a16z released a list of future technology ideas, covering innovative areas such as AI wallets, decentralized chatbots, digital identity, stablecoin payments, and chain-based government bonds.
Original text: A few of the things we're excited about in crypto (2025) (a16zcrypto)
Author: a16z
Compiled by: Vernacular Blockchain
a16z has released a comprehensive list of "big ideas" covering multiple fields, looking forward to the directions that technology innovators may tackle in the coming year. These fields include artificial intelligence, dynamic development in the United States, biology and health, cryptocurrency, enterprise services, fintech, games, infrastructure, etc. The following is a brief summary of some of the things that the a16z crypto team is most interested in for the future.
Also, for a 2025 outlook on policy, regulation, and more, check out this November 2024 article .
1. Artificial intelligence needs to have its own wallet to truly act independently
As AIs move from “non-player characters” (NPCs) to “protagonists,” they will gradually become agents that can act autonomously. However, until recently, AIs have not been able to truly act autonomously. Even now, they are still unable to participate in market activities in a completely independent (i.e., non-human) way, such as exchanging value, demonstrating preferences, or coordinating resources.
As we’ve seen, AI agents like @truth_terminal can trade in cryptocurrencies, which opens up endless possibilities for creative content. But AI agents have the potential to go far beyond that — not only can they better implement human intent, they can also become truly independent network participants.
When AI agents start to have their own crypto wallets, signing keys, and crypto assets, we will see many new application scenarios emerge. For example, AI may operate or verify nodes in DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) to help achieve distributed energy management. Other possible scenarios include AI becoming a high-value game player, or even the first blockchain owned and operated by AI in the future.
——Carra Wu
Twitter: @carrawu | Farcaster: @carra
2. Decentralized autonomous chatbots are coming
In addition to AI wallets, there is also an AI chatbot that runs on TEE (Trusted Execution Environment). TEE provides an isolated environment that can be used to execute applications, thereby achieving a more secure distributed system design . Here, the purpose of TEE is to prove that the robot is autonomous and not controlled by humans.
Taking this a step further, the next big idea here is what we call a "decentralized autonomous chatbot" (DAC, which is different from a decentralized autonomous company). This chatbot can build a fan base by publishing attractive content, whether it is entertaining or informative. It can accumulate attention on decentralized social media, generate income from its audience in a variety of ways, and manage its assets using cryptocurrency.
The relevant keys will be managed by the TEE running the chatbot software, which means that no one except the software itself can access them.
As the stakes increase, some regulation may be needed. But the key point is decentralization : the chatbot will run on a permissionless set of nodes, coordinated by a consensus protocol. This may even make it the first truly autonomous billion-dollar entity.
——Dan Boneh, Karma, Daejun Park and Daren Matsuoka
Twitter: @danboneh
Twitter: @0xkarmacoma | Farcaster: @karma
Twitter: @daejunpark
Twitter: @darenmatsuoka | Farcaster: @darenmatsuoka
3. As more people use AI , we need unique “identity certificates”
In a world filled with online impersonations, scams, multiple identities, deep fakes, and other realistic yet deceptive AI-generated content, we need “proof of identity” to confirm that we are interacting with real people. What’s new here, however, is not the fake content itself, but the fact that the cost of producing such content has now dropped dramatically. AI has greatly reduced the marginal cost of producing content that appears to be “real,” further blurring the line between real and fake.
Therefore, a digital method to privately associate content with individuals is needed more than ever. “Proof of identity” is an important foundation for establishing digital identity, but here it can also be used to increase the marginal cost of attacking a person or compromising the integrity of a network: for humans, obtaining a unique ID is free, but for AI it is costly and difficult.
This is why privacy-preserving “uniqueness” has become the next major breakthrough in building a trusted network. It not only solves the identity problem, but also fundamentally changes the cost structure for malicious actors to launch attacks. Therefore, the “uniqueness property” - or Sybil resistance - is an indispensable core feature of any identity system.
——Eddy Lazzarin
Twitter: @eddylazzarin | Farcaster: @eddy
4. From prediction markets to better information aggregation mechanisms
Prediction markets took center stage during the 2024 US election, but as an economist who studies market design, I don’t think prediction markets themselves will be transformative in 2025. Instead, they pave the way for more distributed, technology-based information aggregation mechanisms—mechanisms that can be applied to a wide range of areas, from community governance to sensor networks to finance.
The past year has proven this concept, but it’s important to note that prediction markets themselves are not always an ideal way to aggregate information: they can be unreliable even for global “macro” events; for more “micro” problems, the prediction pool can be too small to generate meaningful signals. However, researchers and technologists have accumulated decades of design frameworks for incentivizing people to truthfully share what they know in different information contexts (e.g., data pricing and purchasing mechanisms, “Bayesian truth serum” for capturing subjective assessments) — many of which have been applied in crypto projects.
Blockchains have always been a natural vehicle for implementing these mechanisms—not only because they are decentralized, but also because they facilitate open, auditable incentives. More importantly, blockchains also make outputs public, allowing everyone to interpret them in real time.
——Scott Duke Kominers
Farcaster: @skominers | Twitter
5. More and more companies will accept stablecoin payments
Stablecoins have found market fit over the past year — not surprising, since they are the cheapest way to send dollars and enable fast global payments. Stablecoins also provide entrepreneurs with a more convenient platform to build new payment products: no censorship, minimum balance requirements, or proprietary SDKs. But large enterprises have yet to realize the significant cost savings and new profit margins they can gain by switching to these payment rails.
While we’re seeing some businesses start to look at stablecoins (and early adoption in peer-to-peer payments), I expect 2025 to see a larger wave of experimentation. Small and medium-sized businesses with strong brands, established user bases, and high payment costs — restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores — will be the first to switch from credit card payments to stablecoins. They lose out especially hard on transaction fees (30 cents per cup of coffee is a huge loss in profit!) because in-person transactions don’t have credit card fraud protection.
We can also expect that large businesses will begin to accept stablecoin payments as well. If stablecoins do accelerate the course of banking history, then businesses will try to disintermediate payment service providers - bringing the 2% cost savings directly to their profit and loss statements. Businesses will also begin to seek new solutions to problems such as fraud protection and identity verification that are currently solved by credit card companies.
——Sam Broner
Twitter: @sambroner | Farcaster: @sambroner
6. Countries explore putting government bonds on the blockchain
Putting government bonds on-chain will create a digital asset that is backed by the government and carries interest - an approach that avoids the regulatory concerns that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may bring. These products can open up new sources of demand for collateral use in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and derivatives protocols, further enhancing the integrity and robustness of these ecosystems.
Therefore, as innovative governments around the world further explore the benefits and efficiencies of public, permissionless and immutable blockchains this year, some countries may experiment with issuing government bonds on the blockchain. For example, the UK is exploring digital securities through its financial regulator FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) sandbox program, while the UK Treasury has also expressed interest in issuing digital gifts.
In the United States — given that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans next year to require the clearing of Treasury bonds through traditional, cumbersome and costly infrastructure — expect to see increased discussion on how blockchain can improve transparency, efficiency and participation in bond trading.
——Brian Quintenz
Twitter: @brianquintenz | Farcaster: @brianq
7. The US blockchain network will widely adopt "DUNA", a new industry standard
In 2024, Wyoming passed a new law that recognized decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as legal entities. DUNA (Decentralized Non-profit Association) is a structure designed specifically for decentralized governance of blockchain networks, and it is the only viable structure for projects in the United States. By incorporating DUNA into a decentralized legal entity structure, blockchain projects and other decentralized communities can provide legal recognition for their DAOs - which not only promotes more economic activity, but also protects token holders from liability and helps manage tax and compliance needs.
DAOs — communities that govern the affairs of open blockchain networks — are necessary tools to ensure that networks remain open, non-discriminatory, and do not extract value in unfair ways . DUNAs can unlock the potential of DAOs, and there are already multiple projects working on implementing this structure. As the US prepares to promote and accelerate the development of its crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect DUNAs to become the standard for US projects. We also expect other states to adopt similar structures (Wyoming was the first to do so; they were also the first to adopt the now-common LLC)…especially as other decentralized applications outside of crypto (such as physical infrastructure/energy grids) flourish.
——Miles Jennings
Twitter: @milesjennings | Farcaster: @milesjennings
8. Decentralized voting system becomes a reality
As dissatisfaction with existing governance and voting systems grows, now is a good time to experiment with new, technology-driven governance models—not just online, but even in the real world. I’ve written before about how DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and other decentralized communities can help us study political institutions, behaviors, and rapidly evolving governance experiments at scale. But what if we could apply these findings to real-world governance through blockchain technology?
We could eventually use blockchain to enable secure, private voting in elections , starting with low-risk pilots to reduce cybersecurity and auditing concerns. More importantly, blockchain will also give us the opportunity to experiment with “liquid democracy” — a system where people can vote on issues directly or delegate their votes to others — and do so at the local level. Liquid democracy was first coined by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and an expert on voting systems; however, the concept has been limited in practice due to scale issues. Now, advances in computing, connectivity, and blockchain are making new forms of representative democracy possible. Many crypto projects are already applying this idea and are collecting a lot of data on how well these systems work — our recent work is one example — that local governments and communities can learn from.
——Andrew Hall
Twitter: @ahall_research | Farcaster
9. Builders will reuse infrastructure more often rather than reinvent the wheel
Over the past year, teams have continued to “reinvent the wheel” in the blockchain technology stack — launching various customized validator sets, consensus protocol implementations, execution engines, programming languages, and RPC API . Although sometimes there are improvements in specific features, they often lack broader or foundational features. For example, a dedicated programming language for SNARKs: while an ideal implementation might allow developers to generate more efficient SNARKs, in practice it may not be as good as a general-purpose programming language (at least for now) in terms of compiler optimization, development tools, online learning materials, AI programming support, etc., and may even result in SNARKs with worse performance.
Therefore, I expect that in 2025, more teams will leverage the contributions of others and reuse existing blockchain infrastructure components, from consensus protocols and existing pledge capital to proof systems. This approach will not only help builders save a lot of time and energy, but also allow them to focus more on the differentiated value of their products or services.
The infrastructure is finally ready to build Web3 products and services that are ready for mainstream adoption. Just like in other industries, these products will be built by teams that can successfully navigate complex supply chains, not by teams that turn their noses up at “something they didn’t invent.”
—Joachim Neu
@jneu_net on Twitter
10. Crypto companies will start from the end user experience, rather than letting infrastructure determine the user experience
While blockchain’s technical infrastructure is both interesting and diverse, many crypto companies don’t simply choose their infrastructure — to some extent, the infrastructure makes choices for them and their users when it comes to determining the user experience. This is because specific technical choices at the infrastructure level are directly tied to the end user experience of a blockchain product or service.
But I believe the industry will overcome the mental block implicit here: that technology should determine the end user experience, not the other way around. In 2025, more crypto product designers will start from the end user experience they want to achieve, and then choose the right infrastructure based on that need. Crypto startups no longer need to be overly concerned with infrastructure choices before finding product-market fit — they can focus on actually finding product-market fit.
Instead of getting bogged down in choices about specific EIPs, wallet providers, intent architectures, etc., we can abstract these choices into a comprehensive, full-stack, plug-and-play approach . The industry is ready: ample programmable block space, increasingly mature development tools, and chain abstraction are beginning to enable more people to participate in crypto design. Most technical end users don't care what language a product is written in, only how to use it every day. In crypto, this will start to be the case, too.
—Mason Hall
@0xMasonH on Twitter | @mason on Farcaster
11. “Hidden Wires” Help Birth of Web3 Killer Applications
Blockchain’s technological advantages are what make it unique, but they also hinder its mainstream adoption. For creators and fans, blockchain unlocks possibilities for connection, ownership, and monetization… However, industry-wide terminology (such as “ NFTs ,” “zkRollups,” etc.) and complex designs create barriers for those who can benefit most from these technologies . I felt this most deeply when discussing Web3 with executives in the media, music, and fashion industries.
Many consumer technologies follow a similar path to adoption: the technology started; a few iconic companies or designers abstracted away the complexity; and that shift helped unlock some groundbreaking applications. Think of the origins of email, where the SMTP protocol was hidden by the “Send” button; or credit cards, where most users today don’t care how payment channels work. Similarly, Spotify didn’t revolutionize music by showing off a file format, but by delivering playlists of songs to our fingertips. As Nassim Taleb said, “Overengineering leads to brittleness. Simplicity scales better.”
Therefore, I think our industry will adopt this philosophy in 2025: “Hide the wires”. The best decentralized applications are already focusing on more intuitive interface design, making operation as simple as tapping a screen or swiping a card. In 2025, we will see more companies adopting simple design and clear messaging; successful products don’t need explanations, they just solve problems.
—Chris Lyons
@chrislyons on Twitter | on Farcaster
12. The crypto industry finally has its own app store and discovery platform
When crypto apps were blocked by centralized platforms like Apple’s App Store or Google Play, it limited their potential for user acquisition. But now, we’re seeing new app stores and marketplaces offering this distribution and discovery opportunity without any restrictions. For example, Worldcoin’s World App marketplace not only stores proof of identity, but also allows access to “mini-apps,” attracting hundreds of thousands of users to multiple apps in just a few days. Another example is the fee-free dApp store for Solana mobile users. Both examples also show how hardware, not just software — phones, spherical devices — can be the key advantage of crypto app stores, just as Apple devices were once key to early app ecosystems.
Meanwhile, there are other stores offering thousands of decentralized applications and Web3 development tools in popular blockchain ecosystems (e.g. Alchemy), as well as blockchains acting as publishers and distributors of games (e.g. Ronin). However, not everything is going smoothly: if a product already has distribution channels on other platforms - such as messaging apps - it is difficult to migrate it to the blockchain (exception: Telegram/TON network). The same is true for apps that have significant Web2 distribution channels. But we may see more of these migrations happening in 2025.
—Maggie Xu
@meigga on Twitter | @maggiehsu on Farcaster
Cryptocurrency holders turn into cryptocurrency users
In 2024, cryptocurrencies have made significant progress as a political movement, with key policymakers and politicians expressing positive views of the technology . Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies continue to grow as a financial movement (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs expand investor access). By 2025, cryptocurrencies should further develop into a computing movement. But where will the next wave of users come from?
I believe now is the time to reactivate the current “passive” cryptocurrency holders and convert them into more active users, as only 5-10% of cryptocurrency holders are actively using cryptocurrency. We can bring the 617 million people who already own cryptocurrency into the blockchain world - especially as blockchain infrastructure continues to improve and transaction fees decrease. This means new applications will begin to serve existing and new users. At the same time, the early applications we have already seen - covering areas such as stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, games, social, decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and prediction markets - are also starting to become more accessible to mainstream users as the community focuses more on user experience and other improvements.
—Darren Matsuoka
@darenmatsuoka on Twitter | on Farcaster
13. Various industries may begin to tokenize “unconventional” assets
As the infrastructure of the crypto industry continues to mature and other emerging technologies develop, the practice of tokenized assets will penetrate widely into various industries. This will make it possible for assets that were previously inaccessible due to high costs or were not considered valuable to not only achieve liquidity, but more importantly, to participate in the global economy. Artificial intelligence engines can also process this information as a unique data set.
Just as fracking unlocked oil reserves once thought untouchable, the tokenization of unconventional assets could redefine income generation in the digital age. Scenarios that seemed sci-fi have become more possible: individuals could tokenize their biometric data, for example; then lease that information to companies through smart contracts. We’ve already seen some early examples, like Decentralized Science (DeSci), which is using blockchain technology to bring more ownership, transparency, and consent mechanisms to medical data collection. We’ve yet to see how this future unfolds, but these developments will allow people to tap into previously untapped assets in a decentralized way — rather than relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provide them with these resources.
—Aaron Schneider
@aaronschnider on Twitter
Note: The views below are personal opinions and do not represent the views of a16z or its affiliates. The information in this article comes from third-party sources. a16z has not independently verified this information and does not guarantee its accuracy. The content is for reference only and does not constitute legal, investment or tax advice. Investment decisions should be made in consultation with professional advisors, and past performance cannot predict future results.
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