Blockchain Researcher Investment Outlook for the Crypto Market in 2025

Steve: The decline of Ethereum's dominance, focusing on market-validated products

Portfolio: Sui, Injective, Jito, Ethena, Azuki, Rootlets, Kumo

Competition among smart contract platforms intensifies

The market share of Ethereum is expected to drop to around 30%. The influx of new users will bring diversified demands that Ethereum cannot meet for all groups. Other public chains such as Sui, Solana, and Injective will gain more attention due to their respective advantages. In the field of smart contract platforms, it is difficult to form a winner-takes-all scenario, and competition will remain intense.

Focus on innovation in verified tracks

Exchanges, stablecoins, and public chains are three foundational tracks that still have room for development. Projects like Ethena are creating new demand in the stablecoin sector through differentiated models. Performing technological iterations in already validated tracks is also highly valuable.

A true community needs to experience together.

Most projects tout "serving the community," but often regard the community as a liquidity outlet. A true community needs to foster a sense of belonging through shared experiences beyond economic incentives. Projects like Azuki have built a solid community foundation by overcoming challenges. Projects with such a community foundation will perform exceptionally well.

Jay: Focus on projects that promote large-scale adoption

Portfolio: Solana, Sui, Jito, Ondo Finance, Ethena, Send, SOON Girl, MadLads, Kumo, SOON

The virtual machine outside of EVM is poised for action.

2024 is a crucial turning point for the development of non-EVM ecosystems. Chains like Solana are demonstrating performance that surpasses the Ethereum ecosystem in DeFi and consumer applications. More and more ecosystems are gradually breaking away from the EVM framework to build customized ecosystems. Non-EVM infrastructure and its combination innovations will usher in broader development space.

Focus on RWA projects that emphasize the collaboration between Web2 and Web3

Tokenization is the greatest value of Blockchain. Projects like Ondo Finance create value for two types of investors by building cooperative relationships across Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. Projects that deeply understand the characteristics of off-chain and on-chain domains and achieve organic expansion and collaborative innovation will receive more attention.

projects that create substantial value for the community are more attractive.

Projects like Hyperliquid demonstrate the importance of community-friendly initiatives. True community-friendly projects can provide economic benefits and cultural identity for the community. Projects like Legion and Echo adopt carefully designed community strategies to gain significant attention during their launch phase.

Heechang: DeFi is in long-term development.

Portfolio: Ethena, LayerZero, Morpho, Ondo Finance, Uniswap

The "money legos" of DeFi are being built up larger.

The composability of DeFi allows different protocols to be combined to build more complex financial products. The collaboration between Morpho, MakerDAO, Spark, and Ethena demonstrates the potential of DeFi composability to foster innovation in financial instruments. The composability among mature DeFi protocols will accelerate development.

The DeFi infrastructure is rapidly developing.

Projects like Uniswap are launching their own infrastructure to address issues such as execution quality and user experience. Projects like Ethena and LayerZero are expected to capture more value. DeFi protocols are expanding their infrastructure by building their own Rollups or deploying to multiple chains.

The integration of DeFi and traditional finance is deepening

Financial technology companies and traditional financial institutions are actively exploring the crypto ecosystem. Projects like Ondo Finance closely collaborate with financial institutions to provide a wider range of yield channels for on-chain users. The integration of DeFi and traditional finance will continue to accelerate.

Ingeun: Blockchain infrastructure poised to emerge beyond Bitcoin

Portfolio: Ethereum, Solana, Ethena, Mantle, EigenLayer, Puffer Finance, Zircuit, EtherFi

Ethereum and Solana as key infrastructure chains

Despite facing challenges, Ethereum remains in a leading position and may see a rebound. Solana maintains its lead at the forefront of technology and the market by prioritizing performance and user-friendliness. Both will continue to serve as key infrastructure chains in the blockchain ecosystem.

Restaking ecosystem continues to grow

The Restaking market will achieve significant growth in 2024, and in 2025, it will welcome "more participants" and "expansion to other L1 chains." The competition among Restaking providers within the Ethereum ecosystem will intensify, and chains like Bitcoin and Solana will also become focal points for Restaking expansion.

Emerging Blockchain projects worth watching

Ethena stands out among dollar stablecoins with its unique high-yield strategy and stability. Mantle is rapidly developing through technological innovation, ecological expansion, and user incentive programs. These projects are expected to maintain their growth momentum into 2025.

Eren: New Role in On-Chain Market and AI Agent Trend Leading Development Direction

Portfolio: Virtuals Protocol, Axal, Tetsuo, Redacted Research and Development

On-chain small market cap trading has become a catalyst for capital inflow.

Trading small and medium market cap assets on-chain will become a powerful catalyst for attracting scattered funds. The proportion of DEX trading volume is expected to continue increasing, and new narratives suitable for creating small and medium market cap assets may continue to emerge. The project construction method that integrates the financing process will become mainstream.

The Struggle for Survival of AI Agents in the Wave

The AI Agent projects that can survive will be those that go beyond technological imagination, possess novel ideas, and have practical value. The combination of DeFi and AI Agents is considered the most reasonable development path. The applications of AI Agents in autonomous portfolio management, user experience improvement, and automated trading will become key use cases.

Ponyo: AI, DeFi, Hyperliquid Leading the Trends

Portfolio: Pudgy Penguins, Ethena, FARM, MIZUKI

DeFi Revival: Fee Switch Model Activation

Driven by the improvement of the regulatory environment, multiple DeFi protocols are actively considering the implementation of a fee switch model. This marks a new stage in the revival of DeFi, prioritizing sustainable models, continuous revenue generation, and the revaluation of DeFi tokens.

Hyperliquid drives the revival of airdrops and ICOs

The success of Hyperliquid has set a new standard for future Web3 projects. The revival of community financing models seems inevitable. Airdrop models are expected to make a comeback and may become one of the defining themes of 2025. The principles of fairness, transparency, and product prioritization will influence the development direction of the new generation of projects.