Author: 0xNairolf, Crypto Kol
Original Compilation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: This article looks ahead to the key trends in the crypto space in 2025, including the rise of altVMs and Chain abstraction technology, driving cross-chain transactions and a more seamless user experience. The next generation of L1 platforms and Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) will continue to develop, and AI technology, especially AI agents, will play an important role in more applications. Meanwhile, projects like pendle fi and nillionnetwork will also see new breakthroughs, injecting new vitality into the crypto market.
The following is the original content (the original content has been edited for easier reading):
The things I'm most excited to see develop in 2025 are:
altVMs
altVMs have performed well this year. The fuel network has successfully launched its mainnet, the cartesiproject continues to move forward, and MoveVM has gained some adoption with the support of Aptos, SuiNetwork and movementlabsxyz. 2025 could be the year of promise for altVMs, ushering in the next wave of on-chain application explosion.
fluentxyz and its hybrid execution approach will play a key role in this field, by integrating EVM, SVM and Wasm into a single execution environment, Fluent may become the go-to solution for developers looking for the most comprehensive and flexible way to build applications. The coolest part? This design is scalable, meaning any virtual machine can be added, and it may ultimately become the "final BOSS" of virtual machines.
Chain abstraction
Chain abstraction shone brightly in 2024, initially it was just a rough idea: creating a user experience where users can operate seamlessly as if using a single chain, even if there are hundreds of chains working together. No more days of needing to switch wallets, manage multiple gas tokens, or worst of all, cross-chain bridges.
UniversalX released by ParticleNtwrk allows you to trade any token on any chain through a single interface, feeling like Binance, but many new products will emerge on-chain, and more importantly, many existing projects will start using these solutions. This narrative is very worth watching, showcasing the real collaboration between EverclearOrg, SOCKETProtocol and NEARProtocol as well as sedaprotocol and routescan io, 2025 will be the year to onboard users to these new solutions.
L1s
A year without new L1s in crypto won't be as interesting, Sui and Aptos are clearly the stars in this field in 2024. For 2025? We have a lot to look forward to. monad xyz, berachain and HyperLiquidX may become the "Holy Trinity". The release of HyperEVM by Hyperliquid is worth watching, especially given the recent hype around Hyperliquid. How the entire Hyperliquid ecosystem connects with exchanges will be an exciting highlight.
RaaS
This is a narrative that has been less discussed, why? It may be because it's a boring industry, but looking back, boring industries are often the most interesting. In 2024, Rollups and L2 have been the hot topics in the crypto space, spoiler alert: this trend is not going to change anytime soon. As inkonchain and AbstractChain release in the coming months, the debate around L2 will continue, but one thing is clear: L2 will become more and more.
Whether it's generic or application-specific, the numbers speak for themselves. Platforms like Calderaxyz, a Rollup-As-A-Service, have already launched around 100 chains this year, providing countless integrations and customizations from day one. conduitxyz and alt layer are also following the same pattern. The demand for RaaS providers is undeniable.
AI
According to kaitoai's data, AI has accounted for over 40% of the attention this year, which is crazy. My intuition is that this is just the beginning. The Eliza GitHub repository of ai16 zdao is one of the most watched projects in the past few months. Could this be a way to bring new developers into the crypto space? Time will tell, but it certainly looks like an interesting Trojan Horse.
We've already seen the first real-world use case of the aixbt agent, built by virtuals io, which has gained significant attention in the CT community and provides very accurate information. Will our future revolve around the idea of reading AI agents? Who knows, but in 2025, more AI agents will take on tasks that were once performed by humans.
Other mentioned projects:
pendle fi continues to grow exponentially and can now be seen as a DeFi OG. $10B TVL in 2025?
kaitoai is leading the vanguard of InfoFi, what will the future hold? Maybe next year can give us the answer.
Polymer Labs will be a strong competitor in the interoperability space, I think this is an important topic for 2025.
OndoFinance is bringing big players into the on-chain space, RWA and tokenization will continue to exist, but they have yet to break through.
Will 2025 be a year of more friendly regulation?
nillionnetwork's mainnet plan is scheduled to launch in February, and with increasing attention on privacy issues, this could be a major breakthrough. Extra bonus points? It may trigger a new wave of on-chain application fever.
See you in 2025
