ICPEx has wrapped up its Phase 1 development with a burst of progress that speaks more through function than fanfare. Over a compact two-month stretch from April to June 2025, the engineering team focused on building and delivering four solid modules, each aimed at making the platform faster, more intelligent, and more efficient for users across the Internet Computer network. Those following the SNS launch already know the roadmap has been filled with detail and discipline—and now, it’s showing results.
The big-ticket item in this phase was the fresh-out-of-the-lab high-speed trading system. Rebuilt from the ground up, it now handles both custodial and non-custodial swaps. Custodial trades clock in at just two seconds, making it the fastest in its category across the IC landscape. That speed wasn’t a fluke—charts tracking performance over 100 consecutive trades have shown consistently fast execution, giving ICPEx bragging rights based on data, not declarations. Meanwhile, in non-custodial mode, confirmations land in seven seconds. That level of speed and consistency puts it right up there among the top-tier performers on the network.
Of course, speed without substance isn’t much good, so the system also comes with a host of features designed to make it more robust for daily and institutional use. Flash loans, liquidity management tools, and a maintenance lock mechanism give users fine-tuned control. The logging is detailed, and every trading record is automatically mirrored to external canisters. This clever design keeps the core canister lean and nimble while still archiving all the data required for transparency and analytics. The codebase powering it all runs into tens of thousands of lines—100% custom-built, no shortcuts taken.
Another hurdle that’s been addressed is fragmented liquidity. Any trader working within the IC environment has likely run into the scattered nature of available pairs and venues. To that end, the team at ICPEx has developed a native aggregated trading system. This module pools liquidity from Kongswap and ICPSwap, and users don’t have to juggle multiple tabs or interfaces. Instead, they simply key in their desired trading pair, and the system does the hard work, scanning for and selecting the best path. The aggregation logic is now tightly woven into the non-custodial mode on ICPEx, and it’s already smoothing out trades and reducing slippage.
It’s a move that benefits both casual users and algorithmic traders alike. The benefits extend beyond the surface—less fragmentation means better pricing, faster execution, and fewer lost opportunities due to scattered liquidity pools. It’s a smart response to one of the more persistent problems in IC trading circles, and the performance so far suggests the module is doing exactly what it was built to do.
Looking past speed and liquidity, data support is getting smarter, too. The MCP data service is now online and already working with tools like Claude. That means AI agents and human users alike can tap into real-time data and extract useful, actionable insights. From finding the highest-volume trading pair to checking the live volume of a specific token like ICX, the service is built to give direct answers without fluff. Developers and agents using AI tools now have a clean endpoint to work with, hosted at https://mcp.icpex.org/mcp.
This particular update may not grab headlines the way speed figures do, but it lays the groundwork for future integration of AI-initiated trades. It’s a long game kind of move—by offering clear and trusted data, ICPEx sets itself up as a preferred destination for automated trading systems once the security layers and permissions are ready to be rolled out.
On the information front, ICPEx has gone one step further with the launch of an AI news aggregation engine. With hundreds of Twitter accounts from key IC projects, opinion leaders, and media sources being tracked in real time, this tool digests, sorts, and summarises everything that matters. Instead of manually scrolling through feeds and trying to separate signal from noise, users get a curated pulse of what’s trending in the IC world. That’s accessible daily via https://next.icpex.org/trending, and it’s already saving time for users who would rather focus on trades and strategy than on detective work.
Behind these features is a common thread—removing friction. Whether it’s in trade execution, liquidity access, data visibility, or news digestion, each piece of this development phase was aimed at making the ICPEx experience more seamless and less cluttered. It’s a back-to-basics approach with modern tooling layered on top, letting performance speak instead of relying on flashy marketing lines.
With Phase 1 now complete, the team is turning its attention to the next round of priorities. Q3 will centre around expanding the ecosystem, attracting more users, and building community-level energy that translates into real platform activity. There’s a confidence behind the work so far that suggests these plans won’t be limited to just ideas. If the track record from the past two months is anything to go by, delivery will remain front and centre.
And the invitation to participate isn’t closed. The ICPEx team continues to encourage the community to stay involved, test the tools, report bugs, and share feedback. Active engagement is clearly part of their ongoing strategy, not an afterthought. For those who’ve been watching from the sidelines, now’s a good time to check out the upgraded platform live at https://next.icpex.org.
ICPEx may not be chasing hype, but its foundations are getting stronger, and the pace doesn’t look like it’s slowing down any time soon. Whether it’s two-second swaps, smarter aggregation, or AI-powered data tools, there’s a sense that every part of the update was shipped with a clear user-facing benefit in mind. This isn’t a release just meant to tick boxes—it’s designed to work hard in the background so traders don’t have to.
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