Title: "5 narratives to watch in 2025."
Author: nairolf
Compiled by: TechFlow
I won't waste time with a lengthy introduction - 2024 was indeed an exciting year. Let's jump straight to the highlights and take a look at the changes I'm most looking forward to in 2025:
Alternative Virtual Machines (altVMs)
2024 was a year of great success for Alternative Virtual Machines (altVMs).
@fuel_network has successfully launched its mainnet,
@cartesiproject continues to make steady progress, and MoveVM is gaining more applications driven by @Aptos, @SuiNetwork and @movementlabsxyz.
2025 could be a breakthrough year for these alternative virtual machines, kicking off the next wave of on-chain applications.
It's worth mentioning that @fluentxyz's hybrid execution model will play a key role in this field. It integrates EVM, SVM and Wasm into a single execution environment, providing developers with the most comprehensive and flexible way to build applications. Even more exciting is that this design is scalable, meaning that any virtual machine can be added to this system in the future. Perhaps it will become the "ultimate solution" in the virtual machine domain.
Chain Abstraction
Chain abstraction made significant progress in 2024. It has evolved from an initial concept to create an experience for users that feels like using a single chain, even if there are hundreds of chains working in coordination behind the scenes.
Users no longer need to frequently switch wallets, manage multiple gas tokens, or - most troublesome - bridge across chains.
@ParticleNtwrk's UniversalX solution, which allows trading of tokens on any chain through a unified interface, similar to Binance but fully on-chain, is a prime example. The maturity of this technology will spawn many new products, and more importantly, many existing projects will also start adopting these solutions.
This trend showcases deep collaboration between projects, such as the efforts of @EverclearOrg, @SOCKETProtocol and @NEARProtocol, as well as @sedaprotocol and @routescan_io.
The focus in 2025 will be on how to get more users to engage with and utilize these innovative solutions.
L1 Blockchains
If the crypto industry goes a year without the birth of new L1 blockchains, it would be a bit of a letdown. In 2024, Sui and Aptos were undoubtedly the star projects in this field.
So what about 2025? We will welcome more exciting new projects.
@monad_xyz, @berachain and @HyperliquidX may become the "golden triangle" driving industry development.
Among them, Hyperliquid's HyperEVM is particularly worth watching. As Hyperliquid's recent momentum continues to rise, how its ecosystem will deeply integrate with the exchange itself will be an important point to look forward to.
RaaS (Rollup as a Service)
RaaS may be one of the least discussed areas currently. Why is that? The reason may be that it looks like a "boring business." However, many seemingly mundane business models often turn out to be the most valuable in retrospect.
Rollups and L2s were hot topics in the crypto Twitter (CT) space in 2024, and this hype is unlikely to subside anytime soon.
As @inkonchain and @AbstractChain are set to launch related services in the coming months, the debate around these technologies will continue. But one thing is clear: there will be more and more L2 chains emerging in the future.
Whether they are general-purpose or specialized chains, the data speaks for itself. Platforms like @Calderaxyz, a Rollup as a Service provider, have already supported the deployment of around 100 new chains this year, offering rich integration and customization options from day one.
Additionally, @conduitxyz and @alt_layer are also adopting similar models. The market demand for RaaS providers is becoming increasingly undeniable.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
According to statistics from @_kaitoai, AI has already garnered over 40% of attention this year, with its hype reaching unprecedented levels.
But my intuition tells me this is just the beginning. The Eliza project from @ai16zdao has become one of the most popular open-source projects on GitHub in the past few months. Will it be able to serve as a bridge to attract new developers into the crypto space? Time will tell, but it certainly has the potential to be an interesting "entry point."
We've already seen preliminary results of AI in the real world, such as the @aixbt_agent developed by @virtuals_io, which continues to attract attention in the crypto community while providing fairly accurate information.
Will the future revolve around "deciphering the mindset of AI agents"? The jury is still out, but one thing is certain: 2025 will see more and more AI agents taking on tasks that were previously handled by humans.
Other Projects to Watch
@pendle_fi continues to achieve exponential growth and is now considered one of the "veteran" DeFi projects. Will its Total Value Locked (TVL) be able to break the $10 billion mark in 2025? It's worth looking forward to.
@_kaitoai is pioneering a new domain of InfoFi (Information Finance). What will it look like in the future? The answer should be revealed next year.
@Polymer_Labs will become a strong contender in the field of cross-chain interoperability, and I believe interoperability will be one of the important topics in 2025.
@OndoFinance is driving large traditional institutions to enter the blockchain space. Real-World Assets (RWA) and asset tokenization have become a trend, but the bottleneck has not yet been fully broken. Will 2025 see a breakthrough due to a more friendly regulatory environment?
@nillionnetwork's mainnet plan is scheduled to launch in February next year. Against the backdrop of growing attention on privacy issues, this project may have a significant impact. Even more exciting is that it has the potential to lead a new wave of on-chain applications.
See you in 2025.
