Author: 0xNairolf, Crypto Kol
Original content compiled by: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor’s note: This article looks ahead to key trends in the crypto space for 2025, including the rise of altVMs and Chain abstraction technology, driving cross-chain transactions and a more seamless user experience. The next generation of L1 platforms and Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) will continue to evolve, and AI technology, particularly AI agents, will play an important role in more applications. Meanwhile, projects like pendle fi and nillionnetwork will also achieve new breakthroughs, injecting new vitality into the crypto market.
The following is the original content (reorganized for readability):
What I most look forward to developing in 2025 is:
altVMs
altVMs performed excellently this year. The fuel network has successfully launched on the mainnet, the cartesiproject continues to advance, and MoveVM has gained some adoption with the support of Aptos, SuiNetwork, and movementlabsxyz. 2025 could be a year of promise for altVMs, bringing the next wave of on-chain applications.
fluentxyz and its hybrid execution approach will play a key role in this field. By merging EVM, SVM, and Wasm into a single execution environment, Fluent may become the preferred solution for developers seeking the most complete and flexible way to build applications. The coolest part? This design is scalable, meaning any virtual machine can be added; it could eventually become the 'final BOSS' of virtual machines.
Chain abstraction
Chain abstraction will shine in 2024. Initially, it was just a rough idea: to create a user experience such that even with hundreds of chains working together, users can operate as smoothly as if using a single chain. No more switching wallets, managing multiple gas tokens, or worst of all—cross-chain bridges.
The UniversalX launched by ParticleNtwrk allows you to trade any token on any chain through a single interface, feeling just like Binance, but many new products will emerge on-chain, and more importantly, many existing projects will start using these solutions. This narrative is worth watching, showcasing real collaboration between EverclearOrg, SOCKETProtocol, NEARProtocol, as well as sedaprotocol and routescan io. 2025 will be a year of introducing users to these new solutions.
L1 s
A year in crypto wouldn't be as interesting without a new L1. Sui and Aptos are clearly the stars of this field in 2024. What about 2025? We have a lot to look forward to. monad xyz, berachain, and Hyperliquid X could become the 'Holy Trinity'. Hyperliquid's HyperEVM release is worth paying attention to, especially with the recent hype surrounding Hyperliquid. How the entire Hyperliquid ecosystem connects with exchanges will be an exciting highlight.
RaaS
Why is this a less discussed narrative? It may be because it is a boring industry, but looking back, boring industries often turn out to be the most interesting. In 2024, Rollups and L2 have been hot topics in the crypto space, spoiler alert: this trend won't change anytime soon. With inkonchain and AbstractChain launching in the coming months, the debate around L2 will continue, but one thing is clear: L2 will become increasingly prevalent.
Whether general-purpose or application-specific, the numbers themselves say it all. Rollup-as-a-Service platforms like Calderaxyz have already launched around 100 chains this year, providing countless integrations and customizations from day one. conduitxyz and alt layer are also following the same pattern. The demand for RaaS providers is hard to ignore.
AI
According to data from kaitoai, AI captured over 40% of attention this year, which is just crazy. My intuition is that this is just the beginning. The Eliza GitHub repository of ai16 zdao has been one of the most followed projects in the past few months. Could this be a way to bring new developers into the crypto space? Time will tell, but it certainly looks like an interesting Trojan Horse.
We have already seen the first practical use case of the aixbt agent, built by virtuals io, which has gained significant attention in the CT community while providing very accurate information. Will our future revolve around the idea of reading AI agents? Who knows, but in 2025, more AI agents will take on tasks previously done by humans.
Other mentioned projects:
pendle fi continues to grow exponentially and can now be considered a DeFi OG. Will it reach $10B TVL in 2025?
kaitoai leads the vanguard of InfoFi, what will the future look like? Perhaps next year will give us the answer.
Polymer Labs will become a strong competitor in the interoperability space, and I believe this is an important topic for 2025.
OndoFinance is bringing big players on-chain, RWA and tokenization will continue to exist, but they haven't broken through yet.
Will 2025 be a year of more friendly regulation?
The mainnet of nillionnetwork is planned to launch in February. With increasing attention on privacy issues, this could be a significant breakthrough. An added bonus? It could trigger a new wave of on-chain applications.
See you in 2025
