Web3 VC giant a16z released its latest report today (5th), outlining the key trends the crypto industry is likely to achieve by 2025, based on the creative ideas of experts from various fields, focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and Blockchain technology, tokenization and other frontier developments. The following is a summary of the key points.
1. AI needs its own "wallet" to truly act as an agent
Until recently, AI has not been able to truly take agency actions, nor participate in the market - exchanging value, revealing preferences, and coordinating resources - in a verifiable autonomous (non-human controlled) manner.
As AI agent networks begin to host their own crypto wallets, sign keys, and manage crypto assets, we will see interesting new use cases emerge, including:
- AI operating or validating nodes in DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure networks), such as helping with distributed energy
- AI agents becoming true high-value game players.
- We may even see the first blockchain owned and operated by an AI.
Further reading:What's in the wallet of the AI token "Bionic" Truth Terminal, with over $20 million in net assets?
2. Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots (DAC)
AI chatbots that run autonomously in a trusted execution environment (TEE). TEEs provide an isolated environment to run applications, enabling more secure decentralized system designs, and can also be used to prove the chatbot is autonomous and not controlled by a human operator.
This idea can be further developed into "Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots" (DACs), which can self-publish content, manage social media communities, earn revenue from audiences, and manage assets cryptographically, all within the TEE.
The key here is decentralization: by running on a permissionless set of nodes and coordinated by a consensus protocol, chatbots could even become the first truly autonomous, billion-dollar entities.
3. As more people use AI, we need "unique" identity proofs
In a world filled with online impersonation, fraud, multiple identities, deepfakes, and other real but deceptive AI-generated content, we need "proof of personhood" to help us verify that we are interacting with real people.
However, the new problem here is not false content, but that AI fundamentally lowers the marginal cost of producing content containing all the cues we use to judge whether something is "real".
Therefore, we now need methods to privately and digitally link content to people more than ever before. "Proof of personhood" is an important component of establishing digital identity, but here it becomes a mechanism to increase the marginal cost of attacking real people or undermining the integrity of the network: obtaining a unique ID is free for humans, but costly and difficult for AI.
This is why the privacy-preserving "uniqueness" property is the next crucial concept in building a network we can trust. It not only solves the problem of proving personhood, but fundamentally changes the cost structure of malicious actors' attacks. Therefore, "uniqueness", or sybil resistance, is an inalienable property of any proof of personhood system.
Further reading:Why is Proof of Humanity so important in Web3?
4. From prediction markets... to better information aggregation for everything
Prediction markets themselves may not see revolutionary changes by 2025, but they will pave the way for more decentralized, technology-based information aggregation mechanisms, not just for election result predictions, but potentially for community governance, sensor networks, finance, and more.
Prediction markets will achieve better information aggregation through the decentralization, transparency, and incentive mechanisms of blockchain.
Blockchain has always been a natural choice for implementing such mechanisms, not only because they are decentralized, but also because they foster open, auditable incentive schemes. Crucially, blockchains also make the outputs public, so everyone can interpret the results in real-time.
4. Enterprises will increasingly accept stablecoins for payments
Stablecoins have found product-market fit in the past year, unsurprisingly, as they are the cheapest way to send US dollars, enabling fast global payments. Stablecoins also provide entrepreneurs building new payment products with an easier-to-access platform: no gatekeepers, minimum balances, or proprietary SDKs.But large enterprises have not yet realized the significant cost savings and new revenue opportunities available by shifting to these payment methods.
While we see some enterprise interest in stablecoins (and early adoption of peer-to-peer payments), I expect to see a larger wave of experimentation in 2025. Some small and medium-sized businesses, and even large enterprises, will adopt stablecoins to avoid the transaction fee cuts taken by credit card companies or payment service providers, boosting their profit margins. Enterprises will also start looking for new solutions to problems that credit card companies are currently working to solve, such as fraud protection and identity verification.
5. Countries explore putting government bonds on-chain
Some countries may attempt to issue government bonds on-chain. Putting government debt on-chain would create a government-backed interest-bearing digital asset without the regulatory concerns of CBDCs, unlocking new sources of demand for collateral in DeFi lending and derivatives protocols, further strengthening those ecosystems. There are also expected to be more discussions on how blockchain can improve the transparency, efficiency, and participation in bond trading.
6. Industries may start tokenizing "non-conventional" assets
As crypto industry infrastructure and other emerging technologies mature and costs decrease, more unconventional assets will attempt tokenization, making previously inaccessible assets not only potentially liquid, but more importantly, able to participate in the global economy. AI engines can also use this information as unique data sets.
The tokenization of non-conventional assets may redefine revenue generation in the digital age. Potential use cases include individuals tokenizing their biometric data and renting it to companies through smart contracts.
This development allows people to leverage previously untapped assets in a decentralized way, rather than relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provide them with assets.
7. The new industry standard "DUNA" for the US blockchain network is being widely adopted
In 2024, the U.S. state of Wyoming passed the "Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association" (DUNA) law, recognizing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as legal entities. This allows blockchain projects and other centralized communities to legitimize their DAOs, legally expand their economic activities, and exempt token holders from liability, as well as making it easier for organizations to address tax and compliance issues.
As the U.S. prepares to nurture and accelerate the progress of its crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect DUNA to become the standard for U.S. projects.
8. Online liquid democracy moves to the physical world
Blockchain technology will not only be applied online, but also in the governance of the physical world. Local governments and communities may experiment with the "liquid democracy" model of blockchain-based secure and private voting, allowing citizens to vote directly or authorize proxies.
9. Builders will reuse rather than redevelop infrastructure
Crypto developers will increasingly adopt existing blockchain infrastructure components rather than redeveloping infrastructure. This approach not only helps builders save a lot of time and effort, but also allows them to relentlessly focus on differentiating the value of their products/services and building Web3 products and services that can be launched in prime time.
10. Crypto project design will start with user experience (UX), not infrastructure
Crypto companies will start from the final user experience (UX) rather than letting the infrastructure dictate the user experience.
By 2025, more crypto product designers will start with the desired final user experience and then choose the appropriate infrastructure from there. Crypto startups no longer need to overly focus on specific infrastructure decisions before finding product-market fit, but can instead focus on actually finding product-market fit.
The industry is also ready for this: a rich programmable blockchain space, mature developer tools, and chain abstraction are making the design of crypto projects more democratized.
11. "Hiding the wires" will help usher in killer Web3 applications
Blockchain applications will further "hide (abstract) the complex technical details" to attract mass adoption with more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, making the operation as simple as tapping a screen or swiping a card. By 2025, we will see more companies designing simple and clear-communicating Web3 applications.
12. The crypto industry finally has its own app stores and discovery channels
The rise of decentralized app stores and marketplaces will break through the review and restrictions of centralized platforms like the Apple App Store or Google Play, providing blockchain applications with broader exposure opportunities.
13. Crypto asset owners become crypto users
Currently, only 5-10% of crypto asset holders are actively using these cryptocurrencies. As blockchain infrastructure continues to improve, reducing user transaction costs and improving user experience, we can bring the 617 million people who already own cryptocurrencies onto the chain, making mainstream users more actively engaged in the blockchain ecosystem.
