Introduction

The year 2024 is destined to be a landmark year for the cryptocurrency industry. This year, Bitcoin reached the breakthrough price level of $100,000, marking the formal entry of crypto assets into the mainstream financial asset class; the combination of AI and blockchain technology has triggered a new narrative wave, injecting unprecedented innovative vitality into the industry; the rapid development of stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA) has further consolidated the important position of blockchain technology in the traditional finance field.

As a symbol of the rapid development of the crypto industry, the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF and the election of Trump not only drove the strong growth of Bitcoin prices, but also ushered in a new era of deep participation of institutional investors in the crypto market. At the same time, the continuous breakthroughs in decentralized technology have made Solana and Base ecosystems the new focus of on-chain infrastructure, bringing profound impacts on transaction efficiency and ecosystem diversity. The revival of the NFT market and the explosion of AI Agents have also demonstrated the infinite potential of the crypto industry in narrative shaping and technology implementation. Accompanied by the dramatic changes in macroeconomic variables and the continuous evolution of the policy environment, 2024 not only defines the current market landscape, but also lays the foundation for the development of 2025 and the following years.

This article aims to review the highlights of the crypto industry in 2024, analyze the breakthroughs and challenges it has faced, and look forward to the future landscape of 2025. Through the analysis of key events, technological innovations and market trends, we will depict how the crypto industry is moving towards a more mature and stable stage in the golden age, and explore the infinite possibilities of this field in the wave of globalization.

Part 1: Highlights of the Crypto Industry in 2024

1. Bitcoin and Institutionalization: The Core Driving Force of the Crypto Industry

1.1 The Launch of Bitcoin ETF: Entering the Mainstream Financial System

The approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF was the most important event at the beginning of 2024. This breakthrough marks the formal entry of crypto assets from the marginalized speculative tool into the mainstream financial system, attracting the attention of a large number of traditional institutions. The launch of the ETF not only provides investors with a safer and more convenient Bitcoin investment channel, but also further drives the rise in Bitcoin prices.

Data shows that since the launch of the Bitcoin ETF, market capital inflows have clearly strengthened. Driven by the listing of the BTC spot ETF and the BTC halving, BTC has achieved a growth of over 130%, breaking through the important psychological barrier of $100,000 at the end of the year, and even approaching $110,000 at one point.

1.2 The Evolution of Market Structure: The Impact of Institutionalization

The structure of the Bitcoin market underwent significant changes in 2024. The continuous influx of institutional capital has changed the dominant pattern of the market, shifting from being retail-dominated to institution-dominated, and Bitcoin is gradually becoming an important component of global investment portfolios. A report by K33 Research shows that institutional participants purchased 859,454 Bitcoins in 2024, accounting for 4.3% of its total circulating supply. As of December 31, 2024, the Bitcoin holdings of the iShares Bitcoin ETF under BlackRock were 551,917.901 BTC, and MicroStrategy purchased 444,262 BTC, with the total Bitcoin holdings of these two institutions approaching 1 million BTC.

Source: https://x.com/NateGeraci/status/1872463503828959450

1.3 The 2024 US Election and Trump's Victory in Driving Bitcoin

The results of the 2024 US presidential election played an important role in driving the rise of Bitcoin prices, and also promoted the development of Polymarket prediction markets and Meme tokens related to the US election. During the campaign, Trump publicly expressed his support for the crypto industry and promised to implement a series of friendly policies, including firing the current SEC chairman, encouraging Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, and relaxing crypto regulations.

After Trump's confirmation of victory, the Bitcoin market sentiment was high, and the price broke through $100,000 within a few weeks and continued to rise. Analysts pointed out that Trump's victory provided greater confidence for institutional investors, further accelerating the capital inflow into Bitcoin ETFs. In addition, the policy direction supported by Trump has led the market to expect more institution-friendly financial products in the future, further consolidating Bitcoin's position in the mainstream finance.

2. Stablecoins and RWA: The Fusion of Traditional Finance and Crypto

2.1 The Rise and Mainstreaming of Yield-Bearing Stablecoins

In 2024, yield-bearing stablecoins became an important innovation in the stablecoin market. This type of stablecoin provides stable and substantial interest income for holders by linking to high-yield decentralized finance protocols or traditional financial instruments.

The rise of yield-bearing stablecoins has attracted not only crypto-native users, but also traditional investors and businesses. Many companies have started to use yield-bearing stablecoins as reserve assets to hedge market volatility and obtain stable returns. This trend indicates that the crypto industry is establishing deeper connections with traditional finance through the bridge of stablecoins.

According to DefiLlama data, as of December 31, the total market capitalization of stablecoins has exceeded $200 billion. Fiat-collateralized stablecoins represented by USDT and USDC still dominate the market. Crypto-collateralized stablecoins and algorithmic stablecoins are also gradually gaining attention, and these new types of stablecoins provide more diversified options and higher yield potential through innovative mechanisms. Yield-bearing stablecoins represented by USDe, USD0, and BUIDL have risen rapidly and quickly entered the top 10 stablecoins, demonstrating the huge potential of this new type of stablecoin.

Source: https://defillama.com/stablecoins

2.2 The Current Ecosystem of RWA and Representative Projects

The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) made significant progress in 2024. By converting traditional financial assets such as real estate, bonds, and commodities into tokens on the blockchain, RWA has brought new narratives and investment opportunities to the crypto industry. Representative projects such as Ondo Protocol and MANTRA have performed outstandingly in this field, attracting a large amount of capital inflow into their tokenized products.

In addition, the rapid growth of RWA has also benefited from the improvement of the policy environment. Multiple countries have enacted legal frameworks to support the application of blockchain technology to financial assets, providing stable legal guarantees for the development of RWA. The emergence of this market has provided new entry points for institutional investors to enter the crypto industry, while also bringing unprecedented diversified investment opportunities for individual investors.

3. The Rise and Prosperity of the Solana Ecosystem and the Base Ecosystem

3.1 The Strong Comeback of the Solana Ecosystem and the Prosperity of Meme Coins

The Solana ecosystem made a strong comeback in 2024. Relying on its high throughput and low transaction costs, Solana has attracted a large number of developers and users to re-engage in its ecosystem, and has gradually developed into a paradise for Meme coins.

• Surging on-chain activity and transaction volume: In 2024, on-chain activities in the Solana ecosystem increased significantly, with the daily active addresses rapidly rising from millions. Data shows that Solana has taken the lead in the proportion of new token issuance, with 80% of new tokens being issued on the Solana chain.

• The leading role of the Pump.fun platform: As a one-click token issuance platform, Pump.fun has brought revolutionary changes to the Meme coin market by leveraging Solana's low-cost and high-efficiency advantages. As of December 31, 2024, the platform has issued over 5.26 million tokens, with a cumulative trading volume of over 194,000 SOL, attracting millions of users to participate, making it an important part of the Solana ecosystem.

Source: https://dune.com/evelyn233/pump-data

3.2 The Rapid Rise and Diversification of the Base Ecosystem

The Base chain is a Layer 2 scaling solution launched by Coinbase. Coinbase has provided the Base ecosystem with strong market influence, financial support, and technical endorsement, significantly enhancing user and developer trust. Since its launch in August 2023, the Base chain has achieved remarkable ecosystem development results in a short period of time, thanks to its low-cost, high-efficiency, and powerful technical architecture.

In 2024, the total locked value of the Base chain grew from $440 million at the beginning of the year to $3.75 billion in December, making it the second-largest Layer 2 network after Arbitrum. Many innovative projects have emerged, attracting a large number of users and developers. In 2024, the Base ecosystem saw the emergence of star projects such as BRETT, DEGEN, VIRTUAL, and Morpho, covering areas such as Meme, social, AI, and DeFi.

4. The Expansion of the Staking and Restaking Ecosystem

In 2024, the Staking and Restaking sectors experienced significant development and became an important part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

4.1 Increased Staking Rates and Demand for Liquidity Release

Staking, as the core mechanism of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks, continued to play a key role in 2024. The staking rates of major blockchains such as Ethereum steadily increased, attracting a large number of investors to participate. Liquid staking protocols (LSTs) such as Lido consolidated their market positions this year, providing users with liquidity solutions for staked assets. However, as the staking rate increased, the market demand for staking services also grew, leading to the emergence of new solutions and protocols to meet this demand.

4.2 The Rise and Expansion of the Restaking Sector

Restaking emerged as a new sector in 2024 and showed great potential. This concept was first noticed at the 2023 DevConnect, after which the adoption rate rose sharply. Restaking allows users to reuse their staked assets in other protocols, sharing the security of staking, thereby improving capital efficiency. EigenLayer, as the leading project in this field, received support from top investment institutions including a16z, with a valuation reaching billions of dollars. Inspired by Ethereum projects like EigenLayer, the strong consensus and security of the Bitcoin network also provide broad prospects for staking and restaking. Projects represented by Babylon have begun to explore the restaking of Bitcoin assets, which not only may activate the participation of dormant Bitcoin holders in ecosystem building, but also may form a restaking ecosystem no less than Ethereum.

4.3 The Rise of Liquid Restaking Protocols (LRTs)

Liquid Restaking Protocols (LRTs) gained widespread attention in 2024. These protocols act as intermediaries between restakers and operators, managing capital allocation and providing liquidity solutions. Unlike Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs), LRTs handle multiple risk factors, including inflation, slashing conditions, and technical risks. Projects such as Ether.fi, Renzo, Puffer Finance, and KelpDAO have made significant progress in this field, attracting a large number of users and capital participation.

5. The Formation of the BTCFi Diverse Ecosystem

In 2024, the Bitcoin financial ecosystem (BTCFi) achieved significant development, covering multiple fields such as Runes, Glyphs, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and Staking.

In 2024, the Bitcoin DeFi sector experienced exponential growth. According to data from defillama, the Total Value Locked (TVL) of Bitcoin DeFi surged from $305 million at the beginning of the year to $6.7 billion at the end of the year, an increase of more than 20 times. This growth was mainly due to the rise of staking protocols, particularly the Babylon protocol, which accounted for more than 82% of the TVL, becoming the largest protocol on Bitcoin.

Source: https://defillama.com/chain/Bitcoin

Staking and Restaking became an important part of the Bitcoin ecosystem in 2024. The rapid development of staking protocols has shifted Bitcoin's applications from the payment field (such as the Lightning Network) to the staking field. The success of the Babylon protocol has driven the emergence of a series of staking and restaking protocols, further promoting the diversification of Bitcoin's applications.

In addition, the Bitcoin ecosystem has also achieved continuous development in applications such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), gaming, and social. Although the enthusiasm for Runes and Glyphs has waned, the diverse Bitcoin ecosystem has been initially formed, laying a solid foundation for future development. As the ecosystem continues to improve, Bitcoin is gradually evolving from a single value storage tool to a platform with diversified applications including finance, art, and social.

6. The Struggle and Recovery of the Altcoin and NFT Markets

6.1 The Warming Up and Structural Changes of the Altcoin Market

The launch of the Bitcoin ETF led to a high concentration of market liquidity towards Bitcoin. This phenomenon caused many Altcoin projects to face capital shortages and user attrition in 2024. For most of 2024, while Meme tokens were surging, the performance of established Altcoins was rather sluggish.

As the Bitcoin price stabilized, the market sentiment began to shift towards Altcoins. Investor confidence in established projects rebounded, causing these tokens to take turns in rallying. The price of XRP rose from around $0.60 at the beginning of the year to $2.44 at the end of the year, an increase of over 300%. This growth was mainly attributed to Trump's friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies, with the market expecting the SEC to end its legal dispute with Ripple. In addition, Ripple plans to issue a new stablecoin RLUSD, further boosting market confidence in XRP.

The Altcoin market underwent significant structural changes in 2024. Capital and attention concentrated on a few high-quality projects, such as Aave, Ondo, and FET, while traditional speculative tokens were gradually eliminated by the market. This change indicates that the Altcoin market is moving towards a healthier and more sustainable direction.

6.2 The Recovery and Differentiation of the NFT Market

After experiencing a market cooldown from 2022 to 2023, the NFT market rebounded in 2024. Blue-chip NFT projects such as Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club once again became the focus of the market.

Significant differentiation has emerged among NFT projects. The outstanding blue-chip projects maintained their value thanks to strong community support and scarcity. Projects like Pudgy Penguins have attracted widespread attention and capital support through tokenization and community governance. However, small NFT projects lacking innovation and community support lost their market position during the bear market, and poorly performing projects gradually exited the market.

7. The Meme Sector Performs Strongly: Surging Upwards

In 2024, the Meme token market maintained strong growth, demonstrating its powerful vitality and market appeal. According to data from CoinGecko, the total market capitalization of Meme tokens has grown from $22.8 billion at the beginning of the year to around $116 billion. Among the top 100 cryptocurrency projects by market capitalization, Meme tokens account for 10%, with established projects like DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE still maintaining their leading positions, while new Meme projects such as WIF, BRETT, and GOAT have quickly risen through innovation.

Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/

The Meme narratives in 2024 can be mainly divided into the following categories:

• Animal-themed Memes: such as DOGE, PEPE, MOONDENG, and PNUT, these tokens are often driven by the celebrity effect and have a strong community foundation.

• Cult Culture Memes: such as WIF and POPCAT, these Memes gain market recognition through their unique community culture.

• Trending Event-Mapped Memes: such as BAN and MAGA, these tokens can quickly respond to market events and attract capital attention.

• Technology-Themed Memes: combining new technology narratives, such as GOAT, ACT, FARTCOIN, and RIF, these Memes have attracted a large number of biotech investors and AI enthusiasts.

Here is the English translation of the text, with the terms in <> retained and not translated: As the market has developed, more and more institutions have started to pay attention and invest in this track. Mainstream exchanges and investment institutions such as and , , have actively participated, providing support for various projects. This trend indicates that although there was controversy over coins in the early stage, institutional attitudes are gradually changing, and they are beginning to recognize their potential value. The veteran mining coin stated that "given the current market conditions, LTC is now recognized as a coin", quickly sparking a marketing trend around , with many institutions and projects following suit. 8. The Combination of AI and Crypto: From Technological Innovation to Market Explosion In 2024, the cryptocurrency market witnessed the rapid development of AI-related tokens, especially in the fields of and . These tokens combine the innovativeness of AI-generated content with the dissemination advantages of culture, driving market activity and investor attention. 8.1 The Rise of Tokens tokens performed particularly well in the second half of 2024. Tokens represented by , , and achieved a rapid increase in market capitalization and price in a short period of time. Taking as an example, this agent not only received $50,000 from founders, but also became a millionaire by utilizing social media. The -represented project it supports combines the technical capabilities of and the dissemination effect of culture, becoming the leader in the field, repeatedly creating "wealth-making" myths, and entering the mainstream circle by the end of the year. 8.2 Expansion of Application Scenarios for Tokens projects developed rapidly in the second half of 2024, showing strong discussion heat and "wealth-making effect". Among them, and are undoubtedly the two most powerful representative projects. is a decentralized trading fund based on the blockchain, aiming to use agents to obtain market information, analyze community consensus, and automatically conduct token trading. Its open-source framework has received widespread attention in the developer community, promoting the development of the ecosystem. is positioned as a distribution platform for agents, where users can create and deploy agents. Its token performed well in 2024, with a market capitalization once exceeding $380 million, becoming one of the leaders in the field. The tokenized and created through have also quickly become the hottest agents. Part 2: Outlook for the Crypto Landscape in 2025 1. Macroeconomic Environment and Policy Drivers 1.1 Trump's Re-election Brings Expectations of Crypto-Friendly Policies - Regulatory Reform: Trump proposes to dismiss the current SEC chairman Gary Gensler and appoint a pro-crypto policy advisory committee. This high-level personnel change will create a more friendly regulatory environment for the crypto industry. - Strategic Reserve Plan: Plans to adopt as a national strategic reserve asset, officially entering the mainstream financial framework of the United States. This will further consolidate 's position in the global financial system. - Policy Tools Support: Potential tax incentives, regulatory relief, and other measures to encourage the crypto industry to develop domestically in the United States. 1.2 Continuous Influx of Institutional Capital and Synergistic Effects - Expansion of Market Scale: Institutional capital purchased over 1.4 million in 2024, accounting for about 7% of the circulating market. This trend will continue and accelerate in 2025. The increased holdings of public companies and institutional investors, such as and pension funds, will continue to drive the rise in prices of and other major crypto assets. - Correlation between Prices and Capital Flows: Data in 2024 showed a significant correlation between the capital inflows of spot and prices. This relationship may become more pronounced in 2025, as more capital chooses to enter the market through . - Synergistic Effects of Global Institutional Capital: The pro-crypto policies in the United States will prompt other regions around the world to relax regulations to maintain market competitiveness. The Asia-Pacific region (especially Hong Kong and Singapore) may continue to attract institutional capital to compete with the US market. 1.3 Further Promotion of Spot - Simplified Investment Paths: spot provide traditional investors with a low-risk, high-convenience investment method without the need to hold crypto assets directly. This attracts more long-term capital such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. - Potential of and Thematic : As institutional investors' interest in niche areas increases, focused on DeFi, , , and other themes may emerge. The appearance of may provide funding support for small projects and become a new favorite for high-risk, high-return investors. - Expansion of Regulation and Compliance: The promotion of requires more regulatory support, especially in terms of review standards for diversified asset portfolios. This may trigger competitive regulatory optimization for globally. 2. Sector Trend Analysis 2.1 Accelerated Adoption of DeFi Protocols by Financial Institutions - Lending Sector: Traditional financial institutions use DeFi protocols to improve capital utilization, especially in cross-border payments and corporate financing. - Insurance Applications: On-chain insurance solutions become a new tool for institutional investors to manage risks. - Derivatives Innovation: The DeFi derivatives market expands, including further development of options, swaps, and index derivatives. Institutional investors gradually adopt more complex strategy portfolios, including liquidity mining and yield enhancement tools, providing new sources of liquidity for the market. 2.2 Deeper Integration of - -Driven Crypto Economies: agents will play a greater role in areas such as asset management and DAO governance, with agents autonomously managing funds and making decisions through decentralized networks, bringing long-term growth potential to tokens. - Convergence of Technologies: The application of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-SNARKs) and multi-party computation (MPC) technologies provides security guarantees for the integration of and blockchain, allowing systems to more efficiently access computing resources through distributed physical infrastructure networks. - Narrowing Boundaries between Virtual and Real Economies: Crypto projects combined with technology will have a profound impact on areas such as decentralized finance, content creation, and data analysis. The boundaries between the virtual economy and the real economy will further blur, creating new growth points for the industry. 2.3 Deepening Integration of RWA and Real-World Financial Products - Application Scenarios: Tokenization of real-world assets such as real estate, commodities, and bonds sees more widespread adoption, particularly in improving cross-border settlement and asset liquidity. - Market Impact: The tokenized asset market is expected to exceed tens of trillions of dollars, providing more diversified options for institutional investors. 2.4 The Rise of the DeSci Narrative - Decentralized Scientific Research: Achieve transparent management of scientific research funding through smart contracts and DAOs, such as in the fields of genetic research and medical innovation. - Potential Release: Funding support from and other leading investment institutions provides strong growth momentum for DeSci projects. 2.5 Extension of Coins and Attention Economy - Narrative-Driven Diversification: narratives and community self-governance become the core drivers for the long-term growth of coins, continuously creating hot spots and dissemination effects to attract more new users. - Transition from Emotions to Actual Value: Some coin projects are exploring real-world application scenarios, such as social networks and in-game economies.

2.6 Diversification and Integration of Layer 2 Scaling Solutions

• Continuous Expansion and Optimization of Layer 2: As user demand grows and technology continues to evolve, Layer 2 networks will continue to lead the expansion trend in the cryptocurrency industry. Cross-chain interoperability and user experience optimization will be the core themes of future development.

• Shared Security and Ecosystem Synergy: The interaction between Layer 1 and Layer 2 will be further enhanced, and more emerging Layer 2 projects will share the ETH security of the mainnet through platforms like Eigenlayer's restaking function, providing users with a seamless experience and ecosystem integration.

Conclusion

2024 was a momentous year for the cryptocurrency industry. Whether it was the approval of the Bitcoin ETF or the expected pro-crypto policies in the US after Trump's victory, these events have driven the development and transformation of the global market. The landmark event of Bitcoin breaking through $100,000 not only elevated its status as a global store of value but also further consolidated its recognition in the traditional financial sector.

This year, institutional participation has been unprecedented. From the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs to the large-scale purchase of Bitcoin by MicroStrategy and other institutions, mainstream financial capital has gradually penetrated the cryptocurrency market. This phenomenon has not only brought in capital inflows but also promoted the institutionalization and professionalization of the market structure. However, it has also significantly increased the market's volatility and its correlation with the traditional financial market, making Bitcoin's performance increasingly influenced by macroeconomic and policy changes.

On the other hand, 2024 also witnessed the full-scale outbreak of innovative tracks. The hot performance of Meme coins once again demonstrated the potential of the attention economy, the combination of AI and Crypto has become a core narrative in the market, and the Desci narrative is poised for takeoff. These trends not only reflect the high speculative nature of the market but also demonstrate its strong innovation capabilities and sensitivity to new technologies.

Looking ahead to 2025, the cryptocurrency industry will enter a new cycle and begin to move towards a golden age. As a mainstream asset for global value storage, Bitcoin's stability and global recognition will continue to improve. However, we also need to be alert to the potential impact on its investment appeal as its volatility weakens. At the same time, RWA, AI Agent, and Desci will become the growth points of the future market. In 2025, we have reason to expect more technological breakthroughs and new market highs, but we also need to be prepared for potential challenges. The story of the cryptocurrency market is still full of unknowns and opportunities.