Author | Wu Says Blockchain
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1. Prediction markets accurately judge the outcome of the 2024 U.S. election.
In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the decentralized prediction market platform once again demonstrated its outstanding foresight, successfully predicting the final result through the wisdom of market participants. Even before voting day, the trading volume of market contracts supporting Trump's victory saw a significant increase, with predicted probabilities reaching as high as 75%, far exceeding the statistics from traditional polling agencies. This success not only showcases the potential of prediction markets but also provides the public with a more transparent and dynamic reference for public opinion trends. With the gradual improvement of the regulatory framework, prediction markets are expected to become an important tool for global decision support in the future, providing forward-looking data insights across multiple fields.
2. Ethena launches a new type of stablecoin.
In 2024, Ethena announced the launch of its proprietary stablecoin, with core advantages in its innovative dual-asset model and dynamic collateral mechanism. Unlike the common fiat-pegged stablecoins on the market, Ethena's stablecoin uses various crypto assets (such as ETH, stETH, etc.) as collateral, and employs smart contracts to dynamically adjust collateral rates, ensuring price stability while improving capital utilization efficiency. Additionally, the platform has introduced a 'self-balancing algorithm' that automates the clearing risk and reduces the impact of market volatility on users.
Ethena's stablecoin not only achieves complete on-chain transparent operations but also enhances community participation and trust through a decentralized governance system that allows token holders to participate in decision-making processes. As of the time of writing, the circulating supply of Ethena's stablecoin has exceeded 5.9 billion USD, quickly becoming an important part of the DeFi sector, with application scenarios covering liquidity mining, payments, and cross-chain transfers across multiple fields.
3. FriendTech: From rapid rise to gradual cooling.
In 2024, the crypto social platform FriendTech experienced a dramatic cycle, from rapid rise to a decline in popularity, becoming one of the most discussed topics in the crypto space this year.
FriendTech launched its v2 version and introduced its token at the beginning of the year, quickly attracting a large number of users. The platform allows users to 'tokenize' their social relationships, where fans can purchase 'social shares' of specific users to gain exclusive interaction privileges. The star effect and influencer economy have enabled FriendTech to attract millions of users in a short period.
However, as market enthusiasm gradually wanes, FriendTech's model has also revealed some issues. Firstly, the high volatility and speculation have led many users to view social tokens as short-term profit tools rather than long-term community bonds. Secondly, the manipulation of social share prices by some top users and the high controversy over platform fees have sparked user dissatisfaction. Since mid-year, FriendTech's user growth has stagnated, and the number of daily active users has sharply declined. As of the time of writing, the total locked value of the protocol has fallen below 4 million USD.
4. PumpFun leads the MEME coin craze.
In 2024, as the MEME coin market continues to heat up, the decentralized platform PumpFun quickly emerged as a leader in the MEME coin launch field thanks to its unique advantages. Its platform supports developers in conveniently and efficiently creating and promoting MEME coins while providing investors with a safe and reliable trading environment.
PumpFun's core competitiveness lies in its rapid launch tools and community support mechanisms. Developers can quickly deploy tokens through PumpFun without complex technical backgrounds, and attract attention with built-in social interaction features, greatly shortening the time from idea to market for MEME coins. At the same time, the platform has introduced smart liquidity management and anti-malicious mechanisms, effectively reducing the risks of market manipulation and scams, and winning user trust.
As of November 7, the statistics show that Pumpfun's total revenue reached 1.14 million SOL, approximately 212 million USD, having sold 672,243 SOL at an average price of 160.5 USD, totaling about 108 million USD.
5. Hyperliquid emerges as a new force in decentralized derivatives.
In 2024, the decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid officially launched, quickly attracting market attention with its outstanding performance and innovative trading experience. On December 6, Hyperliquid's daily trading volume reached 6.23 billion USD, setting a new historical high. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid's daily clearing volume reached 177 million USD, the third-highest single day in history. As of December 9, the estimated total fee revenue for Hyperliquid from the beginning of the year could reach up to 99.41 million USD. HYPE FDV even reached hundreds of billions of dollars in the short term, but it also faced doubts regarding single-chain and control issues.
6. After the sudden popularity of TON mini-games, the decline followed. Telegram's founder was arrested.
TON mini-games suddenly became popular in mid-2024, represented by NOTCOIN DOGE Hamster, attracting hundreds of millions of third-world users globally. Governments of countries like Iran even criticized TON mini-games for polluting the minds of their citizens. The TON ecosystem also began to develop rapidly, especially with its collaboration with USDT garnering widespread attention. However, with the arrest of Telegram's founder in France, the TON ecosystem seemed to enter a downturn.
7. PENDLE's innovative design drives the development of the interest rate swap market.
In 2024, the crypto finance project PENDLE achieved significant breakthroughs in the decentralized finance (DeFi) field with its unique interest rate swap design. Its platform decomposes yield assets into underlying assets and future income rights through a Time Decoupling mechanism, bringing new flexibility and liquidity to the interest rate trading market.
PENDLE's core advantage lies in its yield tokenization model. Users can split yield assets (like staking rewards from staked ETH or liquidity pool returns) into spot returns and future returns on the platform, and trade freely in the secondary market. This innovation significantly lowers the entry threshold for interest rate markets, allowing individuals and institutions to more efficiently hedge risks or implement yield optimization strategies.
By the end of 2024, PENDLE's total locked value (TVL) exceeded 4.3 billion USD, becoming one of the fastest-growing projects in the DeFi sector. At the same time, the platform's 'liquidity mining' program and 'dynamic fee adjustment' mechanism further attracted a large number of users.
8. EigenLayer leads a new revolution in the restaking track.
In 2024, the innovative crypto project EigenLayer officially launched, creating a new track for 'restaking,' providing breakthrough solutions for capital efficiency and security in the blockchain ecosystem. With its cutting-edge technology and strong community support, EigenLayer quickly stood out in the decentralized finance (DeFi) field, becoming the preferred infrastructure for many emerging projects.
EigenLayer's core innovation lies in its Restaking Protocol, which allows users to reuse existing staked assets (like staked ETH) for security guarantees across multiple networks. This model not only improves capital utilization efficiency but also provides more convenient security services for new projects while reducing reliance on a single native token.
As of the time of writing, EigenLayer's total locked value (TVL) exceeded 15.2 billion USD, making it the third-largest protocol on Ethereum. Several well-known protocols, including Layer 2 solutions, data availability networks, and oracle projects, have announced integration with EigenLayer, using it as an important tool for security and liquidity optimization.
9. The Optimism Superchain ecosystem expands to exchanges and large enterprises.
In 2024, Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism made significant progress, with its 'Superchain' ecosystem welcoming more top global exchanges and enterprises, further consolidating its leading position in the blockchain industry.
The Superchain is a modular architecture proposed by Optimism, aiming to achieve more efficient scaling and stronger interoperability through interconnected Layer 2 chains. As of this year, many leading exchanges and well-known companies, including Coinbase, Kraken, Sony, and Worldcoin, have announced their participation in the Superchain, optimizing on-chain services using its low-cost, high-throughput characteristics.
10. AI-agent + Crypto sparks a heated wave.
Although discussions around Crypto+AI have been ongoing for a long time, AI-agent suddenly stood out and received widespread attention. By the end of 2024, the crypto circle was ignited by AI-agent, leading to an unprecedented boom, becoming the hottest topic in the crypto space. Many popular tokens themed around AI-agent have emerged. The Virtualprotocol on Base chain aims to become an AI factory for games and the metaverse, allowing for easy deployment of AI-agents and revenue sharing. AI agents like Clanker have demonstrated their potential through practical applications.
