GatSwap Year in Review: What We Built in 2025

2025 was GatSwap's founding year, and we want to be transparent with our community about what we built, what we learned, and where we're headed.

Launching the core platform

We launched into beta in Q2 2025 with a focused feature set: listings, trade proposals, FFL routing, and NICS integration. The goal was to nail the core transfer flow before adding anything else. Getting that right took longer than expected — integrating with ATF's eZ Check system for real-time FFL verification was more complex than the documentation suggested.

Building the FFL network

By the end of the year, we had 340 verified FFL partners across 47 states. Onboarding dealers is an inherently relationship-driven process — most dealers wanted to speak with someone before signing up. Our dealer success team made thousands of calls. The conversations were valuable; dealer feedback shaped several key product decisions about the transfer flow and documentation.

Key product additions

• GatSwap Credits system (August 2025)
• State-specific compliance checks (September 2025)
• In-app encrypted messaging (October 2025)
• Shipping label integration (November 2025)
• Community ratings and reviews (December 2025)

What the data shows

Across all beta trades, zero NICS denials resulted in a firearm reaching a prohibited person — every denial was caught at the FFL, as the system is designed. Average trade completion time was 9 days from proposal acceptance to pickup. The most common trade was handgun-for-handgun, followed by rifle-for-rifle.

Looking ahead to 2026

In 2026, we're focused on mobile app improvements, NFA item support (with appropriate guardrails), expanding our FFL network to all 50 states, and launching the full public version of GatSwap. We're also exploring partnerships with major manufacturers for factory-certified trade-in programs.

Thank you to everyone who traded, gave feedback, and helped us build something better. We're just getting started.