Author | Wu Blockchain
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1. Prediction market accurately predicts the result of the 2024 US presidential election
In the 2024 US presidential election, the decentralized prediction market platform once again demonstrated its excellent foresight, successfully predicting the final result through the wisdom of market participants. Even before Election Day, the trading volume of market contracts supporting Trump's victory increased significantly, with the probability of prediction reaching as high as 75%, far exceeding the statistical results of traditional polling institutions. This success not only showcases the potential of prediction markets, but also provides the public with a more transparent and dynamic reference for public opinion trends. As the regulatory framework is gradually improved, prediction markets are expected to become an important decision-making support tool globally in the future, providing forward-looking data insights in various fields.
2. Ethena launches a new stablecoin
In 2024, Ethena announced the launch of its proprietary stablecoin, with the core advantage being its innovative dual-asset model and dynamic collateralization mechanism. Compared to the fiat-pegged stablecoins commonly seen in the market, Ethena's stablecoin uses a variety of crypto assets (such as ETH, stETH, etc.) as collateral, and adopts smart contract-based dynamic adjustment of the collateralization ratio to ensure price stability while improving capital utilization efficiency. In addition, the platform has introduced a "self-balancing algorithm" that can automatically resolve liquidation risks and reduce the impact of market volatility on users.
Ethena's stablecoin not only achieves fully on-chain transparent operations, but also enhances community participation and trust through a decentralized governance system, allowing token holders to participate in the decision-making process. As of the time of writing, the circulation of Ethena's stablecoin has exceeded $5.9 billion and has quickly become an important component of the DeFi field, with application scenarios covering areas such as liquidity mining, payments, and cross-chain transfers.
3. FriendTech: From a hot rise to a gradual cooling
In 2024, the crypto social platform FriendTech experienced a dramatic cycle, from a rapid rise to a decline in popularity, becoming one of the most discussed topics in the crypto sector this year.
FriendTech launched its v2 version and its token at the beginning of the year, quickly attracting a large number of users. The platform allows users to "tokenize" their social relationships, where fans can purchase "social shares" of specific users to obtain exclusive interaction privileges. The celebrity effect and the influencer economy have helped FriendTech attract millions of users in a short period of time.
However, as market enthusiasm gradually waned, FriendTech's model also revealed some issues. First, the high volatility and speculative nature have led many users to view social tokens as short-term profit tools rather than long-term community ties. Secondly, the manipulation of social share prices by some top users, as well as the controversy over the platform's high transaction fees, have caused user dissatisfaction. Since mid-year, FriendTech's user growth has stagnated, with the number of daily active users plummeting, and as of the time of writing, the protocol's total locked value has fallen below $4 million.
4. PumpFun leads the MEME coin craze
In 2024, as the MEME coin market continued to be hot, the decentralized platform PumpFun quickly emerged as a leader in the MEME coin launch field, thanks to its unique advantages. The platform supports developers to conveniently and efficiently create and promote MEME coins, while providing investors with a secure and reliable trading environment.
The core competitiveness of PumpFun lies in its rapid launch tools and community support mechanisms. Developers can quickly deploy tokens through PumpFun without complex technical backgrounds, and use the built-in social interaction features to attract attention, greatly shortening the time from idea to market. At the same time, the platform has launched smart liquidity management and anti-fraud mechanisms, effectively reducing the risks of market manipulation and scams, winning user trust.
According to statistics on November 7, PumpFun's total revenue was 1.14 million SOL, equivalent to $212 million, and it has sold 672,243 SOL at an average price of $160.5, equivalent to $108 million so far.
5. Hyperliquid emerges as a rising star in decentralized derivatives
In 2024, the decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid officially launched, quickly attracting market attention with its excellent performance and innovative trading experience. On December 6, Hyperliquid's single-day trading volume reached $62.3 billion, setting a new historical high. At the same time, Hyperliquid's single-day liquidation volume reached $177 million, the third highest in history. As of December 9, the estimated total fee revenue of Hyperliquid since the beginning of the year could reach as high as $99.41 million. The FDV of HYPE even reached hundreds of billions of dollars in the short term. However, it also faces doubts about single-chain, control, etc.
6. TON mini-games suddenly become popular and then decline, Telegram founder arrested
TON mini-games suddenly became a hit in the middle of 2024, represented by NOTCOIN DOGE Hamster, attracting billions of users from the third world. Governments of countries like Iran even came out to criticize TON mini-games for polluting the national psyche. The TON ecosystem also began to develop rapidly, especially its cooperation with USDT, which attracted widespread attention. But with the arrest of the Telegram founder in France, the TON ecosystem also seems to have entered a period of decline.
7. PENDLE's innovative design drives the development of the interest rate swap market
In 2024, the crypto finance project PENDLE achieved significant breakthroughs in the decentralized finance (DeFi) field with its unique interest rate swap design. Its platform, through a time decoupling mechanism, decomposes yield-bearing assets into base assets and future yield rights, bringing new flexibility and liquidity to the interest rate trading market.
The core advantage of PENDLE lies in its yield tokenization model. Users can use the platform to split yield-bearing assets (such as staking ETH rewards or liquidity pool earnings) into current yield and future yield, and freely trade them on the secondary market. This innovation has greatly reduced the entry barrier of the interest rate market, allowing individuals and institutions to more efficiently hedge risks or optimize yield strategies.
By the end of 2024, PENDLE's total locked value (TVL) has exceeded $4.3 billion, making it one of the fastest growing projects in the DeFi field. Meanwhile, the platform's "liquidity mining" program and "dynamic fee adjustment" mechanism have further attracted a large number of users.
8. EigenLayer leads a new revolution in the restaking track
In 2024, the innovative crypto project EigenLayer officially launched, creating a new "restaking" track and providing a breakthrough solution for the capital efficiency and security of the blockchain ecosystem. Relying on its cutting-edge technology and strong community support, EigenLayer has quickly stood out in the decentralized finance (DeFi) field, becoming the preferred infrastructure for many emerging projects.
The core innovation of EigenLayer lies in its restaking protocol, which allows users to re-pledge their existing staked assets (such as Ethereum staked ETH) for security collateralization in multiple networks. This model not only improves capital utilization efficiency, but also provides more convenient security services for new projects, while reducing the dependence on a single native token.
As of the time of writing, EigenLayer's total locked value (TVL) has exceeded $15.2 billion, making it the third largest protocol on Ethereum. Many well-known protocols, including Layer 2 solutions, data availability networks, and oracle projects, have announced integration with EigenLayer, using it as an important tool for security and liquidity optimization.
9. Optimism's Superchain ecosystem expands to exchanges and large enterprises
In 2024, the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism made significant progress, with its "Superchain" ecosystem welcoming the addition of more global top-tier exchanges and enterprises, further consolidating its leading position in the blockchain industry.
Superchain is the modular architecture proposed by Optimism, aiming to achieve more efficient scaling and stronger interoperability through interconnected Layer 2 chains. As of this year, multiple leading exchanges or well-known companies, including Coinbase, Kraken, Sony, and Worldcoin, have successively announced their participation in the Superchain, utilizing its low-cost and high-throughput features to optimize their on-chain services.
10. AI-agent + Crypto Ignites a Fiery Wave
Although the discussion of Crypto+AI has been ongoing for a long time, AI-agent has suddenly emerged and received widespread attention. At the end of 2024, the crypto market was ignited by AI-agent, becoming the hottest topic in the crypto world, with numerous popular AI-agent-themed tokens constantly emerging. Virtualprotocol on the Base chain aims to become an AI factory for games and the metaverse, allowing easy deployment of AI-agents and the realization of token and revenue sharing. AI Agents like Clanker have proven their potential through real-world applications.
