Author: Davis Canellis, Blockworks; Compiled by Wuzhu, Jinse Finance
In the mid-16th century, Nostradamus made 942 predictions within 8 years.
It is said that he dictated each prediction as a poem to his secretary, as he was consuming large doses of nutmeg, which caused hallucinations.
This article has five cryptocurrency predictions that may fully materialize by 2025. If they don't, they can easily be repeated over hundreds of years, just like Nostradamus' predictions.
1. AI chatbots will gamify flash loan attacks
We rarely hear about flash loan attacks anymore.
Apparently, the U.S. Department of Justice's arrest of Eisenberg ("this was just a profitable trading strategy") last year basically put a stop to them.
Until some evil fringe lords trained an AI model to scour the dirtiest, most illiquid corners of DeFi for potential targets.
After all, who should be blamed: the instant engineers or the crypto-wallet-holding law school graduates?
2. Bitcoin ETFs or nation-states will be hacked
No worries, most ETFs have already abstracted the actual handling of tokens, away from their own accountability - possibly replaced by WhatsApp chats with Coinbase custody representatives.
Next year will mark the return of major cryptocurrency hacking incidents.
We haven't seen one for a while. Maybe the Ronin hack was the last truly damaging one.
Be wary of nation-states or ETF issuers slipping up, perhaps due to falling for a North Korean phishing email and getting a fake Fukuwarai coupon.
3. The FTC will sue Meme coins
You may have heard that the next SEC chair should be more crypto-friendly.
But that's just the SEC. Next year, there are still over a dozen U.S. agencies that may still take some real baby boomer action.
The FTC has previously gone after crypto companies including Celsius and Voyager, and filed federal lawsuits against fraudsters peddling bogus investment schemes.
I'll be watching the FTC qualify and start suing random Meme coins. The void left by Gensler can only be filled by another short-sighted regulator.
4. "Crypto lotteries" will become a public good
Crypto already has its own pseudo-lottery system: Meme coins.
If you really enjoy buying Powerball and Mega Millions, why not randomly buy a Pump.fun memecoin each week and hope to strike it big one day (as long as you time it right).
So it's time for someone - perhaps from the public-spirited Ethereum realm - to write an unstoppable, permissionless crypto lottery that pays out weekly.
5. IRL streamers will adopt prediction markets
Suggesting streamers like Speed and KSI mint their own Meme coins (or are they social tokens?) is too obvious.
Let's say it now: major streamers will figure out how to leverage prediction markets to crowdsource their content.
For example: Speed suggests he will compete in a sprint event at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which could be a prediction market. All his viewers can bet on whether this will happen or drive him to take on any other challenges on this topic.