Sean Ley, a research analyst at CoinGecko, emphasizes the success of cryptocurrency projects using AI and the unprecedented growth of certain meme coins.
In an interview with BeInCrypto, Ley highlighted airdrop-driven cryptocurrency point farming, perpetual trading on decentralized exchanges, and real-world asset (RWA) projects as promising narratives to watch out for in 2025.
Surge in AI Projects
Following the emergence of ChatGPT, Ley emphasizes that the cryptocurrency community has shown great interest in projects that aim to integrate blockchain technology and the capabilities of artificial intelligence. In 2024, many projects have shown positive results in promoting a decentralized approach to AI.
Ley highlighted the Virtuals Protocol, a decentralized platform that allows users to create, own, and monetize AI agents in the virtual world, as one of the most successful projects.
Over the past month, Virtuals has created over 21,000 AI agent tokens. According to Dune data, certain tokens like AIXBT and LUNA have surged over 300% within days of their launch.
Ley also mentioned AI16z, an AI-based venture company that launched in October and currently has a market capitalization of $600 million. As of this month, the Eliza framework, the technical foundation of AI16z, has become one of the most widely adopted open-source frameworks for AI agents.
This open-source platform supports developers at all levels to build and deploy AI-based solutions. The AI16z framework is designed to bridge the gap between centralized and decentralized systems, providing accessibility to both Web3 and Web2 developers.
A Successful Year for Meme Coins
Along with the integration of AI, the creation of new meme coins has increased, leading to a surge in trading volume and overall profitability.
"The revival of Solana and the creation of Pump.fun have driven the proliferation of meme coins. Meme coins are now easily accessible and can be created with just a few clicks, continuing the trend of 2023," Ley told BeInCrypto.
Since its launch this year, Pump.fun has become a major player, dominating the Solana meme token landscape. The meme coin launchpad generated nearly $300 million in revenue in 2024, according to data from DeFi Llama.
Promising Airdrop Narratives
The success of the airdrop narrative in the DeFi space was also a highlight of the year, according to Ley.
"DeFi, which had lagged behind in recent years, is back in the spotlight. Point farming for airdrops has increased the usage of Pendle, and the new stablecoin model of Ethena and its integration with popular DeFi protocols have contributed to its popularity," he told BeInCrypto.
Pendle's Ethereum-based yield trading protocol tokenizes the yield of cryptocurrency assets, allowing users to trade and manage their yields. This introduces traditional finance concepts like fixed-income yield, yield speculation, and yield farming to the DeFi world.
While the concept of Pendle has existed for a long time, a specific framework now allows users to earn up to 47% yield by trading tokens, surpassing previous similar projects.
Launched in 2021, Pendle's popularity has skyrocketed this year due to the increase in Ethereum liquid staking and airdrops from DeFi protocols like Ether.Fi. In April, Ethena raised the USDe pool limit to $400 million, further driving activity and pushing Pendle's total value locked (TVL) to $4.88 billion.
Cryptocurrency Point Farming Strategies
Pendle's point farming approach is also noteworthy. Cryptocurrency points are a reward system used by Web3 projects to incentivize user engagement. Users can earn points for completing specific tasks, which can lead to airdrops or other types of incentives.
"Point farming has been an amazing development. Many new projects, such as Eigen and staking protocols, have provided points (in anticipation of future airdrops) as rewards for TVL during the bear market, utilizing idle capital," Ley explained.
When discussing the success of DeFi, the CoinGecko research analyst also highlighted the Abe protocol token, which has seen a surge in activity due to whale accumulation, injecting new liquidity into the market.
Similarly, the popularity of perpetual trading on decentralized exchanges has also skyrocketed. Ley cited the recent airdrop of Hyperliquid, a high-performance decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on its own Layer 1 blockchain, as an example that significantly increased trading volume.
Hyperliquid airdropped the HYPE token to over 90,000 users at the end of November, generating a significant response from the cryptocurrency community. The token price has continued to rise, reaching an all-time high this week, setting a new benchmark for cryptocurrency airdrops.
Bright Future for Real-World Assets (RWA)
According to the source, Real-World Asset (RWA) projects are set to continue. RWA, a type of tangible or financial asset that exists outside the digital realm, is represented in the form of Tokens on the Blockchain.
"The RWA narrative struggled to get off the ground in the previous cycle, but this time it has taken hold. Major financial institutions have increased their participation in the RWA space, and BlackRock has set up the BUIDL fund to provide dollar yields to qualified investors," he told BeInCrypto.
According to RWA.xyz, tokenized treasuries have already exceeded $3 billion, growing from $700 million at the start of the year.
When BlackRock, a major asset management firm, entered the RWA market in July with its tokenized US Treasuries BUIDL, it experienced a market surge. This triggered an overall increase in the total market capitalization of RWA-related assets.
This year, several key leaders in the RWA crypto projects have emerged. For example, Maple Finance combines traditional finance and DeFi by tokenizing corporate debt. This platform provides investment opportunities and financial solutions for businesses.
Using smart contracts and automated credit assessments, Maple offers new financial products and strategies by tokenizing real-world assets, allowing institutional investors to lend to creditworthy companies.
Ondo Finance is another major RWA crypto project, specializing in tokenizing fixed-income assets. By providing various vault strategies to optimize yields and mitigate risks, the ONDO Token offers a unique financial opportunity for investors seeking exposure to a variety of assets.
