These are the tokens Grayscale thinks could have a strong first quarter of 2025
The asset manager added tokens such as HYPE, VIRTUAL, ENA and JITO to its top 20 tokens.
These are the tokens Grayscale thinks could have a strong first quarter of 2025
NEWS
Grayscale has added several artificial intelligence platforms and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to its list of top 20 tokens to watch in Q1 2025, the asset manager said in a research note on Dec. 30.
The Q1 2025 watchlist, which Grayscale updates quarterly, now includes Hyperliquid (HYPE), Ethena
THIS
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0,9531 €
, Virtual (VIRTUAL), Jupiter
Jupp
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0,7927 €
, Jito
UN
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3,31 €
y Grass (GRASS)
Each new addition benefits from one of three industry trends: a more favorable regulatory environment in the United States, advancements in decentralized artificial intelligence, or the growth of the Solana ecosystem, Grayscale noted.
Virtuals and Grass are AI platforms, Hyperliquid is a high-throughput Layer 1 (L1) network, and Ethena, Jupiter, and Jito are DeFi applications. Jupiter and Jito are native to Solana.
Source: Grayscale
“In addition to new themes […] we remain excited about themes from previous quarters such as Ethereum scaling solutions, tokenization, and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN),” Grayscale noted.
These themes are represented by the continued inclusion of Optimism, Chainlink and Helium, respectively, he noted.
Grayscale mentioned that smart contract platforms, such as Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and $SUI , “may be the most competitive market segment in the digital asset industry.”
The proliferation of alternative Layer 1 (L1) blockchain networks partially explains why ETH underperformed its peers in 2024, Grayscale added.
Source: Grayscale
Industry trends
Cryptocurrencies have seen huge gains following Donald Trump's election victory as many claim his win will benefit the industry, according to Cointelegraph Research.
Trump has promised to appoint industry-friendly leaders to key regulatory agencies and turn the United States into “the cryptocurrency capital of the world.”
DeFi will benefit, with staking, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and agentic artificial intelligence (AI) catalyzing adoption, industry executives told Cointelegraph in December.
“In the US, with [President-elect Donald] Trump’s victory, I am aggressively bullish on the country becoming a global leader in this space by the end of the year,” said Raj Brahmbhatt, CEO of settlement firm Web3 Zeebu.
This is particularly true for DeFi applications on Solana, whose total sum of value locked (TVL) has increased from roughly $1.5 billion in January to nearly $8.5 billion in December, according to data from DefiLlama.
Jito, a $SOL staking pool, recorded monthly revenue of over $100 million in November and December from priority fees and tips.
Meanwhile, “AI agents are expected to take on a more prominent role within decentralized communities,” J.D. Seraphine, CEO of Web3 AI developer Raiinmaker, told Cointelegraph.
Cryptocurrency staking and on-chain trading will emerge as initial AI use cases, the executives noted.
