DragonSwap – Launching a DeFi Hub on Sei Network

Introduction

DragonSwap is a decentralized finance hub built on the Sei blockchain, and I had the privilege of leading its marketing from day one. This first-person case study outlines how I helped launch DragonSwap from zero to a thriving platform, highlighting our challenges, strategies implemented, key execution tactics, impressive results, and reflections on the journey.

This is where the ordinary ends, and the legend begins. This is where legends trade. - Business Insider

I joined DragonSwap as the marketing manager when the project was nothing more than an idea. There were no users, no content, and no brand assets – just a small team with a big vision to create the central DeFi hub on the Sei Network. Over the next year, I worked hand-in-hand with the CEO and CMO to transform DragonSwap from a blank slate into a vibrant DeFi platform with a passionate community. This case study details how I crafted and executed the go-to-market strategy, developed a compelling brand identity rooted in mythology, and built an engaged community from scratch, all of which propelled DragonSwap to become the leading DEX on Sei.

Challenges

When I started, DragonSwap was at ground zero. The challenge was multifaceted: we needed to introduce a brand-new DeFi platform on a new blockchain (Sei) to a highly skeptical and saturated crypto market. Key hurdles included:

No existing user base or brand recognition: We had to convince crypto traders to trust a completely new exchange with no track record.

Building community trust: In Web3, community is everything. We had to foster trust and excitement among early adopters, while ensuring security and reliability were communicated (to counter the “rug-pull” fears common in crypto).

Aligning with a new network: Sei Network itself was new, so we were not only selling DragonSwap but also the promise of the Sei ecosystem. This meant closely aligning our launch with Sei’s growth and educating users about its advantages (speed, parallelization, etc.).

In summary, the core challenge was to go from zero to one – to create something out of nothing – and do it fast, before competitors caught up.

Strategy & Execution

To overcome these challenges, CMO and I developed a comprehensive marketing strategy centered on a strong brand narrative, targeted content, and community engagement:

STRATEGY

Compelling Brand Identity: I led the branding team to craft a unique identity inspired by Asian dragon mythology. Dragons symbolize wisdom, strength, and authority in Asian lore, traits we wanted users to associate with DragonSwap. We positioned DragonSwap as “Where Legends Trade,” a slogan that tied the mythical concept to user empowerment and success. The brand narrative – rooted in the Year of the Dragon tribute and lore – helped differentiate us and instantly clicked with our audience’s love for anime, gaming, and fantasy. Our dragon mascot and mythical storytelling created a sense of adventure and destiny around the platform, making users feel they were becoming part of a legend.

Clear Positioning: Working with the CEO/CMO, we defined DragonSwap’s value proposition as the native DeFi hub of the Sei Network. All messaging reinforced that DragonSwap was the home for Sei traders – offering the fastest, most user-friendly trading experience on Sei. This positioning gave us first-mover advantage as the go-to exchange on Sei, and we aligned our go-to-market timeline with Sei’s mainnet milestones to maximize exposure.

Community Focus: Our target users were crypto-native traders and “degens” – a tech-savvy, Twitter-native demographic that grew up on internet culture, anime, and games. I knew this audience responds to authenticity and memes as much as to product features. So our strategy was community-driven and fun. We adopted a witty, lore-rich voice that referenced pop culture (think Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, Game of Thrones) to make the brand relatable. By speaking the language of our community (literally and culturally), we lowered the barrier for engagement.

Multi-Channel Content Strategy: I formulated an omni-channel content plan across Twitter, Discord, Medium, and Telegram. Each channel had a role:
- Twitter/X: Our primary stage for brand personality, announcements, and viral content. We aimed to grow followers through daily interactive posts, teasers, announcements, memes, and ecosystem commentary – establishing DragonSwap as a trusted voice in Crypto Twitter.
- Discord: The heart of community building. We set up the Discord server as a place for real-time support, discussions, and hangouts for “Legends” (our community nickname). Plans included AMAs, trivia events, and sneak peeks to keep members engaged.
- Medium: A hub for longer-form content – articles on features, project updates, and educational pieces about DeFi on Sei. This helped establish thought leadership and transparency.
- Telegram: Quick updates and community chat for users preferring Telegram, ensuring no user segment was left out.

Community Engagement: From the get-go, we planned campaigns to boost word-of-mouth. Our strategy included:
- Regular feedback loops – polls and open channels for users to voice ideas – making the community feel heard and invested in DragonSwap’s development.
- Gamified elements like testers competition, meme challenge, and NFT badges for early adopters to give the community a sense of ownership.
- An Ambassador Program to recruit passionate early users to evangelize DragonSwap in their regions and personal communities. Empowering crypto leaders helped us localize content and foster growth.

Alignment with Business Goals: We ensured our marketing KPIs directly supported DragonSwap’s business goals (volume, liquidity, partnerships). I regularly synced with the product team on upcoming features so we could coordinate marketing pushes (for example, highlighting new trading features like limit orders or new token listings as they launched). We also nurtured relationships with strategic partners – e.g., collaborating on announcements with Sei Network’s marketing team and other projects building on Sei – to tap into wider audiences and position DragonSwap at the center of the ecosystem.

This multi-pronged strategy set the stage for an aggressive yet sustainable growth trajectory, creating hype while building a solid brand foundation.

BRANDING

Name DragonSwap was a strategic anchor. Drawing from Asian mythology, where dragons are revered symbols of wisdom, strength, and guardianship, we shaped a narrative where DragonSwap was the protector of Sei DeFi.

2024 being the Year of the Dragon became a natural mythological milestone: just as the dragon represents rebirth and dreams materializing, DragonSwap’s launch marked the dawn of decentralized trading on Sei. This connection gave us a powerful cultural and emotional backdrop to frame our product around.

The slogan “Where Legends Trade” was a promise. It aligned with the idea that our users weren't just traders — they were legends in the making. This language empowered our community and made them feel part of something larger.

I helped shape a visual identity for DragonSwap that captures the spirit of a legend — but makes it inviting for a new generation of Web3 users. The dragon mascot is central to this identity: it’s bold and mythical, yet irresistibly cute, symbolizing strength without intimidation. The smooth, rounded lines and expressive eyes make the logo instantly lovable, striking the perfect balance between crypto-native credibility and meme-friendly charm.

We leaned into a radiant gradient background of purples and blues — evoking a sense of magic, nightfall, and discovery. It gives the brand a modern glow, while also nodding to the mystique of fantasy worlds. The gradient serves as a visual metaphor for depth: DragonSwap isn’t just a trading platform — it’s an adventure.

Typography was chosen to be bold yet soft, with rounded sans-serif letters that are playful, accessible, and clean.

CONTENT & SOCIAL MEDIA

CMO and I managed a content calendar and a small team of community managers and a graphic designer. We produced daily content for social media.

On Twitter (X), our approach was dynamic and culture-aware. We treated it not just as a news feed, but as the primary battleground for attention in Web3. I crafted a mix of:

Educational threads explaining features like limit orders, LP strategies, and how DragonSwap worked on Sei’s parallelized EVM.
Memes especially those referencing anime or crypto inside jokes were designed to boost shareability and engagement.
Milestone shout-outs, like hitting $1B in volume or 100K users were shared with bold graphics and community tags.
Community spotlights, featuring users who contributed fan art, won trading competitions, or shared helpful guides.
Soft alpha teasers creating intrigue around upcoming features or partnerships while staying compliant.

On Twitter, we didn’t just post to the community — we spoke their language, using slang like “ser,” “wen,” “LFG,” and referencing crypto-native humor. We joined the conversations and became part of the crypto Twitter.

You can see social media content examples below:

CAMPAIGNS

Mainnet Launch & Airdrop: In the weeks before mainnet launch, we ran a countdown on Twitter, sharing snippets of the DragonSwap story and sneak peeks of the product. This culminated in an airdrop campaign for early followers and testers, rewarding them with $SEI. It created buzz and ensured we had thousands of users ready on day one.

Trading Competition: To boost on-chain activity and liquidity, I organized two major trading competitions post-launch. Round 1 was a “Genesis Trading Competition” with over $200,000 in rewards for top traders, which immediately spiked our trading volume and attracted power users. Round 2 followed a couple of months later with ~$50k in prizes, keeping the momentum and giving newcomers a second chance to win. These competitions not only drove volume but also generated a ton of user-generated content (as participants shared their progress on Twitter, bringing in organic publicity).

Ambassador Program: I launched the DragonSwap Ambassador Program to scale our community outreach. We recruited influential community members to act as DragonSwap champions. I provided them with training, content resources, and exclusive news to share. In return, they hosted local meet-ups, translated our announcements into other languages, and amplified our presence in various crypto communities. This program created a network effect, significantly expanding our reach beyond what our core team could do alone.

Results

Our hard work paid off quickly. In the first seven months after launch, DragonSwap’s growth exceeded expectations and established itself as the leading DeFi platform on Sei. Here are the key outcomes of our marketing efforts:

Social Growth: Grew the Twitter (X) following to 100,000+ followers (from 0 at launch) by consistently engaging the crypto community with on-brand, viral content. Our Discord community similarly flourished, reaching 10,000+ members actively chatting, sharing tips, and hyping each other on trades.

Content Reach: Amassed 1,500+ Medium subscribers to our blog, where we published regular updates and insights. Our articles and announcements frequently garnered thousands of reads and positioned DragonSwap as a thought leader in the Sei ecosystem.

User Acquisition: Attracted over 160,000 unique users to the DragonSwap platform. By tapping into the “degen” culture and offering incentives like trading competitions, we converted social media followers into platform users at an impressive rate.

Trading Volume & Liquidity: Drove more than $1.2 B in all-time trading volume on DragonSwap within 7 months – a figure that firmly put us on the map. (Notably, DragonSwap by this time held the highest trading volume on the Sei Network among all dApps. Total Value Locked (TVL) in our pools climbed to $55 M+, reflecting strong user trust in providing liquidity on our platform.

Ecosystem Leadership: DragonSwap became widely recognized as Sei’s central DeFi hub”. We captured the majority of Sei’s DeFi market share, and our brand narrative (“Where Legends Trade”) became synonymous with the network’s burgeoning trading community. This reputational capital attracted multiple partnership opportunities and gave DragonSwap a voice in guiding Sei’s DeFi roadmap (a powerful position for a young project).

Jelena Zečević - CMO at NIMA (DragonSwap)

Milica has a great eye! She's one of those rare people who can take a scattered brief, spot the story, and turn it into something that looks and feels on-brand. She’s especially strong when it comes to brand identity and creative direction. During our early brand-building phase, she helped shape how we showed up and communicated visually.

There’s always a clear intention behind her work. She pays close attention to how everything fits together: color, tone, layout, and flow. Nothing feels random. Every choice is intentional and tied back to the story we’re telling.

On top of all that, she’s absolutely great to work with. She’s easy to talk to, always in a good mood, and just brings really good energy to the team.

How we collaborated:

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