Year-End Review of the Crypto Market: 25 Predictions for 2025 and 23 Most Promising Tokens

Article reproduced from: Odaily Planet Daily
Author: redphone
Compiled by: CryptoLeo, Odaily Planet Daily
redphone has always been a crypto KOL I like very much; the content output is among the higher quality of the crypto KOLs I follow. In recent years, redphone has written an annual review themed '69 Theses' every year, reflecting on the entire year in the crypto industry and prospects for the future. Below are this year's 69 statements (slightly adjusted), compiled by Odaily Planet Daily:
Three crypto themes for 2024
AI has invaded my brain, disrupting my thoughts.
I am a writer, and I have spent 10,000 hours practicing my writing skills. But now, any 10-year-old child on Earth can have Claude write relevant content in seconds. The skill I have honed for a lifetime has now become a raw commodity. In other words, my life's work is equivalent to circulating commodities like oil, tape, or hemp rope. So what am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? I am still trying to figure out the answers, and I will explore them more deeply below.
The 'ultimate boss' is dead.
With the elections in November, Americans chose Trump (orange man, note: orange specifically refers to Trump's skin color) to lead them (and BTC) into the future. I previously thought this would take longer, but now we have done it. The richest government in the world has been infiltrated by loyal advocates of cryptocurrency. This means we have crossed the chasm; crypto is no longer a dream, it will become a fundamental part of business development. This moment is what we all look forward to, but it also means a part of cryptocurrency's original, anti-establishment soul has perished. Cryptocurrency is now a tool for both anarchists and capitalist systems.
The revival and prosperity of Solana
I once thought Solana would perish in 2021. For some reason, just three years later, it has become the blockchain I use the most (Base ranks second, Ethereum ranks third, Bitcoin ranks fourth). If there is any reflection here, it is that nothing is set in stone. Our mindset should not be fixed but open.
Now, let's look at this year's reflections:
Lessons and reflections from 2024
Say something unexpected, like Fartcoin's market cap skyrocketing to $1.2 billion, attracting everyone's attention: absurd and crazy. But I love this feeling, even if it makes me lose my direction. Just like in the first season of (Deadly Women), Madeline's nanny said in the middle of the night: 'There is something abnormal or wrong.' Technology has freed us from rational, societal constraints. We are now moving toward an unknown and weird new space, and this strange feeling begins to intensify.
Our consciousness will be influenced by the evolution of tools. LLMs have changed my communication and learning patterns; I write faster, edit less, and extend more broadly. Likewise, I read faster and can ask LLM for summaries of articles; if you do not adapt to the tools, you will fall behind others.
Decentralized technology is not limited to the financial sector; this is a major trend driven by cryptocurrency that will spread to other fields: from cellular networks to electricity, politics, gaming platforms, and more. Earlier this year, when I made a replacement for a bathroom shelf using 3D printing technology, I felt the benefits of technology deeply. It is not an exaggeration to say that even production tools are being decentralized.
The truth is hidden beneath all your fears; the truest words are often the most dangerous.
We must never be blinded by sweet words. With Trump's election and TradFi's true entry into crypto, we have entered a period where actual profits outweigh ideals, and cryptocurrency has entered a very dangerous era.
Hemingway once said that aging does not increase wisdom, just increases caution. When artificial intelligence begins to disrupt our work, social life, politics, and economy, the hardest thing for us is to be cautious, making everyone around you cautious, doing whatever you must, and embracing uncertainty.
Difficulties are like a door. If crypto is a real game, there must be losers. Perhaps you have failed 100 times in the crypto market; the best way is to start again for the 101st time, and you will achieve victory.
The matrix is everywhere; we just call it 'algorithm.' These algorithms trap us in loops of perception and search, making it feel like there is never enough time. If you avoid these obstacles, become the most special person on Earth: be one who explores deeply and does things with heart.
There is only one direction left: forward. Do not let anyone or anything force you to stagnate and accept the status quo. Transformation, growth, and acceleration are our only chances.
Tokens symbolize our hopes and dreams; they are not merely tools for value transfer but mirrors reflecting our hopes and dreams. We project our wishes onto founders, developers, and the ecosystem, all of which are closely related to the price of tokens. When investing, always remember that the greatest opportunities do not simply appear in your thoughts but should also be felt deeply.
The future vision of DeSci: Robots on standby in laboratories, AI agents hiring them in real-time to run all input, parameters, and measurements in replicable experiments on-chain. Due to tokenization, others can speculate on the feasibility of the experiments and share the benefits in a timely manner.
The market is continuously invading the world before our eyes. The constant expansion of the market is not accidental: prediction markets, gambling markets, meme coins, and the most interesting Futarchy (Note: Futarchy is also a voting method related to beliefs, first proposed by Robin Hanson in 2000, aimed at determining policy implementation through prediction markets to address the shortcomings of traditional democracy). If information is the 'basic building block of reality,' then pricing information is a way to measure the power of information. People believe that the increase in the number of markets is a sign of growing nihilism, but what if it is actually a sign of progress? Applying collective wisdom to what previously felt like random coin flips?
Reduce fear; fear occupies a significant portion of our hearts because it is crucial for our survival, especially in the wild. But in the clean, numbed, socially media-driven simulated world we live in now, it is almost meaningless. Recognize that algorithms are designed to provoke your fears, so when you feel fear, reduce your fear level (discount it). For example, if an article persuades you that the chances of a market crash are 40%, then divide that probability by 10 (or another number you find appropriate) and consider it 4%.
Step into the background. When I talk to AI critics, they almost always hold a pious attitude towards human creativity. 'AI can never create new things because they are trained on the information we create.' Andy Ayrey's infinite backroom refuted this idea. When he created a chat space for LLM, LLM invented a religion that attracted Truth Terminal, ultimately leading to the rise of GOAT.
As TradFi enters cryptocurrency, my identity has also changed. For a long time, working in cryptocurrency was at the core of my identity. This has changed dramatically in the past year. I now see cryptocurrency as one of many tools in a technological arsenal, all tools beginning to converge. With the collision of cryptocurrency and AI, we have also changed. We are no longer 'cryptocurrency practitioners.' The new identity includes: traders (no different from Wall Street folks sharing options trading screenshots on Reddit) or accelerationists (using cryptocurrency and many other tools to decentralize and open-source the world).
Stop thinking too narrowly. The two boldest moves in history: 1) In June 2014, Musk open-sourced the Tesla electric car engineering design; 2) In July 2023, Zuckerberg open-sourced Llama 2. Now it’s your turn. You can stick to protectionist, centralized, bureaucratic business models, but such models will hinder human progress, lead to unequal wealth distribution, and make the already wealthy elite even richer, or you can choose to help everyone accelerate progress.
Seek volatility, not security. If your goal is to accumulate as much wealth as possible before machines replace humans, you must discover the volatility of trading. The best traders in the world do not shy away from volatility; they seek it out like chasing the Golden Snitch (the elusive object in Quidditch from Harry Potter). Once you discover volatility and start trading, you must reverse your emotional reactions. Hold when others sell, sell when others buy.
Nothing is more exhausting than Memecoin. There are currently two types of Memecoin: 1) Traditional Memecoin (like PEPE, WIF, BONK, DOGE, etc.); and 2) Perceptual Memecoin (like GOAT, LUNA, KWEEN). Category one relies on humans to spread; the other relies on machines. Traditional currency must transform into conscious meme currency, or it will completely exit the market.
Understand the triggers that cause your behavior and avoid them. Yuval Noah Harari identified three triggers algorithms use to generate maximum engagement: fear, hate, and greed. We see cryptocurrency as a technology to change the world and the 'road to the future,' but there are many greedy masks in the world that will be disturbed by these factors. I can feel the impact of market rises or falls on emotions. The bear market of the past few years has likely affected my psyche more than I want to admit. Now, when I feel that the timeline or market has changed my emotions, I shrug and say, 'Well done, I know what you're doing, but I don't care at all.'
Choose a bright direction. There are two responses to the upcoming superintelligence: 1) Give up: 'Everything that made me unique is gone. Life sucks, Wngmi (we failed).' or 2) 'Holy shit, I can't believe I'm alive now. Extending lifespan, exploring forms, humanoid robots, rat race traps will no longer affect us, find the right direction, we gaze into the pond of life and discover our true selves.'
Intelligence is iterative. LLMs changed my concept of intelligence, but I also need to realize that it is not deterministic, all LLM learning requires repeated experimentation. Progress is intermittent (whether you are human or machine), which means that repeatedly testing/experimenting and feeling 'stuck' is also part of the growth process.
The rise of AI agents. Do not limit yourselves to the current AI agents; models including Truth Terminal, zerebro, and aixbt will continuously evolve. In the future, we will see trading agents, prediction agents, shopping agents, doctor agents, etc., some of which will evolve into massive autonomous enterprises. Their value will first reach billions, and as the singularity approaches, it will reach trillions.
Do not let AI strip away your humanity. My greatest fear of AI is not the extinction of humanity but the taming of humanity. I call it dog-pawed: being cleverly indoctrinated with toxic information, which is not crude manipulation but subtle guidance. Just as a domesticated dog can read human expressions, AI will accurately grasp our psychological triggers, cognitive blind spots, and deepest desires. Soon, we will find ourselves eagerly approaching our 'digital masters,' with a fervent light in our eyes, eagerly awaiting the next perfect algorithmic validation. The real horror is not that AI will destroy humanity but that AI will tame humanity. Like our dogs, we will happily wag our tails under domestication, forgetting our true nature.
The allure of the margins. My five favorite emerging topics for 2024 are: Futarchy, AI agents, LLM Backroom, intersubjectivity, and longevity escape velocity (Note: Longevity escape velocity is a hypothetical concept that refers to the speed at which technology can increase human average lifespan each year. When this speed is fast enough, human lifespan can be extended indefinitely, even theoretically achieving immortality). I strongly recommend spending a few minutes exploring each topic with a chatbot (or better yet, a book).
Excessive privilege. In the trading arena, the spoils belong to those who act earliest; early action requires time, exploration, and perhaps most importantly, imagination. If you often act early, you will eventually be rewarded. Assuming this is true (my experience proves this), the difficult part is not accumulating wealth but knowing when you have reached your goal and exiting. On the other side awaits a completely different game—a game not about intellect but about the soul. Hope to see you there.
predictions for 2025
Several LLM-based agents initially launched as crypto-native perceptual entities will be 'embedded' into IRL robots, allowing us to converse and interact with IRL.
The number of LLM-driven applications/protocols launched in 2025 will rival the new applications/protocols that use only smart contracts (for example, if all prediction markets convert to LLM-based settlement, I would not be surprised).
ZK proofs/MPC will achieve breakthrough progress at the application or protocol level for the first time.
Major KOLs in crypto and AI will be LLM-based, while AI-driven KOLs will dominate almost all other social media platforms (YouTube, Insta, TikTok, etc.).
Artificial intelligence will change your workflow in the next year (if it hasn't happened already).
Perceptual robots will accumulate over $250 million in investment by 2025.
The fastest-growing category of employment this year will be non-human perception, as AI protocols similar to LinkedIn will experience parabolic growth.
Some AI agent will receive (Time) Magazine's Person of the Year award.
The value of on-chain TVL will reach 8 times to 1 trillion dollars.
AI agent platforms and tokens will grow 50 times to $500 billion.
In 2025, the first 'kidnapping' incident involving humanoid robots will occur and make international headlines.
ACCELERATE (Note: Accelerationism, originating from Roger Zelazny's novel 'Lord of Light,' emphasizes the immense power of emerging technologies and advocates for rapid scientific and technological development. This article leans towards reconfiguring the existing economic base to guide the direction of technological development) becomes the e/acc (Effective Accelerationism: emphasizing the driving and transformative power of technological innovation on society) of this cycle, replacing the EA (Effective Altruism: using a large portion of idle resources to help others and change the world) favored by SBF.
The narrative that will compete with AI next year (but will not surpass AI) is: RWA, RWA, and RWA. PS: DePin, DeSci, and gaming tracks are nominated for honors.
Web4 has gained more attention than Web3 as crypto, decentralized networks, DePin, and AI accelerate their convergence.
X will integrate a crypto wallet supporting DOGE and other mainstream tokens.
The most radical and exciting agent experiments are progressing faster on decentralized social media (like Farcaster), as X strives to balance human and agent content.
You interact with 'someone' online, only to realize later that you are talking to an LLM.
Protocols and applications created by agents (like Spore.fun) show parabolic growth, filled with new tokens and experiments. Decentralization pushes capital into pre-existing leaders and applications that benefit from the overall growth of agents (COOKIE or VIRTUAL).
At least one movie generated by artificial intelligence has produced a truly perfect work of art—paving the way for the AI-based Oscars in 2026.
Cookie.fun and rwa.xyz will become top crypto data analysis platforms like CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, Dune, and DefiLlama.
'Regular' meme coins have launched real mascots/endorsers (or they are starting to weaken slowly, but that becomes irrelevant).
The cryptocurrency market is divided into 'left-curve' native Degen cryptocurrency and 'mid-curve' TradFi traders, the latter expecting value accumulation from DeFi games.
As Bitcoin believers hope to use their BTC as collateral for loans, BTCFi will finally explode, driving the adoption of runes and inscriptions on Bitcoin.
From now on, the competition between AGI and ASI will not slow down but accelerate, inevitably causing nearly every knowledge worker on Earth to feel survival anxiety. o3 is now defeating PhDs in specific fields; it can surpass most programmers. Moreover, it scored higher than ordinary people in the ARC tests. Just as the ancients held the heliocentric theory, we believe in anthropocentrism, and changing these narratives must change in the face of LLMs, which can already pass the Turing test and show momentum leading to the future.
As humanity struggles to find meaning in this rapidly changing world, a powerful, AI-based religion not only captures attention but also brings some real converts. This may have happened through: Truth Terminal and GOAT, or temporarily by planting these ideas as seeds for new meaning and directional concepts.
tokens from projects I am optimistic about
I have been publicly releasing cryptocurrency articles for five years, and I can confidently say: 'A year is too long to predict, but the following tokens are my current favorites.' Ask me again in three months, and perhaps the list will be completely different. There is a reason these tokens occupy the market and have high market value: they are exploring the frontiers of the future. Note, this is not financial advice! DYOR!
BTC has been the 'people's game' for years. The discussion about Bitcoin as a strategic reserve has changed its fate. It has turned into the 'king's game.' The price of BTC will rise until owning 1 BTC becomes the dream of most people.
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL): The core infrastructure for AI agents on Base.
Ethena (ENA), TradFi understands returns better than any carbon-based life form on earth, and as TradFi enters the cryptocurrency space, they will covet protocols that may yield greater returns.
Tokenbot (CLANKER), a fun token issuance platform of the decentralized social network Farcaster.
aixbt (AIXBT), if I could only focus on one crypto alpha account on X, it would probably be AIXBT. Nowadays, it mostly replicates others' narratives, but it does not miss anything, and I hope AIXBT's insights will deepen and develop over time.
Cookie DAO (COOKIE), Cookie.fun is a data analysis platform that emerged alongside the AI Agent boom, providing data and sentiment analysis for all AI tokens. I believe this will attract crypto funds deployed in Q1 2025.
Helium (HNT), a leading DePin project in the crypto industry. In the past day, over 349,000 people used mobile phone services in the United States.
Meta (META), a radical experiment that converts difficult decisions into markets through futarchy.
Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), the first and original AI agent to gain a fervent fanbase on social media, powered by Truth Terminal. The agent's backstory reads like a report written by Hunter S. Thompson after taking drugs.
Ondo Finance (ONDO) is currently a representative project in the RWA field. Supply surplus may suppress price trends, but I would rather participate in trading than withdraw. Moreover, another RWA token worth noting is Chex Token (CHEX).
ai16z and Eliza. The Eliza framework for launching on-chain agents is a leading repo on GitHub covering all industries (not just cryptocurrency), and is delving deeper into long-term correlations across every branch.
Bittensor (TAO) describes itself as the first 'Neural Internet'. It provides a hub for decentralized AI projects to deploy code and compete for TAO. In some ways, I see it as a decentralized AI incubator and a testing ground for the feasibility of AI concepts.
WZRD (Bitcoin Wizards Ordinals) and PUPS (Pups), one of my favorite Bitcoin ecosystem tokens, WZRD will soon transform into one of the greatest memes ever. Meanwhile, PUPS is the Sheldon's point of the well-known NFT puppet monkey in the BTC ecosystem.
Aave (AAVE), if we assume everything will be tokenized one day, then most assets will qualify as collateral on Aave's platform. AAVE is one of the few tokens in cryptocurrency that I believe will eventually reach a trillion-dollar scale.
Arweave (AR), as a permanent data storage layer for Web 4, is moving quietly forward. Including most Solana NFTs, Arweave stores about 6TB of data permanently each month, and its upcoming AO should be an important catalyst for further growth.
Zerebro (ZEREBRO), an OG 'on-chain AI artist,' can generate AI agents that create music, art, memes, and NFTs.
Worldcoin (WLD). Founded by OpenAI's Sam Altman, WLD aims to introduce 'AI-funded UBI' to the world. I hate it and its iris scanner on one hand, but on the other hand, I cannot ignore its connection with Altman and OpenAI, and integration with OpenAI might make it one of the top ten currencies overnight.
Drift Protocol (DRIFT), on-chain perps and prediction markets on Solana. Solana has performed well in spot Memecoin trading, and I expect it to start generating significant perp trading volume over time.
Griffain (GRIFFAIN) and AI Rig Complex (arc), competing for the title of 'Virtuals of Solana.'
Conclusion
We have been warned that 'this time is different' is a dangerous phrase, and only fools caught in speculative frenzy would believe it. However, we easily forget the moments of technological transformation—when Gutenberg's printing press spread knowledge, when the Industrial Revolution pulled us from farms to cities, when the internet destroyed local businesses.
In other words, the phrase 'this time is different' is somewhat true. We are now standing on the edge of such a moment. The rules of society, traditions, and our perceptions of ourselves will all be rewritten. This process is brutal and will have consequences.
You can stick to conventional ways, or you can become a pioneer in an era of change, letting our light illuminate the abyss and accelerate forward.
Year-End Review of the Crypto Market: 25 Predictions for 2025 and 23 Most Promising Tokens

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