Dominant Players in the Crypto Space: Will Mainstream Cryptocurrency Protocols and Platform Dominance Continue to Rise or be Replaced by Competitors?

Despite the continuous emergence of new projects in the crypto space and the rapid iteration speed that has even introduced the concept of DeFi 3.0, the overall liquidity and adoption rates are still dominated by some protocols and platforms. Ethereum developer 0xTomoyo has singled out the dominance of various crypto fields by these giants. Will these crypto giants continue to consolidate their dominant positions or will they eventually be replaced by constantly iterating new projects?

Cryptocurrency Giants Monopoly

• NFT Market: OpenSea
• Options Market: Deribit
• MEV Research Institution: Flashbots
• Liquidity Staking Protocol: Lido
• AMM Exchange Platform: Uniswap
• Oracle Service: Chainlink
• Multi-Signature Wallet: Gnosis Safe
• Mixer Protocol: Tornado Cash
• On-Chain Analytics Firm: Chainalysis
• Multi-Chain Wallet: MetaMask
• Bitcoin Cross-Chain Solution: Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
• Research Institution: Gauntlet

Anything missing?

Some argue that certain projects have not reached a "monopoly" status. It is necessary to discuss some less prominent projects mentioned above. If you think Uniswap did not solidify its dominant position due to the emergence of SushiSwap, please unfollow.

OpenSea OS: We won't discuss LooksRare here as it mostly involves wash trading. OS dominates over 99% of the Ethereum NFT market volume, making it difficult to compare with Solana NFT market volume due to significantly lower transaction costs.

Deribit: One of the most obvious examples, it is almost impossible to trade options on other exchanges.

Lido: Liquidity of other staking protocols ranges from $10-20 million, making it nearly impossible to withdraw liquidity at once. Lido, on the other hand, has $3 billion in liquidity on Curve, making it the only choice for staking over a million dollars in non-custodial liquidity.

Uniswap: The unbeatable AMM that leaves no reason to trade on other platforms, including the ETH/stETH liquidity pool on Curve. It is more likely that trading volume shifts from Curve to Uniswap. I must admit that letting PancakeSwap dominate BSC really messed up the chain.

Chainlink: This is the weakest in dominance, especially as newer projects like Euler/Squeeth are choosing to use Uniswap V3's time-weighted average price TWAPs. Maintenance costs for oracles are high, and conveniently, other oracle projects do not have a cult token to rely on.

Chainalysis: Already collaborated with most potential users and with a good reputation, it is difficult for others to compete for market share.

Gauntlet: Similar to Chainalysis, they have already partnered with Compound/Aave, and these two lending platforms are unlikely to pay another company to manage their risk parameters.

Note: This post has generated a heated response in the community mainly because the projects mentioned above face many strong competitors. As a result, there are many supporters arguing below the post. MetaMask is mentioned most frequently, and the community generally believes that after the rise of multi-chain ecosystems, MetaMask will be replaced by other wallets.