driven to a re-recognition of the value of sustainable and verifiable on-chain financial structures.

Tiantian pointed out that the overall contraction of market liquidity makes investors more focused on "real value." She observed that current on-chain trading volume has significantly shrunk, with funds no longer blindly chasing short-term hotspots but rather focusing on projects that have real trading, real settlement, and real user demand. She believes that the core task of DeFi is to reliably transplant traditional financial functions onto the chain through trustworthy smart contracts, thereby building a foundation that can operate sustainably in an environment of scarce funds.

OxPink further described this transition as a "return to value." He stated that after the market heat fades, projects that rely solely on stories and subsidies are quickly eliminated, and the industry's focus naturally shifts to systems that can stably complete transactions and settlements regardless of market conditions. The logic of competition thus fundamentally changes: from competing in narrative ability to competing in who can provide real trading depth and settlement reliability.

Mr. Miss confirmed this trend from the perspective of market participants. He stated that even "haircut" users are now more concerned about the core background of projects and the smoothness of usage, and narrative-based projects are finding it difficult to gain market acceptance. The current focus of discussion has shifted to structural issues such as capital efficiency, protocol revenue, and risk control. He believes that DeFi is returning to its essence of "verifiable and sustainable" transparent financial infrastructure, and those projects that can continuously generate fee income during bear markets and have been repeatedly validated by the market will naturally return to the center stage during the cooling period.

In summary, the retreat of market funds and emotions has essentially completed a natural selection and value discovery process. The industry's focus has shifted from superficial price fluctuations and short-term stories to the fundamental reliability, sustainability, and real utility of on-chain financial systems. The "return" of DeFi is, in fact, the market's reaffirmation of its long-term value as the infrastructure of the crypto world amidst cyclical fluctuations.

Building a Sustainable Ecosystem: Decoding SUN.io's Practical Path

As the discussion deepened, the guests' viewpoints converged into a clear consensus: the market driving logic is undergoing a fundamental shift from "narrative-first" to "structure-first." A healthy ecosystem that can traverse cycles must be built on the foundation of real demand, transparency, trustworthiness, and efficient collaboration. The standards for excellent trading systems have also shifted from conceptual innovation to stable and smooth reliable experiences. This dual evolution of understanding points to the core proposition of a new stage in DeFi development—sustainability.

Overall, a sustainable and cyclical ecosystem is built on three major pillars:

• Transparent and Trustworthy Infrastructure

Wang Feng Anc pointed out that the underlying logic of ecosystem operation must be clear and verifiable, which is the starting point for all trust. Web3 Caicai also stated that transparent on-chain settlement and verifiable trading behavior are prerequisites for ensuring fund safety and ecosystem health; any "black box" operations will expose fundamental flaws in long-term development.

• Real Demand-Driven Collaborative Network

The guests unanimously agreed that false prosperity built solely on short-term incentives cannot last. A healthy ecosystem must have real trading demand and deep liquidity as its engine, forming a sustainable income and growth flywheel. Meanwhile, the organic collaboration between products and the deep governance of the community form the framework for ecosystem evolution, ensuring efficient expansion in bull markets and maintaining endogenous resilience in bear markets.

• Capital Efficiency Centered on User Experience

Mr. Miss approached from the most direct perceptual level, pointing out that the system's "usability" has become the basic threshold for user retention. This is specifically reflected in extreme execution efficiency (low slippage, high transaction rates) and a smooth and stable interactive experience. On a deeper level, whether capital can be efficiently and repeatedly utilized within the ecosystem, rather than becoming static sediment, determines the system's long-term attractiveness and liquidity depth.

This series of industry consensus on sustainability has been systematically practiced and reflected in SUN.io's development path.

In building transparent and trustworthy infrastructure, SUN.io strictly adheres to the core principles of on-chain verifiability. All its trading and liquidity rules are defined and executed by smart contracts, allowing users to trace the flow and status changes of a fund. This thorough on-chain transparency is the first cornerstone of building trust.

Furthermore, SUN.io extends this principle to the governance layer of the ecosystem, officially establishing the decentralized community organization SUN DAO. This organization is composed of SUN token holders, who make decisions on key proposals through a secure and transparent on-chain voting mechanism, truly realizing the co-construction, co-governance, and sharing of ecological development, ensuring that the governance process itself is also within a publicly verifiable transparent framework.

In driving real demand and building collaborative networks, SUN.io has successfully constructed a protocol matrix covering multiple scenarios. Its core product ecosystem includes: the decentralized trading platform SunSwap, the meme fair launch platform SunPump, the decentralized perpetual contract trading platform SunX, the stablecoin exchange tool SunCurve, and the AI-powered toolkits SunAgent and SunGenX, among others.

These products do not exist in isolation but form an organic collaboration through precise mechanism design: SunSwap provides core liquidity and spot trading scenarios, SunPump introduces new assets with community consensus, SunX meets users' advanced needs for leverage and risk hedging, and SunCurve ensures the efficiency and stability of stablecoin exchanges, which is a fundamental need. The introduction of AI tools further reduces the participation threshold for users and improves capital utilization efficiency through intelligent strategies. This collaboration between products forms an enhanced loop of mutual flow and complementary functions, allowing capital and users to seamlessly circulate within the ecosystem based on demand, jointly building a collaborative network that can self-grow and continuously expand.

Ultimately, all structural efforts by SUN.io in transparent infrastructure and collaborative networks serve a core goal: to provide users with a trustworthy and smooth experience and to create high-efficiency circulation paths for capital. Its product evolution logic clearly indicates that the true moat is not short-term incentive data, but the stable and reliable practical value presented after integrating on-chain verifiability, scenario collaboration, and technical execution efficiency, which is the most direct response to the "structure-first" era.

It is worth noting that SUN.io has recently released key signals through its official X platform, announcing an upcoming Chinese brand upgrade and the launch of a new brand image. This move marks a new stage in its ecological development and demonstrates its determination to continuously strengthen strategic consistency and brand recognition in the process of building a global decentralized financial infrastructure.

As revealed in this discussion, the profound shift from narrative to structure in the market is driving the DeFi ecosystem to evolve from a trading venue into an infrastructure that carries value and trust. Its core mission is no longer just to provide the concept of "decentralization," but to build a transparent, efficient, and sustainable liquidity circulation system. When trading behavior truly returns on-chain, those protocols that have completed systematic construction in verifiability, collaborative networks, and user experience will naturally become the core hub of liquidity and value in the new cycle.