In 2024, amid the dramatic changes in the global financial landscape, the crypto industry underwent profound fluctuations and reconstruction. After six months of consolidation and repair, the total market value of the industry surpassed 3.8 trillion USD by the end of the year, with Bitcoin reaching a historic high of 100,000 USD, declaring its core position in the global asset system. This is not only a price increase but also the beginning of structural change: a liquidity circulation chain centered on Bitcoin as the core asset, with ETFs and US stocks as funding bridges, has already formed.
Bitcoin is rising as the world's largest dollar-denominated financial asset, becoming a key tool for hedging against the US fiscal deficit and the US debt crisis. This financial transformation not only shapes a new asset value system but also injects lasting growth momentum into the blockchain industry. The entire blockchain industry benefits from this, and OKX Ventures, with an ambitious posture, deeply participates in this transformative wave while continuously being optimistic about the subtle changes that blockchain products will bring to the traditional world over the next decade.
I. Review of 2024: Layout of 60+ projects, extensive layout across multiple tracks
这一年，OKX Ventures 积极加码行业投资，致力于加速加密行业的创新与发展。全年累计投资总额超过 1 亿美元，覆盖 60 多个项目和基金，重点聚焦于 Solana、SUI、Aptos、TON 及 BTC 生态的创新与创业，深入挖掘优质项目。从投资分布来看，基础设施、AI 项目和 BTC 生态占比最高，同时在多链生态、DeFi 及多个生态基金领域也有广泛布局。
不止如此，OKX Ventures还积极携手 TON Ventures、Ankaa 和 TGH 等基金与加速器生态伙伴，共同构建繁荣的创新生态系统。通过提供资金支持、战略指导以及技术资源，这些合作旨在为全球创业者赋能，帮助他们更快、更稳地将创意转化为现实。
OKX Ventures 深刻认识到，区块链行业的未来不仅仅是资本的投入问题，更是关于如何高效整合全球资源、汇聚行业智慧，并在此基础上赋能创新企业。资本作为推动力的同时，更需依赖战略眼光与系统性布局，促使行业在多维度的技术革新、生态发展和市场扩展中不断前行。每一次投资决策，不仅仅是资金的流动，更是对行业前景的深刻洞察和对创新力量的支持。从基础设施的建设，到生态系统的拓展，再到对前沿技术的探索，OKX Ventures 始终围绕未来十年的行业演化进行布局，力求为区块链的广泛应用和深刻变革提供坚实的基础和广阔的空间。
At the same time, the innovation of blockchain technology cannot solely rely on the driving force of the capital market; it more relies on visionary entrepreneurship and the continuous exploration of technical teams. OKX Ventures' mission is to help entrepreneurs who contribute value to the industry build great companies and drive breakthroughs in technology, market, and operations. This is not only support for individual projects or teams but also lays the foundation for the future ecology of the entire industry.
OKX Ventures believes that the success of the blockchain industry lies not in the success of a single technology or platform, but in building an inclusive, innovative, and self-evolving industry ecosystem. It is this profound industry understanding and future vision that enables us to remain forward-looking amidst the tide of this transformative era, pushing the industry towards a more mature and sustainable future through continuous evolution.
II. Outlook for 2025: 14 Predictions, Insights into the Future
Outlook 1: Global blockchain further compliance, the industry becomes more standardized
In 2025, the regulatory environment for the blockchain industry will see significant progress, laying a solid foundation for the healthy development of the industry. The number of licensed institutions will increase significantly, providing users with safer and more reliable services. OKX CEO Star pointed out that OKX has become the world's first cryptocurrency exchange platform to obtain a comprehensive operating license in the UAE.
Compliance innovations will emerge in the custodial wallet field, addressing the contradiction between self-custody and regulation. Star believes that OKX is launching a self-custody wallet for retail users with compliance controls, including KYC transaction monitoring and other features. This innovation can not only enhance user experience but also meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, bringing new development directions for the industry.
The macro regulatory environment will become more positive, creating favorable conditions for industry development. The UK government plans to consult on the regulatory framework for stablecoins and crypto assets in early 2025, indicating that the global regulatory environment is moving towards a more clear and supportive direction. A national strategic Bitcoin reserve may also become a reality in 2025.
The participation of institutional investors will significantly increase. As of December 17, the scale of Bitcoin spot ETFs has exceeded $114.97 billion, and the number of Bitcoins held by MicroStrategy has reached 439,000, with a total investment cost of approximately $27.1 billion. Traditional financial institutions are accelerating their entry into the crypto industry.
The integration of technology and compliance will reach new heights, raising the standards across the industry. Star predicts that by 2025, many crypto companies' compliance standards will reach or even exceed those of traditional finance. OKX's three major business lines: OKX Exchange, OKX Web3, and OKX Simple cover a wide range of services from trading to decentralized applications. This comprehensive service model will become an industry standard, promoting the application and popularization of blockchain technology in more fields.
The blockchain industry in 2025 will present a more mature, standardized, and innovative appearance. As Star said, crypto finance is entering a new stage, where traditional finance will deeply integrate with blockchain technology, bringing revolutionary changes to the global financial system.
Outlook 2: AI agents will become important entities in the market, participating in asset creation, asset issuance, and asset trading.
With the rapid development of ultra-large-scale language models (XLLMs) and multi-modal models (XLMMs), new AI agents will gradually become important entities in the market. According to research reports, the global AI agent market is expected to reach 1.811 trillion USD by 2030, contributing approximately 16 trillion USD to global GDP. The future of intelligent AI agents is not just about traditional tools; they will become major participants in the blockchain world, capable of autonomous decision-making and action.
We expect more innovative AI agent application scenarios to emerge in 2025. For example, agent-to-agent interactions will become an important area, with the transparency and composability of blockchain providing an ideal foundation for this. We may see agents sending funds to each other, jointly issuing tokens, and even creating new social scenarios. Additionally, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) may become a hotspot, with multi-agent systems working collaboratively to complete tasks, solve problems, and manage protocols.
AI智能体具备高度的适应性、明确的目标设定和自我纠错能力，能够在复杂环境中独立做出决策。未来，这些智能体将拥有自己的数字钱包，主动创造和发布内容，参与资产交易，以实现最大收益，并根据市场需求自动发行资产。这一转变预示着AI agent 将在市场和社交平台中扮演更加重要的角色，类似于 eliza 的 AI智能体框架的出现，结合类似 Myshell 代表的 Agent 平台，将推动这一趋势的发展。
Finally, we expect to see more innovations regarding AI Agent trading intentions and next-generation user trading interfaces. This may include trading using natural language or developing new trading systems and tools specifically for AI agents. With the development of these technologies, the idea of "wallet as browser" may ultimately be realized, fundamentally changing the way users interact with blockchain and AI systems.
Outlook 3: Security projects assist in solving AI security issues
The verifiability of blockchain can indeed become an important solution to address AI security issues. With the rapid development of AI technologies, cybersecurity issues are becoming increasingly prominent, particularly in areas like counterfeiting and deep fakes. Therefore, establishing a 'human identity verification' mechanism is particularly important to ensure interactions between users and real individuals. 61% of organizations report that deep fake attacks have increased in the past year, and they are expected to rise by 50% to 60% in the future. The complexity of AI security issues mainly reflects two points: dynamic attack vectors and prompt injection vulnerabilities. The rapid iteration of AI models means new vulnerabilities are emerging continuously. For example, different versions of models can exhibit vastly different behaviors, leading to constantly changing attack methods.
Blockchain projects, with their decentralized and immutable characteristics, can effectively address these challenges:
1. Data tracking and source verification: Blockchain can record and trace data sources, ensuring the authenticity of content generation through cryptographic signatures, combating deep fakes and fake news generated by AI while ensuring data transparency and traceability.
2. Protect training data: Safeguard datasets required for training AI models against tampering or attacks, ensuring data integrity and security while reducing single point of failure risks.
3. Record and monitor AI model usage: Prevent unauthorized abuse, securely share models or data on safe platforms without worrying about information leakage or tampering. Users can audit and verify AI behavior, thereby increasing trust.
OKX Ventures believes that more AI security projects may emerge in the blockchain field, enhancing user trust in AI systems.
Outlook 4: AI infiltrates existing track projects, changing industry paradigms
In 2025, the in-depth application of AI technology will significantly change multiple industries, including gaming, NFT, DeFi, and social sectors.
The gaming industry may be the most affected by AI. It is expected that by 2025, global AI spending in gaming will reach approximately 1.1 billion USD, indicating the industry's emphasis on AI potential. This includes: 1) Generative design: Using algorithms to create game content, improving development efficiency. 2) Personalized experiences: AI will analyze player behavior to provide tailored game suggestions and challenges. 3) Enhanced interactivity: Intelligent NPCs will become more realistic, improving the immersive experience of games. 4) Smarter AI agents will improve the interaction of players with games, reducing the experiential burden on gamers.
Social projects are also experiencing many innovations. AI is playing an important role not only in content generation and community interaction but also in promoting innovations in tokenization and decentralized economic models. In 2024, we saw AI agents like Clanker and Larry introduce new asset issuance methods on platforms like Farcaster, demonstrating a certain level of community participation and economic potential, with Clanker's market cap exceeding 100 million USD and LUM reaching 70 million USD. In the future, AI will: 1) Achieve social monetization: Users can earn crypto rewards through content creation and interaction. 2) Build community economies: Using blockchain technology, users can directly participate in platform governance and revenue distribution. 3) Enhance security: Protect user privacy through decentralized identity verification.
DeFi benefits from the efficiency improvements and interaction mode changes brought by AI. 1) AI agents will become important participants in the DeFi ecosystem, with these autonomous software entities capable of executing complex trading tasks automatically, optimizing investment strategies, and monitoring market dynamics in real-time. 2) AI-driven investment platforms and trading tools can also lower user participation thresholds, integrating DeFi protocols across multiple chains to provide automated liquidity investment strategies, reducing barriers for users to participate in DeFi and improving asset management efficiency. 3) AI-assisted security will play a key role in the detection and optimization of vulnerabilities in smart contracts. Through deep learning and pattern recognition, AI can establish baselines for normal trading behavior, issuing alerts when abnormal behavior is detected, thus enhancing the security of DeFi platforms. By 2025, the trading volume of decentralized exchanges (DEX) is expected to reach 4 trillion USD, with total locked value (TVL) exceeding 200 billion USD. OKX Ventures believes that there may be over 1 million AI agents active on-chain, further driving the development of the DeFi ecosystem.
OKX Ventures 预测，2025年将是AI与各个行业深度融合的一年。随着技术的发展和基础设施的完善，这些领域将迎来新的机遇与挑战，为用户提供更加丰富和安全的体验。
Outlook 5: Blockchain enhances the matching efficiency of AI elements
Blockchain technology is improving the matching efficiency of AI factors on multiple dimensions, mainly including: data factors, computing power factors, model factors, and capital factors. For example, in the data market, the demand for data from AI is growing at a pace far behind supply. ChatGPT trained on 300 billion words, while the latest model DBRX uses 12 trillion data points. The demand for publicly available human text data for AI training may exceed the total stock as early as 2026.
OKX Ventures is optimistic about better matching data factor resources, investing in projects such as Space and Time, Privasea, 0G, and CARV. Space and Time offers a decentralized data warehouse, efficiently indexing and querying on-chain and off-chain data. Privasea conducts AI computational analysis through FHE encryption to protect privacy. CARV provides a modular data layer, offering high-quality user profiles and behavioral data for AI. 0G can also significantly enhance the blockchain's capability to process AI era data. These projects improve the efficiency of AI data acquisition, processing, and utilization.
In other fields, io.net in the computing power sector can optimize the allocation of large-scale distributed computing resources required by AI. The AI chip market is expected to maintain steady growth. In 2023, sales of AI chips in data centers reached 154 billion USD, and are expected to grow by 41% in 2025-2026. Edge computing AI will become an important trend, supporting faster data processing and better privacy protection.
OKX Ventures is optimistic that more excellent AI startup projects will emerge to enhance the matching efficiency of AI elements across multiple dimensions, including data sharing, computing power allocation, and model collaboration, providing strong support for the further development of AI. This synergy will drive breakthrough applications of AI in more fields, bringing profound impacts across various industries.
Outlook 6: Babylon and BTC layer two usher in BTC's DeFi Summer
Looking ahead to 2025, the Bitcoin ecosystem's TVL and DeFi activity will see breakthroughs. As of October 2024, Babylon has locked over 57,288 Bitcoins, with a total value of 6 billion USD. As a leading project in the BTC ecosystem, Babylon has become a key bridge connecting Bitcoin and various PoS chains. Projects like SatLayer and Lombard, as part of the Babylon ecosystem, will further unleash Bitcoin's potential through the deployment of smart contracts. Projects such as Bitlayer, Merlin, Bsquared Network, and Arch Network are exploring innovative scaling solutions to provide stronger infrastructure support for Bitcoin DeFi.
Technologies like UTXO Stack are dedicated to enhancing Bitcoin's smart contract capabilities. These innovations will significantly increase transaction throughput, reduce fees, and pave the way for building more complex DeFi applications.
比特币DeFi领域将出现更丰富多样的应用场景。BounceBit、Corn和Merlin等项目正在开发链上借贷和创新的流动性提供机制。Solv Protocol和Bedrock等平台将为比特币持有者提供更多样化的收益生成途径。Zeus和Lombard则在探索如何将比特币的价值更深入地融入DeFi生态。预计到2025年,比特币DEX的交易量可能超过4万亿美元,占中心化交易所现货交易量的20%。
Improving user experience will be another focus. Wallet projects like Unisat are dedicated to simplifying user interactions with Bitcoin DeFi. Projects like Arch Network and SatLayer are developing innovative cross-chain solutions to enhance cross-chain interoperability, enabling users to transfer and utilize assets more conveniently across different blockchain ecosystems.
Overall, the Bitcoin ecosystem in 2025 will present a more diversified and interconnected landscape. Innovations from infrastructure to application layers will drive Bitcoin's transformation from a mere store of value to a comprehensive financial infrastructure, providing users with richer and more efficient financial service options.
Outlook 7: The diversification and deep development of Bitcoin's native innovation
技术层面,比特币脚本语言的扩展是一个重要方向。除了广受关注的OP_CAT,比特币核心开发者还在积极探讨引入OP_GROUP、OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV)和OP_TLUV等操作码。这些新的操作码将大大增强比特币的可编程性,为更复杂的智能合约和应用场景奠定基础。例如,OP_GROUP可能允许在比特币网络上创建可替代代币,而CTV则有望实现预签名交易,显著提高交易效率。
闪电网络作为比特币的第二层扩展解决方案,预计在2025年将迎来重要升级。通道工厂的引入可能允许批量创建支付通道,大幅降低开通成本。双向资金注入机制的改进将提高通道的资金利用效率。此外,Taproot资产的集成有望实现更私密和高效的资产转移,进一步扩展闪电网络的应用范围。
Enhancing privacy is another important direction that the Bitcoin community has been actively researching. Improving transaction privacy without sacrificing auditability is key to future development. Confidential Transactions technology may be introduced to hide transaction amounts, while optimizations in CoinJoin mixing technology will further enhance transaction anonymity. At the same time, the application of zero-knowledge proof technologies like zk-SNARKs on Bitcoin is also being actively explored, which could bring revolutionary privacy protection capabilities to Bitcoin.
At the application level, the Bitcoin network is giving rise to diverse innovations, covering decentralized social networks, gaming, the metaverse, and open scientific research. These applications integrate technologies such as micropayments, decentralized identity, content verification, Ordinals, and the RGB protocol, bringing new business models to the social media and gaming industries while enhancing transparency in funding management, data integrity protection, and decentralized evaluation mechanisms, improving the transparency and credibility of scientific research. These diverse applications demonstrate Bitcoin's enormous potential as a decentralized infrastructure, far exceeding the traditional financial domain, laying a solid foundation for the future of the digital world.
Outlook 8: Dual breakthroughs in Ethereum ecosystem technology and ecology
In 2025, the Ethereum ecosystem is expected to undergo significant development, with notable breakthroughs on both the technological and ecological fronts. In terms of scaling, the number of L2 and L3 solutions is expected to exceed 2,000, allowing Ethereum to truly achieve a 200-fold scaling. After the Pectra upgrade, the increase in blob capacity will further reduce the costs of rollups, pushing daily transaction volume beyond 100 million. These improvements will provide Ethereum's network with stronger processing capabilities, laying the foundation for supporting large-scale users.
The proliferation of account abstraction technology will also represent an important progress. The implementation of EIP-3074 and EIP-7702 has led to over 25% of on-chain transactions adopting account abstraction methods, allowing users to pay gas fees using any token. After the complete account abstraction realization via EIP-5003, it will change the way users interact with smart contracts, improving the usability of Web3 applications. This change will make it easier for ordinary users to participate in the Ethereum ecosystem, promoting the popularization of decentralized applications.
In terms of optimizing staking mechanisms, EIP-7251 allows validators to stake more than 32 ETH for additional rewards. At the same time, permissionless staking pools have been realized through EIP-6110 and EIP-7002, making Ethereum's total staking amount expected to exceed 30 million ETH, with annualized yields stabilizing between 3% and 4%. This mechanism not only enhances network security but also attracts more users to participate in staking.
零知识证明技术将在以太坊生态中得到广泛应用。通用zkVM可在30秒内生成区块证明，并被集成到主流L2网络中，支持隐私计算功能，实现“隐私即服务”。这些技术在提升隐私保护的同时，与以太坊主网保持安全性同步，为用户提供更多选择。
In terms of network efficiency, Ethereum validators' storage burden will be reduced and EVM execution efficiency improved through Verkle Trees, EOF optimizations, and PeerDAS improvements in the Amsterdam upgrade. Network throughput is expected to increase by more than ten times, and these technological updates will significantly enhance Ethereum's performance, supporting the future development of modular blockchain architectures.
Ecosystem integration will also be an important direction in 2025. Native interoperable ZK stacks are becoming standard for new rollups, and efficient validity proof clusters are gradually forming. Measures such as EIP-7623 increasing calldata costs and EIP-7639 stopping the service of specific historical data will optimize network resource allocation. These improvements lay the foundation for modular blockchain networks and promote Ethereum's transformation from technology-driven to application-driven.
The Beam Chain upgrade will bring significant changes to the Ethereum consensus layer, including reducing block production time to 4 seconds, lowering the staking threshold to 1 ETH, and introducing zero-knowledge proof technology. These changes will not only improve network performance but also enhance decentralization, providing more possibilities for future development.
Outlook 9: RWA and Ethereum RWA Outlook
The Ethereum ecosystem is迎来新一轮的飞跃，网络性能的提升、技术革新与生态扩展与RWA市场的爆发相辅相成，将推动以太坊迈向一个全新的高度。随着越来越多现实资产代币化并迁移至链上，以太坊不仅稳固了其作为去中心化应用和智能合约平台的领导者地位，更在连接传统金融与去中心化金融的过程中扮演关键角色。截至2024年底，链上代币化资产总市值已突破140亿美元，以太坊占据近80%的市场份额，成为推动这一领域发展的核心驱动力。
The rise of tokenized assets. Traditional financial giants such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and UBS are accelerating their embrace of tokenized financial assets, with Ethereum becoming the preferred underlying infrastructure platform for institutions due to its mature technology architecture, security, decentralization, and stability. The tokenized national debt market has become a core component of the on-chain DeFi ecosystem, with a locked value exceeding 3 billion USD, accounting for 21.38% of the total RWA market value. This market is providing low-risk, high-liquidity collateral for the rapid development of decentralized lending and derivatives markets.
Ethereum provides a secure, efficient, and transparent migration path for traditional financial assets through its smart contract platform and distributed validator network. Tokenized assets can achieve faster and lower-cost transactions and settlements on-chain, significantly enhancing the operational efficiency of financial markets. As Ethereum's infrastructure continues to upgrade, network transaction costs are further decreasing, providing stronger support for RWA applications.
The impact of the Ethereum economic model. The expansion of RWA is not only an expansion of ecological scale but also injects new momentum into Ethereum's economic model. On-chain activities and transaction fees will become important sources of revenue for Ethereum in the future. According to market data forecasts, on-chain activities related to RWA are expected to generate fees exceeding 100 billion USD annually, a figure 40 times the current annual revenue of Ethereum, significantly enhancing ETH's value capture capability and becoming an important pillar of the Ethereum economic system.
Data by the end of 2024 shows that RWA's TVL has increased by 25% year-on-year, reaching 8.4 billion USD, with Ethereum contributing 1.7 billion USD in a single month, the highest growth rate of the year. Stablecoins play an important role in this trend, with a total market capitalization exceeding 200 billion USD, while the growth of synthetic dollar types is particularly significant, with a monthly growth rate of 60%, reaching a TVL of 1.62 billion USD, accounting for 52% of the overall RWA market. Innovative stablecoins like Ethena and Usual's deep integration with RWA not only promote innovations in on-chain lending and liquidity markets but also further strengthen Ethereum's dominant position in high-value transactions.
政策与市场的推动力。监管的进一步明朗化将为RWA的快速扩展提供强有力的支持。美国证券交易委员会（SEC）在2025年预计将采取更加亲加密的立场，此外，像新加坡、欧洲等地区也在积极推进代币化金融资产的监管框架，为市场注入更多的合规性和透明度，为机构资本进入RWA领域扫除障碍。这一政策转变将为以太坊生态吸引更多的机构参与，推动链上资产和交易量的爆发性增长。
Outlook 10: Solana's continued leadership
Solana continues to consolidate its leading position in the high-performance public chain field with its technological advantages. By upgrading Gulf Stream's parallel processing technology, its TPS is expected to exceed 100,000 in 2025, while the application of state compression technology has reduced the hardware threshold for validation nodes, cutting costs by 30%.
The activity of the Solana ecosystem reached new heights in 2024, with daily on-chain transaction volume nearing 200 million USD, and the total number of active wallets around 250 million, with daily active addresses reaching a new high of 8.8 million. Its unique state rent mechanism and validator voting fees have brought value support to SOL beyond transaction fees, with weekly fee income reaching 36.8 million USD, an increase of 62% year-on-year. Among them, Jito contributed over 55% of the fee income through MEV activities, further driving the growth of the Solana ecosystem.
The developer ecosystem of Solana is impressive, with the number of active developers reaching 2,500-3,000 per month, and the three-month retention rate of developers increasing from 31% to over 50%. In terms of the tech stack, over half of the developers have at least three years of blockchain development experience, ensuring higher quality application outputs within the ecosystem. Leading protocols like Jupiter and Raydium are expected to see their TVL exceed 20 billion USD in 2025, capturing over 35% of the total DEX trading volume.
Solana is gradually being seen as a chip in the AI-driven casinos, and its application scenarios combined with Agent may deepen further, especially in speculative trading, DeFi, and more innovative dApps, becoming a core driving force for user growth and technological application.
Outlook 11: The rise of Move-based public chains is diversified
Sui and Aptos, as representative public chains of the Move language, are expected to achieve significant breakthroughs in 2025. Sui, through its unique parallel execution engine and object-level ownership model, demonstrates obvious advantages in gaming, social, and particularly financial application scenarios. By the fourth quarter of 2024, Sui's TVL has surpassed 2 billion USD, growing 2700% since the beginning of the year, jumping to the eighth position in the blockchain network TVL ranking. With nearly 8 billion on-chain transactions and a total of 68 million accounts, it shows strong ecosystem activity, primarily driven by protocols such as Navi Protocol and Cetus. With Circle introducing native USDC and over 400 million USD in stablecoins injected, Sui's liquidity has significantly improved. Sui's zkLogin feature lowers the entry barrier for Web3 users, allowing them to log into dApps using web credentials like Google or Facebook, holding great potential in DeFi and blockchain gaming. Additionally, the launch of the SuiPlay 0x1 gaming console further expands into the hardware field, supporting on-chain gaming while being compatible with traditional gaming platforms (such as Steam and Epic Games Store), attracting more traditional gamers into Web3.
Aptos is building a complete ecosystem in the DeFi field with its improved version of the Move virtual machine and LayerZero cross-chain infrastructure, with daily active users expected to exceed 1 million. Aptos is expected to experience explosive growth in 2024, with TVL increasing 19 times year-on-year to nearly 2 billion USD, and the on-chain stablecoin ecosystem continues to expand, including the deployment of native USDT and USDC, further enhancing liquidity. At the same time, Aptos has been widely recognized by institutional investors, with BlackRock's BUIDL and Franklin's FOBXX deploying on the Aptos chain, and a bank in Spain even allocating 2% of its fund to the Bitwise Aptos Staking ETP listed on SIX in Switzerland. In terms of the developer ecosystem, the number of developers on Aptos has increased by 96% year-on-year, with the number of on-chain contract deployments reaching 3000, showcasing the vitality of the ecosystem.
The native token market capitalization of the two major public chains is expected to enter the global top ten, with total locked value (TVL) projected to exceed the current scale by more than five times.
Outlook 12: Emerging public chains, Monad and Berachain bring hope
Monad作为新一代并行EVM的代表，正在快速崛起，其生态发展和技术创新备受瞩目。在Devnet阶段，Monad实现了超过10,000 TPS的真实性能测试，区块时间仅1秒，并具备单槽最终确定性，充分展现了其高效架构的潜力。Monad的核心优化包括MonadBFT共识机制、乐观并行执行、异步执行（延迟执行）以及专为EVM存储模式优化的MonadDB数据库。这些技术突破不仅大幅提升了吞吐量和交易速度，还显著降低了网络成本。此外，Monad与LayerZero、Wormhole等跨链协议的集成，增强了跨链互操作性，进一步丰富了其生态。
The recently established Monad Foundation focuses on decentralized governance and ecosystem development, promoting a validator-led governance model and supporting community-driven improvement proposals. The foundation also provides detailed documentation, technical resources, and market support for developers, promoting dApp building and ecosystem cooperation. Nearly 100 independent protocols and dApps have committed to build on Monad, and the ecosystem scale is expected to double upon mainnet launch.
Berachain正在快速崛起，其生态已经吸引了超过270个项目承诺，大部分为消费者应用类，涵盖DeFi、GameFi、社交以及DePIN，展现出多样性和活力。在测试网阶段（B2），Berachain实现了超过1400万笔交易，活跃地址突破60万，唯一地址达100万。其核心创新在于独特的PoL（Proof of Liquidity）共识机制，通过流动性抵押显著提升了TVL，同时为生态项目提供了强劲增长动力。
Berachain's modular design further enhances scalability, supports chain abstraction, and combines with infrastructure like Particle Network to provide flexibility and efficient tools for developers. In addition, its economic model integrates the interests of users, developers, and validators deeply through staking mechanisms and built-in incentives, ensuring the sustainable development of the ecosystem.
In 2025, the Layer 1 market will form a multi-level competitive landscape. Ethereum continues to hold the top market capitalization, while new-generation public chains like Solana, Sui, and Aptos will continue to grow their market share. Emerging public chains like Monad and Berachain are injecting new vitality into the industry with technological innovations and unique ecosystems, bringing more possibilities.
Outlook 13: The demonstration effect of TON and Kaia will attract more internet companies
The successful paths of TON and Kaia represent the core models of the next generation of Web3 applications: "user traffic-centric hyper-financialization innovation" and "seamless integration of Web2.5 experiences." Relying on Telegram's global user base of 900 million, TON has achieved a seamless migration of on-chain functionalities through its app ecosystem and TON Space wallet, becoming a representative of scalable blockchain applications. In 2024, TON's market cap surpassed 25 billion USD, with on-chain transaction volume reaching 300 million USD/day, active wallets exceeding 36 million, and even daily active addresses temporarily surpassing Ethereum, paving the way for large-scale adoption of on-chain services. TON's mini-programs are driving a geometric increase in user participation, while supporting stablecoins and cross-chain payment mechanisms, laying the groundwork for broader Web3 application scenarios.
Kaia, a blockchain platform launched through a deep integration of Kakao and Line, has quickly attracted users and developers by focusing on the mobile super app ecosystem in the Asian market. Kaia has over 30 million independent wallet addresses, processing over 1.3 billion transactions, with a peak daily on-chain transaction volume reaching tens of millions of USD. Its ecosystem integrates DeFi, NFTs, payments, and AI services, boasting over 420 dApps, with active user numbers reaching 7 million. Kaia's on-chain DEX Swap transaction volume has surpassed 400 million USD and is introducing more DeFi infrastructure to enhance liquidity support.
TON 和 Kaia 的成功不仅表明 Web3 应用具备从社交平台快速扩展到金融和实用场景的潜力，更展现了 Web2.5 逻辑下，如何通过现有流量平台孵化百亿美金级别的项目。小程序模式不仅有效降低了 Web3 的入门门槛，更通过超级应用的流量优势推动了链上交易的高频化和场景多样化。我们预测，这类依托高用户基数和流量转化能力的生态，未来将催生更多百亿美金市值的项目——从链上支付、去中心化电商到资产管理和 RWA（现实世界资产）等方向，新的应用创新与流动性结合将成为下一个增长引擎。
Outlook 14: Decentralized Science (DeSci): A new driving force reshaping the research economy
For a long time, the traditional research system has faced issues such as centralized resource allocation, data opacity, and innovation obstacles. Decentralized science (DeSci) is reshaping research funding, collaboration, and intellectual property management through blockchain technology and tokenization mechanisms, injecting new vitality into the research economy.
DeSci 的核心创新在于资金分配和知识产权管理。IP-NFT 不仅为科研成果提供法律保护，还让研究者、社区和投资者共同参与资助与收益分配。例如，Molecule 通过 IP-NFT 协议已分配 200 万美元，支持多个生物医学研究项目，而 其生态的 TVL 已达 3000 万美元，且持续增长。
In the medical data field, DeSci projects also show great potential. AminoChain is developing a decentralized biological sample market with $5 million in funding, helping patients control data usage rights and benefit from it while lowering sample acquisition costs for research institutions. Similarly, GenomesDAO utilizes a decentralized genomic database to provide solutions for personalized medicine and data privacy.
In scientific publishing, ResearchHub has completed 2,800 peer reviews with token rewards, reducing the average turnaround time to 9 days, far better than the 70-98 days of traditional journals, significantly enhancing the transparency and efficiency of scientific research.
Additionally, research DAOs like VitaDAO are achieving community-driven scientific funding through governance tokens, reducing intermediaries and cutting down on funding waste. As the policy environment gradually clarifies and institutional participation increases, it is expected that on-chain scientific funding will further expand, promoting the commercialization of intellectual property, open publishing, and the further development of medical data management.
The rise of decentralized science is driving scientific research from closed to open, from centralized to democratic. The transparent mechanisms, efficient collaboration, and data-sharing models of DeSci will have a far-reaching impact on global scientific innovation.
In conclusion, about OKX Ventures
OKX Ventures 坚定不移地拥抱去中心化发展的未来，远超单纯的财务回报。在我们看来，去中心化不仅仅是技术创新的方向，它更是一种颠覆传统、重塑行业秩序的力量，承载着对个体自由、价值分配和社会结构的深刻反思。我们深知，真正推动去中心化发展的力量并非仅是资金的支持，而是通过全方位的资源赋能、战略合作与技术创新的推动，真正实现去中心化理念的落地。OKX Ventures 立足长远，始终将服务去中心化创新作为投资理念的核心，而非追求短期的财务回报。
We are not traditional financial investors. We are not just "money givers" but partners who provide "services," offer "resources," and empower entrepreneurs. In this regard, OKX Ventures is dedicated to being a long-term supporter and promoter of projects, accompanying every entrepreneurial partner through every step of growth. We are committed to discovering excellent teams, products, and technologies, but more importantly, through resource integration and deep empowerment, helping these innovative projects gain a foothold in the market and truly unleash their potential.
At the same time, OKX Ventures is also playing the role of connector, becoming an important link between projects and the OKX group. Through deep cooperation with the OKX ecosystem, OKX Ventures provides multi-dimensional support platforms for projects, including OKX Web3 Wallet, NFT Marketplace, XLayer, etc., helping projects gain strategic support across multiple levels such as technology, market, users, and ecology. OKX Ventures utilizes OKX's years of accumulation and in-depth cultivation in the industry to provide platform resources and industry chain support for the rapid development of blockchain projects, helping them stand out in fierce competition.
We focus on the intrinsic development of the industry itself, rather than short-term market fluctuations. OKX Ventures values real innovation in the industry— not just theoretical breakthroughs, but practical new applications, observable user inflows, and steady growth in the overall industry scale. We believe that with the maturation of blockchain technology and the continuous expansion of application scenarios, the decentralized industry will usher in a profound dividend period in the next 3 to 5 years, bringing huge market opportunities. OKX Ventures will continue to stand at the forefront of this trend, using profound industry insights, strong resource advantages, and long-term strategic vision to support industry innovation, promoting the widespread application and profound impact of blockchain technology globally.
Disclaimer
This article is for reference only and represents the author's views, not the position of OKX. It is not intended to provide (i) trading advice or recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such information. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) involves high risks and may fluctuate significantly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. Please consult your legal/tax/trading professionals regarding your specific circumstances. You are responsible for understanding and complying with local applicable laws and regulations.
