The year 2024 was significant for the cryptocurrency market. In the lead-up to the new year, participants in the crypto community are actively sharing opinions about what awaits the digital asset industry in the next 12 months.
Analysts from the global investment division of the HTX crypto exchange — HTX Ventures — highlighted five key sectors in a recent report that showed significant results this year and will continue to grow next year.
Bitcoin Ecosystem
HTX Ventures experts highlighted Bitcoin's successes in 2024. One of the most significant events was the launch of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on BTC in the USA. These funds currently hold 5.3% of the total supply of the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
The emergence of financial instruments such as Bitcoin ETFs has become a huge breakthrough in the institutional acceptance of digital assets. More and more major institutions from the traditional financial world are paying attention to BTC and considering it as a liquid asset.
It is expected that after the inauguration on January 20, 2025, the elected U.S. President Donald Trump will revoke SEC Staff Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121). In this case, traditional financial companies (TradFi) will be able to legally hold cryptocurrency in their reserves.
HTX Ventures noted that to enhance capital efficiency and scalability, it is essential for the Bitcoin ecosystem to develop second-layer (L2) solutions similar to those available on Ethereum.
Crypto Infrastructure
Analysts named crypto infrastructure as a key investment sector in 2024. Significant progress was observed in first and second-level projects, as well as middleware. This was facilitated by the emergence of new technologies and an influx of capital.
First and foremost, the Ethereum ecosystem improved the performance of L2 networks by reducing gas fees and increasing user activity. At the same time, first-level blockchains like Solana and TRON recorded rapid growth in on-chain transactions against the backdrop of excitement around meme coins. Innovations in infrastructure — platforms like Pump.fun and SunPump — also played a huge role in this.
In 2024, compatibility between blockchain networks improved significantly. Success was achieved by modular networks Celestia and Monad, which attracted a variety of decentralized applications (dApps) to their ecosystems due to flexibility and scalability.
To enhance network security and capital efficiency, restaking protocols, which became quite popular this past year, also emerged.
Looking to the future, HTX Ventures experts believe that crypto infrastructure is the foundation of cryptocurrency evolution. In their view, L1 blockchains will remain at the center of technical development in 2025 and will continue to receive significant investments.
"L1 is now one of the most important areas of technical development and research in the crypto space. It is expected that first-level blockchains will remain a key sector for resources and investments in the future," the report states.
What awaits meme coins
The venture division of HTX emphasized that the meme coin sector demonstrated 'explosive' results in 2024. This area of the crypto market offered new ways to strengthen community consensus and integrate with fields such as DeFi and GameFi.
The excitement around 'meme' coins has breathed new energy into ecosystems like Solana and Tron.
The leading tools for launching meme coins were the platforms Pump.fun and SunPump. They significantly reduced the costs of creating such tokens, increased market and community confidence in 'meme' coins, and boosted user engagement. That is why meme coin projects remained popular throughout the year.
Given that conditions in the crypto market are likely to improve, HTX Ventures expects increased activity in the meme coin sector from retail investors. They state that 'meme' tokens may become the most accessible entry points into the crypto market.
"Meme coin projects may become more diverse and practical in the future; perhaps their infrastructure will offer more functional capabilities, including features tailored to specific use cases such as gaming, NFTs, and social networks. As multi-chain ecosystems mature and real use cases expand, the infrastructure of meme coins will continue to bring more life to this sector," said the HTX report.
The Merger of Cryptocurrencies and AI
The impact of digital assets and artificial intelligence (AI) began this year and became one of the most discussed topics. Areas such as ZK/OPML, decentralized computing, AI data trading, and neural network-based gaming gained significant popularity. However, AI agents stood out particularly.
According to experts at HTX Ventures, AI agents can become fully-fledged personal assistants capable of independently managing assets, executing viral marketing campaigns, and forming DAOs. Over time, they may even develop unique cultures and behavioral ecosystems that cannot be achieved in traditional Web2 systems.
TON Ecosystem and the Potential of Telegram
In 2024, the ecosystem of The Open Network (TON) experienced a real boom. Projects based on the new tap-to-earn model ('play and earn') attracted millions of Web2 users by connecting traditional gaming and cryptocurrencies. HTX Ventures analysts particularly highlighted projects like Notcoin and Catizen.
However, they stated that in 2025, TON will need to explore new business models to retain users and find the next growth cycle.