The Good Tech Companies - How Calyx Is Solving The $100 Billion Problem That's Fragmenting DeFi Across 19 Blockchains

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-calyx-is-solving-the-$100-billion-problem-thats-fragmenting-defi-across-19-blockchains. Calyx enables one-click token launches across 19 chains using NEAR Intents. How does this platform solve DeFi's fragmentation problem? Check more stories related to tech-stories at: https://hackernoon.com/c/tech-stories. You can also check exclusive content about #calyx, #calyx-news, #web3, #blockchain, #cryptocurrency, #good-company, #defi, #near, and more. This story was written by: @ishanpandey. Learn more about this writer by checking @ishanpandey's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Calyx is a cross-chain token launch platform that enables projects to raise funds across 19 blockchains simultaneously using NEAR Intents technology. Users can participate in token sales from any supported chain with one click, without bridges or token swapping. The platform launched with Intellex's $ITLX token sale in October 2025, which reached its soft cap. Calyx aggregates over $100 billion in liquidity and makes tokens cross-chain by default from launch. Built by Aurora on NEAR Protocol, the platform represents a potential shift from traditional single-chain launchpads toward intent-based infrastructure that abstracts away blockchain complexity. While the approach solves real fragmentation problems in DeFi, it relies on newer infrastructure with dependencies on NEAR's Intents framework and solver networks. Success will depend on whether the platform can attract quality projects, maintain reliable execution, and build trust in an industry where established launchpads have years of track records.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. How Kalex is solving the $100 billion problem that's fragmenting Defi across 19 blockchains by Ashan Pondi. Greater than have you ever tried participating in a token sale only to realize your funds greater than are on the wrong blockchain? You see the project launch on Ethereum, but your assets sit on Solana. Now you face a choice, bridge your tokens, and risk losing them to hacks are paying fees, the sale entirely, or spend hours moving liquidity across chains. This friction happens thousands of times daily across hundreds of blockchains, and it represents one of the most fundamental problems in decentralized finance today. Calix, a cross-chain token launch platform

built by Aurora and powered by NIR Protocol's intense framework, aims to eliminate this problem entirely. The platform enables projects to launch tokens across 19 blockchain networks simultaneously while allowing users to participate with a single click from any supported chain. No bridges, no token wrapping, no multiple transactions, just connect your wallet, sign an intent, and receive your allocation. The first project to test this infrastructure is Intellix, an AI-driven protocol focused on cross-chain agent collaboration through collective memory. The Intellix token sale went live on October 8, 2025, and it reached its soft cap, demonstrating market appetite for this approach. But beyond one's sale results, Calix represents a potential shift in how token launches

work in an increasingly fragmented blockchain ecosystem. The fragmentation problem that's costing defy billions, blockchain fragmentation has reached a point where it actively harms user experience and limits project reach. Ethereum's total value-locked dominance has declined substantially as newer chains like Solana and Base captured over $10 billion in combined TVL during Q2 2025. Leading Defi protocols adapted by expanding operations, Curves automated marketmaker now operates on six networks, while Sushi Swab, once exclusive to Ethereum, currently spans more than 40 blockchains. This expansion solved scalability and fee problems but created new challenges. Users now manage multiple wallets, navigate different interfaces, and rely onrages to move

assets between chains. Each bridge introduces security risks and the cumulative fees and time spent bridging eat into potential returns. For projects launching tokens, this fragmentation forces difficult decisions about which chain to prioritize, inevitably excluding portions of their potential investor base. Traditional launchpads attempted to address multi-chain needs by adding support for three to five chains, but this approach still requires users to move assets to specific networks before participating. Platforms like Pocaster offer cross-chain token pools but maintain tier systems requiring users to stake platform tokens for access. BSC pad focuses on Binance smart chain, seed fight targets gaming projects, each serve specific niches well but fragments,

liquidity and user bases across platforms and chains. The result is a system where both projects and investors face unnecessary barriers that limit participation and reduce total capital raised. understanding near intents and how they power calyx near intents function as a framework that abstracts away the complexity of cross-chain interactions think of an intent as a desired outcome rather than a specific set of instructions when you want to participate in a token sale on calix you express your intent to purchase tokens and the system figures out the optimal path to execute that intent across chains the technical process works in three steps first a user or application create us an intent by specific a desired outcome, such as swapping Token A for Token Boar participating in a token sale from any chain. Second, an off-chain decentralized network of market makers, also called solvers, compete to fulfill the request in the most optimal way, considering factors like fees, speed, and execution quality.

When the network identifies the best solution, it presents a quote to the user for approval. Third, if the user accepts the quote, the intent executes by calling a verifier smart contract on NIR protocol that securely confirms the transaction met the stated requirements. This architecture eliminates the need for projects to code complex smart contracts for each blockchain they want to support. Developers building on platforms using NIR intents can create applications that interact with multiple chains without getting bogged down in auditing and maintaining separate codebases for each network. For users, the experience feels as simple as making a token swap on a decentralized exchange, but underneath, the system handles all the cross-chain

conversions, routing, and verification automatically. How Calix aggregates $100 billion in liquidity across 19 chains. Calix supports 19 blockchain networks, including Ethereum, BNB chain, Solana, Polygon, Bitcoin, and others. When a project launches a token sale on Calix, the platform aggregates liquidity from across these networks into a single pool. This means a project can access more than $100 billion in combined liquidity without requiring investors to move their assets to a specific chain beforehand. The user experience works like this, an investor holding USDC on Polygon can participate in a token sale alongside someone holding ETH on Ethereum, another person with Saul on Solana, and someone else with BTC. Each person connects their wallet from their preferred

chain, reviews the sale terms, and signs an intent to purchase the new token. Calix processes the contribution and returns the allocation in one transaction, handling all cross-network conversions invisibly. Once the sale concludes investing begins, participants can claim and withdraw tokens to their chain of choice via a single transaction. Unlike traditional launchpads that restrict offerings to a single chain's user base, Calix's architecture removes these walls. There is no pole-style gatekeeping token needed for access, as was the case with Pocaster's tier system, and no need for investors to pre-move liquidity to a specific chain. This design democratizes access to early stage investments and means Foundersare not forced to choose one community over

another. Tocons launch become cross-chain by default, meaning once a project's assets are live, they are immediately tradable across all supported chains from day one. The evolution from Icos to intent-based launchpads, token launches have evolved through several distinct phases, each addressing problems from the previous generation while introducing new challenges. Initial coin offerings dominated from 2014 to 2018, enabling projects to raise capital B.Y selling tokens directly to investors, often in exchange for Bitcoin or Ethereum. This model raised billions during the 2017 bull run but became as synonymous with scams, rug pulls, and regulatory crackdowns due to minimal oversight and rampant fraud.

Initial exchange offerings emerged as a response, moving. token sales to centralized exchanges like Binance, Kucoin, and Whoobi. Exchanges vetted projects, handled the fundraising process, and listed tokens post-sale, adding credibility and convenience for both projects and investors. This model reduced defraud substantially but introduced centralization and gave exchanges significant control over which projects could launch and under what terms. Projects had to negotiate with exchanges, pay listing fees, and accept whatever terms the platform offered. Initial Dex offerings arrived with the Defy Revolution, enabling token sales directly on decentralized exchanges through liquidity pools and automated marketmakers.

This model combined the open participation of ICOS with the decentralized ethos of Web 3, removing central authorities from the sale process. IDOs captured 66, 1% of all token sales in 2025, up from just 21% in 2021, demonstrating strong market preference for DeVosures. centralized fundraising. However, IDOs maintained one critical limitation. They operated on single chains, forcing projects to choose one blockchain ecosystem and accept the liquidity and user-based limitations that came with that choice. Intent-based launchpads represent the next evolution, addressing the fragmentation problem that emerged as blockchains proliferated. By enabling true cross-chain participation without bridges or multiple transactions, platforms like Calix remove the

final major friction point in token launches. Projects can reach users across all major chains simultaneously, and investors can participate using whatever tokens they already hold, regardless of which blockchain those assets sit on. Intellix is the test case for cross-chain token distribution. Intelix chose Calix for its token generation event for reasons that align closely with its core technology. Intelix builds a collective memory layer for AI agents to collaborate across different blockchain ecosystems. The protocol inables agents to maintain consistent identities, reputations, and shared knowledge across multiple chains, solving the fragmentation problem that currently limits AI agent interoperability. By launching its dollar ITLX token across 19 chains simultaneously through

KALX, Intelix demonstrated its technology thesis in action. The project practices what it preaches, just as Intelix agents can operate seamlessly across any blockchain, its token sale, participation from any chain. This alignment between technology and go-to-market strategy provides credibility and shows potential for intent-based infrastructure to power not just token sales but entire ecosystems of cross-chain applications. The Intellics sale reached its soft cap, indicating that users responded to the simplified participation process and cross-chain accessibility. The 1 billion ITLX total supply will distribute across investors, the team, advisors, and community, with tokens immediately available for trading across all supported chains

once vesting schedules allow. This represents a different model from traditional launches where tokens appear on one chain initially and expand to theirs only if projects invest time and resources in additional integrations. Aurora's role in building cross-chain infrastructure. Aurora, the developer behind Kalex, operates as an EVM-compatible layer 2 built-in near protocol. The platform launched on May 12, 2021, with the goal of bridging the gap between Ethereum's ecosystem and NEAR's performance capabilities. Aurora's CEO Alex Shivchenko, who has worked in blockchain since 2015, partnered with Near Protocol co-founder Ilya Palisukin to create an environment where Ethereum developers could deploy their applications with minimal changes

while gaining access to NEAR's speed and low transaction costs. Aurora's architecture enables developers to use familiar Ethereum tools like Meta Mask and Truffle while benefiting from NEAR's underlying infrastructure. This compatibility strategy has proven effective at attracting projects that want Ethereum's network effects without its scalability limitations. By building calyx on top of this infrastructure and leveraging near intents, Aurora extends its chain abstraction thesis to the token launch space, enabling projects Torich users across 19 chains rather than just bridging between Ethereum and NEAR. The decision to create KALIX as a separate product rather than just another feature of Aurora reflects a strategic bet that cross-chain token launches

represent a significant enough opportunity to warrant dedicated infrastructure. Aurora provides the technical foundation and connection to NIR protocol, while KALX focuses specifically on solving the token launch fragmentation problem that affects the entire industry. The AI agent economy and why it needs cross-chain infrastructure. The intersection of AI, agents and blockchain creates unique demands for cross-chain capability that go beyond typical defy use cases. AI agents are proliferating across enterprises as organizations deploy specialized systems to handle everything from supply chain logistics to customer service and financial analysis. However, these agents operate in silos, using different language models, data schemas,

and protocols that prevent effective collaboration. Intelix addresses this fragmentation by providing a shared memory layer that enables agents to work together without exposing raw data. Agents can contribute TETO collective intelligence, share expertise, and coordinate actions while maintaining data, privacy and security. This collaboration generates substantial on-chain activity. Each time agents exchange information, confirm analyses, or distribute rewards, these interactions create transactions. Near Protocol serves as the transactional backbone for this activity because IT can handle high transaction volumes efficiently. The protocol was designed to support not just financial transactions but the full range of interactions that power decentralized applications. For AI

agents, these interactions include memory updates, state synchronization, and coordination signals that happen far more frequently than typical token transfers. By building on near and using the same intense framework that powers Calix, Intellix ensures its agents can operate across any blockchain where users and applications exist, not just a single chain. This use case demonstrates why intent-based infrastructure matters beyond token sales. As AI agents become more common, they will need to interact with applications, protocols, and users across all major blockchains. Intent frameworks like NEARs provide the abstraction layer that makes this possible without requiring every agent to implement custom integrations for each chain it

wants to access. Comparing KALIX to traditional launchpad models, traditional launchpads operate on models that made sense when blockchain ecosystems were less fragmented but show limitations in today's multi-chain environment. Pocaster, one of the most established platforms, supports multiple chains but requires users to stake poles tokens to gain tier-based access to sales. This creates a gatekeeping mechanism where the wealthiest user-sore longest-term token holders get guaranteed allocations while smaller investors compete in lotteries for remaining spots. Cedify focuses on gaming and Metaverse projects, requiring SFUND staking for dear access. Dow Maker emphasizes community-driven launches with its social mining approach. BSCPAD specializes in Binance smart chain projects

with a tier system based on BSC holdings. Each platform serves its niche well and has successfully launched dozens or hundreds of projects, but all share common limitations. They fragment liquidity across their specific chains, require users to hold platform tokens for access, and force projects to choose which launchpad echo system to prioritize. KALIX removes these barriers by eliminating platform token requirements and enabling participation from any supported chain. This creates a more level playing field where access depends on meeting KYC requirements and having funds available rather than holding specific tokens or having moved assets to predetermined

chains weeks in advance. For projects, this means reaching the entire addressable market of crypto investors rather than just the subset that uses a particular launchpad. or happens to hold assets on the launch chain. The trade-off is that Calix is new and lacks the track record that established launch pads have built over years of successful launches. Investors in traditional launchpad ecosystems have confidence based on past performance, community reputation, and relationships with specific platforms. Calix must prove its infrastructure works reliably at scale and that the intent-based approach delivers the promised user experience without introducing new

risks are complications. Technical risks and infrastructure dependencies. Kalex's reliance on near-intents introduces dependencies that warrant examination. The platform's ability to deliver on its promise of seamless cross-chain participation depends entirely on the solver network that fulfills intents. These market makers must maintain sufficient liquidity across all supported chains, respond quickly to user requests, provide competitive pricing, and execute transactions reliably. If the solver network becomes congested or lacks liquidity for certain token pairs or chains, user experience degrades rapidly. Near Protocol itself must maintain uptime and performance as

the settlement layer for all Calix transactions. Any issues with NEAR's infrastructure, such as network congestion, validator problems, or smart contract bugs in the intense framework, would impact Kalex's ability to process token sales. This creates a single point of failure that does not exist in traditional launchpad models where sales happen directly on the destination chain without intermediate verification layers. Security represents another consideration. The intense framework has not been tested at the scale that would come from widespread adoption across many launchpads and applications. While Near Protocol has operated securely since its launch, the intense infrastructure is newer and more complex than simple token transfers. Each additional layer

of abstraction introduces potential attack surfaces that sophisticated bad actors might exploit. Projects and investors using calix assume this risk in exchange for the convenience of cross-chain participation. Regulatory uncertainty also looms over cross-chain token launches. Different jurisdictions regulate token sales differently, and the legal status of participating in a sale from one chain while receiving tokens on another remains untested in most regulatory frameworks. KALIX requires KYC verification, which addresses some compliance concerns, but the cross-chain nature of the platform may create novel legal questions that regulators have not yet addressed. The broader trend toward chain abstraction, KALIX represents one application of a broader

movement toward chain abstraction in Web 3. The core insight driving this trend is that users should not need talk now or care which blockchain underlies the applications they use. Just as internet users do not think about TCP, IP protocols or DNS servers when browsing websites, crypto users should not need to understand the differences between Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon to participate in defy, buy NFTs, or interact with applications. Chain abstraction initiatives approach this goal from different angles. ERC 4337 in account abstraction enable smart wallet experiences where users can transactorously,

recover wallets without seed phrases, and sign up using email or biometrics. This removes technical barriers that prevent mainstream adoption. Cross-chain bridges and protocols like Layer Zero enable asset transfers between chains, though they introduce security risks and friction. Intent frameworks like NEARs take the abstraction further by handling not just asset transfers but complex multi-step operations across chains. The endgame of chain abstraction is an environment where blockchain becomes invisible infrastructure rather than a feature users must actively manage. Applications would root transactions across whichever chains offer the best combination of cost, speed, and functionality for each specific operation, and users

would see only the results they care about. Their tokens, their NFTs, their Defy positions. Intent-based systems move toward this vision by letting users specify desired outcomes and delegating the implementation details to solvers that can operate across all chains. Calix applies this vision to token launches specifically, but the implications extend far beyond fundraising. If intent-based infrastructure proves reliable and gains adoption, it could power entire categories of cross-chain applications from decentralized exchanges to lending protocols to gaming platforms. The success or failure of early implementations like Calix will significantly influence whether the broader industry moves toward intent-based architectures or continues with

current bridging and multi-chain deployment approaches. What this means for projects considering token launches, projects evaluating where and how to launch tokens now face more options THA never before. Traditional single-chain launches on established launch pads provide a proven processes, established communities, and track records but limit potential investor reach. Multi-chain launches using separate launch pads on each chain maximize reach but require managing multiple sales processes, communities, and liquidity pools across chains. Intent-based platforms like KALICs promise the reach of multi-chain launches with the simplicity of single-chain processes, but come with the unknowns of new infrastructure. The decision depends on several

factors including the projects target users, technical capabilities, risk tolerance, and go-to-market strategy. Projects building cross-chain applications are targeting users across multiple ecosystems benefit more from cross-chain launches than projects focused on specific chain ecosystems. Teams with limited technical resources may prefer the simplicity of single-platform launches over managing multi-chain complexity. Projects willing to accept risks associated with newer infrastructure may see advantages in differentiating through novel launch approaches. One consideration often overlooked is that the launch process itself serves as a demonstration of the project's technology and capabilities.

Intellics launching across 19 chains makes a statement about its cross-chain agent collaboration technology in a way that a single chain launch would not. Projects building infrastructure for multi-chain environments signal their technical sophistication and commitment to cross-chain functionality through their choice of launch platform. This alignment between technology and go-to-market approach can strengthen messaging and attract users who value cross-chain capability. Final T-Hots the blockchain industry has reached a point.

where fragmentation actively harms us are experience and limits growth potential. While each new layer one and layer two brings innovations in scalability, cost, or functionality, the proliferation of chains has created a system where participating in Defi requires technical knowledge, multiple wallets, and acceptance of bridging risks that did her mainstream adoption. Intent-based infrastructure like NEARs and applications like Calix that leverage it represent genuine attempts to solve this problem rather than just talking about it. What makes Kalex interesting is not just that it enables cross-chain token launches, but that it demonstrates a model for how chain abstraction might work in practice. The experience of connecting a wallet, signing an intent,

undiving the system handle all the complexity mirrors how mainstream financial applications work. You do not need to understand swift networks and correspondent banking to send an international wire transfer. You should not need to understand bridges and chain specific smart contracts to participate INA token sale. However, new infrastructure always carries risks that only time and usage reveal. The solver network that fulfills intents introduces centralization risks and potential failure points. The complexity of routing transactions across 19 chains creates more surfaces for bugs or exploits than simpler systems. Regulatory frameworks have not caught up to cross-chain applications, creating legal uncertainty. Projects and

investors using Calix accept these risks in exchange for convenience and reach. The success of the Intelix launch provides one data point suggesting market appetite for this approach exists. One sale reaching its soft cap does not validate an entire infrastructure category, but it demonstrates that users will adopt new technology when it solves real problems. The next year will show whether Kalex can attract a pipeline of quality projects, maintain reliable infrastructure at scale, and deliver consistent results that build community trust. The broader question is whether intent-based architecture represents the future of cross-chain interaction or just one approach among many. If calyx and similar platforms gain traction, expect traditional launchpads to add intent-based

features rather than seed market share to new entrance. Competition will drive improvements across the ecosystem, which benefits projects and investors regardless of which platforms ultimately dominate. The fragmentation problem is real and getting worse as more chains launch, solutions that genuinely simplify cross-chain experiences will find product market fit. Whether Calix becomes the standard or just catalyzes improvements elsewhere, pushing the industry toward better cross-chain infrastructure is valuable. Don't forget to like and share the story. Thank you for listening to this Hackernoon story, read by artificial intelligence. Visit hackernoon.com to read, write, learn and publish.