The New Year is approaching. In the last week of 2024, Foresight News will use a series of must-read articles at the end of the year to take everyone back to 2024 and look forward to 2025. See the past to know the future.
Written by: Foresight News Editorial Department
2024 is coming to an end. This is the year of the rebirth of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has reached the historical mark of $100,000, and cryptocurrency has demonstrated its power on the political stage. In 2024, we have witnessed many moments worth recording in the history of blockchain. 2025 is coming with the triumphant bull market, and the crypto industry may usher in a year of great explosion.
This is a new cycle that excites us. The editorial team of Foresight News also gathered together to reflect on the past and look to the future. We asked all editors and reporters of Foresight News three questions: 1. What is the biggest change you have seen in the crypto world over the past year? 2. What is the crypto sector you are most optimistic about in the coming year? 3. Predict what the price of Bitcoin will be by the end of 2025. The text content of the editorial team's responses will be summarized below.
Additionally, the editors and reporters of Foresight News have disclosed their cryptocurrency holdings (only for public content, not constituting any investment advice), and the reasons for their holdings and outlook are detailed below.
Foresight News editorial team cryptocurrency holdings disclosure, only listing tokens with a value greater than $2,000.
Reflecting on the past, looking to the future.
1. As 2024 is about to end, what is the biggest change you have seen in the crypto world this year?
1912212.eth: The most significant change I can see is that Bitcoin has finally taken center stage in the global financial system, and after Trump's election as the new president, more and more favorable policies are leaning towards the crypto market. Although crypto technology itself hasn’t seen innovations like the DeFi boom in the last cycle, it doesn’t prevent market prices from rising.
Alex Liu: The most significant change is that the number of people holding Bitcoin is decreasing, and everyone's Bitcoin holdings are shrinking, with fewer and fewer people outperforming Bitcoin.
Joe: The explosion of AI Agents.
Karen: Bitcoin entering the global capital market, along with the explosion of meme, AI agents, and prediction markets.
Shaofaye123: The process of compliance is progressing, large-scale adoption of Web2 is developing gradually, and Web3 is becoming a testing ground for emerging technologies. However, the issues with real application scenarios still need urgent resolution.
Luffy: The most obvious change is that cryptocurrencies are starting to take the political stage, with the listing of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in the U.S. It can be said that the past year has been a key year for the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies. The last bull market was termed an institutional bull, while this round should be called a policy bull.
Yobo: Higher acceptance and more diversity. It may not be real mass adoption, but it is indeed increasingly influencing more people due to various factors.
Pzai: AI is pouring into this cyber world.
Anderson Sima: The change in regulatory wind, the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, and Trump’s return have reversed the high-pressure regulatory environment that lasted nearly two years. So far in this cycle, there has been no new technological breakthrough; it is essentially the change in regulatory winds that has brought in new funds.
Chandler: The overall feeling from this round is that the sense of 'tear' is becoming increasingly obvious. The behavior paths of large funds and retail investors almost run parallel, even completely disconnected. On one hand, institutions are madly increasing their Bitcoin holdings, treating it as the core of asset allocation; on the other hand, the 'carnival' of popular funds in the market is concentrated in the meme sector. Meanwhile, narratives in other sectors seem more like a form of 'self-entertainment,' making it hard to form enough external capital attention or leverage a larger user base. Institutions are not buying in, and retail investors are not stepping up, resulting in many narratives lacking the support of market consensus.
Nicky: The biggest change I noticed in 2024 is that as Bitcoin becomes more institutionalized, the difficulty of trading in the market has risen sharply and continues to intensify, leading to a surge in the meme sector.
angelilu: The biggest change in 2024 is the large-scale entry of institutional funds and the shift in the U.S. government's regulation of the crypto space, which has made Bitcoin more mainstream, with friends from outside the circle beginning to actively learn about Bitcoin. For ordinary users, it all started with memes during the Spring Festival, and I didn't expect memes to be popular for a whole year, often drifting among various meme narratives like searching for gossip clues.
2. In the coming year, what is the crypto sector you are most optimistic about?
1912212.eth: Over the next year, the combination of AI and Crypto remains my top pick, as AI is full of infinite imagination, and the sparks that can collide with Crypto will definitely be a market focus and a hot topic of speculation.
Alex Liu: High-performance public chains + DeFi. In each cycle, new public chains are one of the 'main characters,' while DeFi is the core use case of blockchain.
Joe: AI Agent.
Karen: AI Agent, Ethereum, NFT, RWA + DeFi, real-time public chains.
Shaofaye123: AI, RWA, PayFi.
Luffy: In 2025, I am optimistic about AIFI (AI + DeFi). Although AI is currently popular, after the hype, it must return to practical utility, or it may fall into a similar predicament as the metaverse. The combination of AI and Crypto, from what I see now, DeFi is the best testing ground.
Yobo: DeFi, chain abstraction.
Pzai: AI Agents, new public chain ecosystems.
Anderson Sima: AI + Web3. This year, I was impressed by the failure of AI agents to independently issue coins and the failure of the AI protection prize pool. AI large models have become an indispensable tool in my daily life. How to combine AI with Web3 is extremely imaginative and will yield unpredictable advances for humanity, which I am very much looking forward to.
Chandler: In the coming year, I am most optimistic about the Bitcoin ecosystem and the tokenization of RWA (real-world assets). The expansion of the Bitcoin ecosystem deepens the consensus of value, while RWA reconstructs traditional finance. Innovations like Ordinals and Runes protocols have already brought new application scenarios to Bitcoin, and RWA is gradually gaining attention from large traditional funds. Combining policy advantages and compliance frameworks, there is an opportunity to become a new breakout narrative.
Nicky: The sector I am most optimistic about in 2025 is the AI Agent + Meme sector. With the completion of bottoming out after ACT was listed on Binance, the new segment formed by the overlap of these two high-attention sectors will become a major talking point in this round of the bull market.
angelilu: AI + Web3, RWA, Meme. The development of AI is too rapid, constantly refreshing my understanding. There will definitely be more and better ways and real-world scenarios for combining Web3 and AI. As for RWA, many traditional financial giants are collaborating with RWA protocols, and tokenization is very attractive for traditional financial institutions, but there are still regulatory hurdles. Most memes, although they can easily drop to zero, can be very enticing for newcomers or users who don't like trading, as they require little investment, have short cycles, and yield quick results. It’s like a small-scale investment experiment, allowing one to test their judgment and market understanding in a short time.
3. Predict what the price of Bitcoin will be by the end of 2025.
1912212.eth: By the end of 2025, the crypto market may turn bearish, and Bitcoin's price may have dropped below $90,000.
Alex Liu: 3. A major economic crisis may bring prices below $120,000, otherwise above $180,000.
Joe: $160,000.
Karen: In 2025, the price may rise to over $160,000; if there are black swan events, it may drop below $80,000.
Shaofaye123: $200,000, quickly double it.
Luffy: $200,000; it's not unreasonable to expect the bull market to double every year.
Yobo: $90,000.
Pzai: $70,000.
Anderson Sima: $200,000; I predict that the price may very likely be challenged, but this is indeed the price I sincerely hope for. Whether Bitcoin breaks through $200,000 by the end of 2025 depends on these factors: 1. The pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2025, which requires the inflation level in the U.S. to maintain a steady downward trend. 2. The likelihood of Trump including Bitcoin in the national strategic reserve during his new term is quite low. 3. Whether blockchain applications like payments, RWA, and DeFi can enter a new stage.
Chandler: Predicting the price by the end of 2025 is quite difficult. I tend to expect a peak around $150,000, but there will definitely be significant ups and downs along the way. Still, the long-term outlook is optimistic; just be cautious of short-term volatility.
Nicky: Expecting Bitcoin to be priced at $130,000 by the end of 2025.
angelilu: Last year, I successfully predicted $100,000; this year, I’ll be more conservative and say $150,000.
Holdings Disclosure
1912212.eth
Holdings: SEI, WLD, EIGEN, ENA, ZK, GOAT, WIF, BONK, FLOKI
Several heavyweight positions are due to not selling at the top, turning unrealized gains into severe losses lasting several months. I have allocated a good amount to MEME tokens because I believe the meme wave will return with a vengeance in the first half of 2025. I also believe that some VC tokens I have allocated will see the funds return. Although VC tokens have faced community skepticism and hatred due to overvaluation and ongoing declines over the past few months, all negative views and emotions will change with price increases.
I want to share a painful lesson. I once heavily invested in ONDO, which has had limited price increases. In November this year, it significantly underperformed compared to many other tokens, and the long wait turned into torture, which ultimately led to my wavering. I switched to other tokens, but as a result, I missed a significant single-day increase at the beginning of December, and it’s hard to get back in now.
My wish is to triple my total assets next year.
Alex Liu
Holdings: BTC, ETH, SOL, SUI, APT, POL, OM, AAVE, ATOM, IMX, JLP, PENDLE, W, CRV, FXS, THL
BTC: Bitcoin will only be considered less, never too much, with an average price of around $40,000. Most profits will be used to buy back Bitcoin. I will sell a small portion above $120,000. I plan to accompany it to zero.
ETH: I am optimistic about the Ethereum protocol as a global settlement layer and Ether as a core asset of DeFi. The average price is just over $2000. There are many issues with Ethereum, but I still believe its market cap can surpass Bitcoin, which would be a good thing for the industry. This round's high point is temporarily expected to be $10,000.
SOL: Playing sneakers (StepN) on Solana marked the beginning of my on-chain career. Its speed and low fees made me believe for the first time that this industry could achieve 'mass adoption.' After experiencing a drop from $120 to $8, my current average position this round is $35. A significant amount of SOL is trapped in Mad Lads NFT, and I am reluctant to sell. The highest price I expect is $500.
SUI, APT: For major viewpoints, see: Why I bet on the Move public chain? Specifically, SUI has excellent research and engineering capabilities, with many innovations; the founder of the Move language is on the SUI team. Aptos has strong engineering capabilities, excellent overall user experience, strong BD and marketing efforts, and close relationships with financial institutions, with many coins going OTC. I expect SUI to reach 7, APT to reach over 66. The average entry price for SUI is just over $1, and for APT, just over $7.
THL: In the Aptos ecosystem, my position is equivalent to Cetus in the Sui ecosystem. Cost is 0.5, expecting to see 3.
POL: Betting on Ethereum's execution layer, ZK, and AggLayer. POL staking has expected airdrops. I entered when Polygon was classified as a security by the SEC, seeing its price drop from 0.8 to 0.5, then it rose to 1.27 without selling; after deep retracement and re-entry, it is now back to break-even. I am optimistic about a narrative and hot topic conversion back to previous highs.
AAVE, CRV, FXS: See the opinion: To emerge from the altcoin bear market, DeFi needs to be revitalized. AAVE's average price is 135, looking at 400. CRV's average price is 0.3, with greater potential for upward movement than downward space, looking at 10 times. FXS is the largest loss among the actively purchased tokens; before adding to my position, I was down over 60%, but I still believe it can build a self-sufficient DeFi ecosystem flywheel.
Pendle: See my tweet when Pendle was at $2. I entered below $1, but was cut by Penpie's mPendle, giving back a lot of profits. Everyone should participate cautiously in Magpie ecosystem projects (Eigenpie, etc.). Pendle will break $10.
IMX: I am optimistic about the GameFi sector, the on-chain of digital items, and the BD capabilities of the Immutable team. My entry price was $0.5, and after adding to my position, the average price is around $1. I believe it can rise to $7, so I set my first sell point at $4; the previous peak was $3.7; I didn't sell and it retraced. The target remains unchanged.
JLP: Long-term holding can essentially capture the market's overall increase, significantly reducing asset declines. Steady happiness.
W: All airdrops. The Mad Lads airdrop was partially delayed, and by the time I received it, it had dropped from $1.5 to $0.8, and I didn't want to sell. After that, it continued to drop, and I didn’t want to sell even more. I wanted to stake my part of the cross-chain airdrop to receive the Monad airdrop, but Monad's testnet has just started. I still have a bullish outlook on the project’s potential and hope it can return to $1.
ATOM: Staked with a semicolon to receive Cosmos ecosystem airdrops. Entry price $10; if only considering the coin price, I have lost money, but with DYM and OM airdrop profits. The initial investment in ATOM can be recouped through airdrops, and the main expected returns also come from ecosystem airdrops, so price predictions are meaningless. But now it should be at a low point, and I am bullish. I also hold Bad Kids NFT from this ecosystem, which I have a good outlook on.
OM: Staking ATOM and holding Bad Kids airdrop. RWA Layer 1, already listed on Binance, has increased 200 times this year. I haven't spent time researching it yet. I'm optimistic.
Note: All prices above are optimistic predictions for the peak cycle prices; it is recommended to take profits in batches based on personal circumstances. NFA, DYOR.
Joe
Holdings: ETH, SOL, BTC, ENS, SUI, ENA, OP, Brett, Clanker, ANON
Public chains and stablecoins remain the two most important themes in the crypto market.
Public chains, mainly holding ETH, Solana, Sui, OP, and stablecoins, mainly holding ENA.
The reasons for holding ETH and Solana are self-evident; the reasons for holding Sui and ENA are that I believe there will be a new public chain leader and a new stablecoin leader in this cycle that will lead the way, challenging the upper limits of the crypto world. The choice of these two is based on my belief that these two sectors are the largest in the crypto industry and will continue to innovate, with new giants emerging until a monopoly position is formed.
Holding OP because, although it is an Ethereum L2, it does not compete with other L2s and stands out on its own. Its ecosystem is also luxurious, with projects like Base, ink, and Uni choosing OP, and I believe the discerning eye of these luxurious teams is one of the reasons for buying. Additionally, I hold Aero, Ordi, and Uni in the Base ecosystem, BTC ecosystem, and new DeFi ecosystem respectively.
The holding logic mainly follows three main lines: 'leaders of new and old public chains,' 'leaders of new stablecoins,' and 'leaders of new application ecosystems,' which I believe are the three sectors with the highest potential in the crypto industry. Ultimately, they all point towards large-scale applications of Crypto.
Regarding memes, I coined a term called 'application-type meme.' In the meme sector, I currently only focus on 'application-type memes' on Base, and I consider Degen, Clanker, and ANON as early holders, with holding costs when their market cap was a few million dollars. I believe these three are typical of 'application-type memes.'
Currently, there's a noticeable trend; holdings are continuously shifting towards AI Agent-related tokens.
Karen
Holdings: ETH, USDT, BANANA, EIGEN, AAVE, ENA, and a bunch of ENS domain names.
In May, I bought ETH at a high between $3,000 and $3,300, as I saw Ethereum reaching $10,000 and held an optimistic view of its future, which remains unchanged. I also bought some ETH when it was just over $1,000, and at that time, I purchased Siri.eth, several emoji packs, and a bunch of digital domain names at high prices.
The main reason for holding USDT is that I use part of my funds for interactions with others. As for BANANA, I purchased it in October, and since then there hasn’t been much price increase. There are two reasons for buying BANANA: firstly, I compared some protocols in the market with BANANA's market cap and cost ratio, believing that BANANA has significant potential and development space; secondly, BANANA was one of the projects launched in the first phase of Binance's HODLer airdrop program. EIGEN, AAVE, and ENA are considered blue-chip projects in the DeFi space, with holding costs of around $3.5, $110, and $0.4 respectively, at least holding until Ethereum’s bull market.
I have also participated quite a bit in memes, whether on Solana, Base, or Ethereum, whether it's cats, dogs, or AI agents, I've experienced some ups and downs. But overall, memes may not be very suitable for someone like me who is prone to FOMO and frequent trading.
Shaofaye123
Holdings: BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, BANANA, ONDO, IO, MOODENG, ACT
Currently, the overall investment strategy is to hope that large funds achieve stable growth while small funds seek high returns.
BTC, ETH, SOL, etc., will be bought on dips, as public chain tokens have many use cases, both for arbitrage and for staking to earn yields. Participating in various airdrops and primary offerings also requires gas.
The reasons for buying BNB and BANANA are both based on bullish broker logic. Additionally, BANANA, being an application with real business scenarios, has always been an undervalued asset, and holding more than 50 BANANA can also yield returns. With the continuous rebound of on-chain activity, I believe BANANA will perform well. I somewhat regret not buying more before it was listed on Binance. I bought ONDO at the opening, believing in its long-term potential, but due to a lack of understanding, my position was small, and I intend to hold it until the end of the bull market. IO is a token obtained from airdrop, and I sold most of my position around 5, keeping some tokens for staking as it is a project supported by multiple tags including AI, DePIN, and Binance.
Memecoins, as the main narrative of this round, have extremely high investment returns. After experiencing painful PvP on-chain, I usually only participate in the leading tokens of each memecoin sector. After a long period of consolidation, I observe whether the narrative has appeal, whether supporting price points have broken, and the insider level of on-chain addresses as indicators for bottom-fishing. However, MOODENG and ACT were bought quickly after the news of being listed on Binance. The main reason is that MOODENG had significant purchases before being listed on Binance, while ACT has a relatively low market cap.
Small gains and small losses, occasionally large gains, but never large losses.
Luffy
Holdings: BTC, BNB, ENS
1. Bitcoin is like a family heirloom; I bought it 7 years ago, but unfortunately, the amount of Bitcoin in my pocket is decreasing, and I plan to pass down the remaining Bitcoin. 2. I bought BNB in the first half of this year after clearing my DOT holdings. Most of my BNB is locked in Binance’s fixed income products, and passive income from mining is quite appealing. I won't sell until it reaches 2000 USD. 3. ENS is a sad story for me; I fell victim to a hacker when I was chasing after the Shiba Inu hype earlier this year, and the ENS I received from an airdrop years ago was stolen. To ease my sorrow, I bought it back on the exchange. I'll hold onto ENS for now; I simply like this project, it's straightforward and has great prospects. 4. I also have some scattered coins like ETH, EIGEN, AEVO, ARB, ZK, OP; listing them made me realize they are basically all part of the Ethereum ecosystem, as Ethereum is the source of cryptocurrency innovation, and innovation is the future. After the hustle and bustle, we see the true essence, and I look forward to Ethereum returning to its throne.
Yobo
Holdings: BNB, ETH, SUI, APT, PENDLE
Basically, these are the holdings that have accompanied me through the recent semi-bearish phase. Ethereum's price performance this time is indeed frustrating, but at least several significant narratives like DeFi development, application landing, compliance, and memes have not fallen through. Anyway, the coins are stuck in staking for now, and I'm still willing to give Ethereum more time. Pendle, like Alex above, has followed the hype of Penpie, and I've given back about 80% of my profits, but I have high hopes for the Pendle team’s sensitivity and the prospects of what they are doing now. I'll keep holding and just hope the peg of mPendle doesn't drop to zero. The remaining two should be the most anticipated in the next phase, and there are still plenty of cheap targets in the Sui and Aptos ecosystems to pick up and wait for good fortune.
Pzai
Holdings: ETH, SOL
I have always been a rather firm Ethereum holder, even participating in some Ethereum community work (and have participated in hackathons). During 2021-2022, experiencing the boom of NFTs and L2 indeed deeply rooted my faith. Looking at it now, under the trend of compliance in the United States, Ethereum's ecological position also needs some reshaping; several L2s I participated in are in a mixed state of praise and criticism. I just hope Ethereum can at least maintain its mainstream status and expand some use cases. Anyway, I’ve staked it again; having points makes me feel more secure.
In an environment where Shiba Inu is prevalent, SOL is also my way of following the trend. Whether SOL will flip ETH is something time will tell, but I hope that I won't end up having to sell the tokens I hold before the answer is clear.
Anderson Sima
Holdings: BTC, ETH
I got into blockchain during college and spent 100 yuan to buy my first cryptocurrency, Ethereum. At that time, Bitcoin was in the midst of the big and small block wars (which later forked into BCH and BSV), and I was influenced by the community to become a staunch Bitcoin maximalist. After going through several cycles and missing countless opportunities, only Bitcoin has been consistently rising.
I will firmly hold Bitcoin, summarized in two sentences. One is from the former Bitcoin billionaire Li Xiaolai: 'Bitcoin is the first time humanity has achieved sacred and inviolable private property through technology.' The other is from the Zhihu guru Xu Zhe: 'Gold's scarcity comes from physics, while Bitcoin's scarcity comes from mathematics.' From today's perspective, Bitcoin is not only an asset but also a work of art.
I will also firmly hold Ethereum. I began to build my understanding of Ethereum during 'DeFi Summer', watching it rise from $150 to $900 without acting, until I gradually built my position after it reached $2,000 and have been 'stuck' ever since. Over time, faith has come, and I firmly believe in the potential of Web3 technology represented by smart contracts to change the world. Vitalik is not a god, nor is anyone else who changes the world.
Chandler
Holdings: BTC, Ordi, Bitmap, Merl, Runes, DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON
I haven't played much with other tokens; I bought some BTC at $24,000 and was optimistic about the Bitcoin ecosystem's development, buying a lot around $48,000-$60,000. The rest are all tied to the Bitcoin ecosystem. The cost of Ordi is around $30, and I'm at the level of buying a few Bitmap tokens whenever I have time, buying from $200 down to $30 and then back up to $60. Merl, Runes, and DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON are all airdrops I haven't sold yet, and I bought some more Merl at the bottom of $0.25-$0.18.
After cooling off in the first half of the year, the Bitcoin ecosystem still lacks a catalyst to ignite it. Currently, the market is immersed in the meme craze, with most funds being absorbed by BTC, and neither ETH nor other DeFi protocols have shown the application prosperity seen in previous years. Even within the Bitcoin ecosystem itself, there is a lack of unity, and the big pie is still a long way off; we can only wait for a key opportunity to ignite market enthusiasm and attract capital attention.
Nicky
Holdings: SYNDOG, ACT
SYNDOG is a meme on the Base network, with nearly 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and videos with over 10,000 views. In a context of high meme homogeneity, it is necessary to find a traffic entry point to connect off-market funds, and TikTok and Instagram are excellent ways to do so. Moreover, strong market-making traces have been observed, and it is expected that the market cap will exceed 100 million.
ACT is the first token in the AI meme sector to be listed on Binance and will become one of the representative assets in this sector, expected to reach a valuation of over $10 billion.
angelilu
Holdings: USDT, BTC, ETH, SOL, SUI, Clanker, BGB
Assets that were trapped in the last cycle are gradually being sold for USDT. BTC and ETH go without saying, buy on dips. I bought SOL rather late, starting to buy when the meme hype began. I bought Clanker early, wanted to sell at the peak but kept holding due to constant order errors, and now it has retraced quite a bit. BGB was bought as part of an investment plan, and it has recently doubled based on its performance.
