Although it took a long time, Bitcoin finally broke the $100,000 mark, reaching a target predicted by countless people. If you want, you can pop the champagne to celebrate. However, I feel this is just the beginning; bigger events will follow. I firmly believe that 2025 will be the long-awaited year of decentralization.
The skyrocketing valuation of Bitcoin is not actually the most critical reason. Over the past year, anyone paying attention to decentralized technology has seen a surge of new use cases. While some may seem odd, some are quite cool, and others even have the potential to solve some of today’s major societal challenges.
These new projects not only bring decentralized applications into a substantive phase, rather than just empty talk, but also provide more reasons for people to join decentralization in 2025.
Buckle up, here are my top five predictions for the coming year.
1. Bitcoin might soar even higher.
Every December, people speculate on how high Bitcoin's price will go, but stop just listening to those who say Bitcoin will rise to $250,000 or $500,000. We can boldly imagine a more radical possibility: Bitcoin becoming the foundation of global strategic reserves.
This idea has a strong support base. If a major power (or an unexpected small country) officially includes Bitcoin in its treasury reserves, the current price predictions could be overturned. We might no longer just be talking about $500,000, but $1 million or even higher becoming the new norm as countries compete for the world's rarest digital asset.
Even without the influence of geopolitical factors, the scarcity of Bitcoin itself gives it a unique value. After all, the total amount of Bitcoin is fixed at 21 million, far fewer than the 60 million millionaires worldwide. As institutions and even governments buy up Bitcoin reserves in large quantities, the number of people wanting to own a Bitcoin will dwindle unless they invest early.
More importantly, the utility of Bitcoin as a decentralized network and its role as a substitute for unstable fiat currencies is continuously strengthening, and we might witness its exponential growth.
However, the question is: if Bitcoin's price is no longer determined solely by market supply and demand but is influenced by countries vying for dominance in digital currencies, what kind of situation will arise? This is the crux of the issue. Because some countries have already begun trialing Bitcoin fiscal plans, $500,000 may only be the starting point.
2. 'Depinners' become overnight millionaires.
When it comes to cryptocurrency, the industry often struggles to express its vision to the outside world; slogans like 'financial sovereignty' mean absolutely nothing to ordinary people unless their bank accounts are frozen.
But what if we look at it from a different angle? Decentralization might allow you to earn money without doing anything. It may sound unbelievable, but in fact, there is already a group of people called 'Depinners' who earn passive income using their computer resources, like mobile device processors. By contributing to decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), they are able to generate income.
DePIN represents how decentralization is changing the concept of 'ownership' and transferring the power to make money to ordinary people. Moreover, this concept is giving rise to many brand new use cases, from solving noise pollution to energy management to natural disaster warnings, etc.; the potential of DePIN is almost limitless. By 2025, early adopters might achieve passive incomes similar to 5% of ordinary people's earnings, and all of this with almost no effort.
3. Memecoins become more 'serious'.
I predict that by 2025, there will still be some 'serious' financial commentators who believe meme coins are just internet jokes, but their views will seem increasingly ridiculous.
On the surface, memecoins do seem like a joke. However, if you ignore them, you might miss a significant trend: memecoins are rapidly growing, far exceeding their initial humorous purposes.
Today, the value of these tokens comes more from their ability to bring people together, driving various activities from entertainment to politics and beyond.
In fact, memecoins may teach us a lot about decentralization and community building.
By 2025, brands will gradually realize the immense potential of memecoins; they can attract new audiences, foster new communities, and redefine the relationship between businesses and consumers. Memecoins can definitely make money, but in the long run, their value to forward-thinking brands will far exceed the price of the tokens themselves.
4. TIME magazine's Person of the Year could be a robot.
I predict that by 2025, TIME magazine's Person of the Year... may no longer be a person but a robot. In its 98-year history, this will be the first time the award is given to what I call 'Mrs. Humanoid', a composite role representing the integration of AI and robotics into human society.
This humanoid robot, also known as a 'gynoid', will represent the immense impact of AI and robotics in fields like healthcare and education and showcase machines' abilities in blurring the boundaries between human and machine labor. In the past, TIME magazine has also selected some controversial figures, but I believe that not featuring a robot on the cover would be irresponsible.
With the rise of robots, a global discussion about the ethics of artificial intelligence, privacy, ways of working, and the redefinition of human identity will unfold. Many changes are positive, but there are also moral gray areas, and there could even be some worrying scenarios. Therefore, how to address these challenges and seize opportunities by developing new regulatory frameworks will be one of the most important issues of this century. Putting Mrs. Humanoid on the cover is undoubtedly an important step in advancing this topic.
5. Traditional search replaced by AI.
In 2024, perhaps it will be our last time searching for information through Google? With the proliferation of generative AI applications, everything might change.
Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity represent the biggest change in the search field since the birth of Google. They not only provide more accurate results but also fundamentally change the nature of search.
These AI applications have passed the Turing test and can engage in conversations with humans on a wide range of topics from cooking to philosophy. This marks a fundamental change in our relationship with technology, and traditional search engines (like Google, which is almost monopolistic) are likely to become quite outdated.
Just like brands competed for Google search rankings after the internet emerged, by 2025, businesses will begin exploring how to remain competitive in an AI-driven search era.
One of the biggest changes could be that websites will gradually cater to AI rather than human users. By 2025, domain names will carry new significant meanings, and successful brands will be able to utilize on-chain domains to protect consumer data, integrate AI functionalities, and provide revolutionary online experiences.
Whether these predictions are entirely accurate or not, one thing is certain: as we move toward 2025, decentralization will no longer be an unattainable future, but an integral part of each of our lives.
