Author: nairolf
Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow
I won't waste time writing a lengthy introduction—2024 is indeed an exciting year. Let's get straight to the point and see what changes I am most looking forward to in 2025:
Alternative Virtual Machines (altVMs)
2024 will be the year when alternative virtual machines (altVMs) shine.
@fuel_network has successfully launched its mainnet.
@cartesiproject continues to advance steadily, while MoveVM has gained more applications through the efforts of @Aptos, @SuiNetwork, and @movementlabsxyz.
2025 could be a breakthrough year for these alternative virtual machines, sparking the next wave of on-chain applications.
It is worth mentioning that @fluentxyz's hybrid execution model will play a key role in this field. It integrates EVM, SVM, and Wasm into a single execution environment, providing developers with the most comprehensive and flexible application building methods. Even more exciting is that this design has scalability, meaning that any virtual machine can potentially be added to this system in the future. Perhaps it will become the 'ultimate solution' in the field of virtual machines.
Chain Abstraction
Chain abstraction has made significant progress in 2024. It has evolved from a preliminary concept: creating an experience for users that feels like using a single chain, even though hundreds of chains are working behind the scenes.
Users will no longer need to frequently switch wallets, manage multiple gas tokens, or—most troublesome—cross-chain bridges.
@ParticleNtwrk's UniversalX solution allows trading of any on-chain tokens through a unified interface, providing an experience similar to Binance but operating entirely on-chain. The maturity of this technology will give rise to many new products, and more importantly, many existing projects will begin to adopt these solutions.
This trend showcases deep collaboration among projects, such as @EverclearOrg, @SOCKETProtocol, and @NEARProtocol, as well as the collaborative efforts of @sedaprotocol and @routescan_io.
The focus in 2025 will be on how to enable more users to access and utilize these innovative solutions.
L1 public chain
If there are no new L1 public chains born in the crypto industry for a year, it would certainly be less fun. In 2024, Sui and Aptos are undoubtedly the star projects in this field.
So what about 2025? We will welcome more exciting new projects.
@monad_xyz, @berachain, and @HyperliquidX may form a 'golden triangle' that drives industry development.
Among them, Hyperliquid's HyperEVM is particularly noteworthy. With Hyperliquid's recent rise in popularity, how its ecosystem deeply connects with the exchange itself will be an important point to watch.
RaaS (Rollup as a Service)
RaaS may be one of the least discussed areas currently. Why is that? The reason may be that it appears to be a 'boring business.' However, many seemingly uninteresting business models often turn out to be the most valuable in retrospect.
Rollups and L2 are hot topics in the crypto circle (CT) in 2024, and this enthusiasm is unlikely to fade in the short term.
As @inkonchain and @AbstractChain are set to launch related services in the coming months, the debate surrounding these technologies will continue. But one thing is clear: there will be an increasing number of L2 chains born in the future.
Whether general-purpose or specialized chains, the data speaks for itself. Platforms like @Calderaxyz, which provide Rollup as a Service, have supported the deployment of about 100 new chains this year and have offered rich integration and customization options from day one.
Additionally, @conduitxyz and @alt_layer are also adopting similar models. The market demand for RaaS providers is becoming increasingly hard to ignore.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
According to statistics from @_kaitoai, AI's attention has surpassed 40% this year, reaching unprecedented levels.
But my intuition tells me this is just the beginning. The Eliza project from @ai16zdao has become one of the most popular open-source projects on GitHub in the past few months. Can it be a bridge to attract new developers into the crypto space? Time will tell, but it certainly has the potential to be an interesting 'entry point.'
We have already seen initial results of AI in the real world, such as the @aixbt_agent developed by @virtuals_io. This agent continues to attract attention in the crypto space while providing quite accurate information.
Will the future revolve around 'interpreting the thoughts of AI entities'? There is no conclusion yet, but it is foreseeable that in 2025, more and more AI entities will take on tasks that were once the responsibility of humans.
Other projects worth noting
@pendle_fi continues to achieve exponential growth and is now regarded as one of the 'pioneering' projects in DeFi. Will its total value locked (TVL) exceed $10 billion in 2025? It's worth looking forward to.
@_kaitoai is pioneering a new field of information finance (InfoFi). What will it look like in the future? The answer should unfold next year.
@Polymer_Labs will become a strong competitor in the field of cross-chain interoperability, and I believe interoperability will be one of the key topics in 2025.
@OndoFinance is pushing large traditional institutions into the blockchain space. Real-world assets (RWA) and asset tokenization have become trends, but they have not fully broken through the bottleneck yet. Will 2025 bring a turning point due to a more favorable regulatory environment?
@nillionnetwork's mainnet is scheduled to launch in February next year. In the context of growing concerns about privacy, this project may have a significant impact. What’s even more exciting is that it is expected to lead the next wave of on-chain applications.
See you in 2025.
