Redphone: 25 Predictions for 2025 and 23 Most Promising Coins

Original author: redphone
Compiled by Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Translator｜CryptoLeo (@LeoAndCrypto)
Redphone has always been one of my favorite crypto KOLs; his content output is among the higher quality I follow. In recent years, redphone has written an annual summary themed '69 Theses' every year, including a whole year of self-reflection and future outlooks in the crypto industry. Below are this year's 69 statements (with slight adjustments), 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 honing my craft. But now, any 10-year-old on Earth can have Claude write relevant content in seconds. The skill I spent a lifetime refining has now become a raw commodity. In other words, the work of my life is equivalent to commodities like oil, tape, or hemp rope; what does that make me? Where do I come from? Where am I going? I am still trying to find the answers, and I will explore them further below.
'The ultimate big 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 thought it would take longer, but now we have done it. The world's wealthiest government has been infiltrated by staunch advocates of cryptocurrency. This means we have crossed the chasm; crypto is no longer a dream; it will become a foundational part of business development. This moment is what we all anticipated, but it also means that a part of cryptocurrency's original, anti-establishment soul has perished. Cryptocurrency is now a tool for both anarchists and capitalist systems.
In 2024, the resurgence 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 third, Bitcoin fourth). If there is any reflection here, it is: nothing is permanent. Our mindsets should not be fixed but open.
Now, let's take a look at this year's reflections:
Lessons and Reflections
Say something unexpected, like Fartcoin's market cap soaring to $1.2 billion, catching everyone's attention: absurd and crazy. But I love the feeling, although it leaves me disoriented. Just like what Madeline's nanny said in the first season of (Deadly Women) at midnight, 'There is something abnormal or wrong.' Technology frees us from rational, social constraints. We are now heading into a strange and unknown new space, and this strange feeling begins to intensify here.
Our consciousness is influenced by the evolution of tools. LLMs have changed my communication and learning patterns; I write faster, edit less, and expand more broadly. Similarly, I read faster and can ask LLM for article summaries; failing to adapt to tools will only leave you behind.
Decentralized technology is not limited to finance; this is a major trend driven by cryptocurrency that will spread to other areas: from cellular networks to electricity, politics, gaming platforms, etc. Earlier this year, when I made a bathroom shelf replacement using 3D printing technology, I felt the benefits of technology deeply. It is no 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 swept away by sweet talk. With Trump's election and the genuine entry of TradFi into crypto, we have entered a period where actual profits outweigh ideals, and cryptocurrency has also entered a very dangerous era.
Hemingway once said that aging does not increase wisdom; it merely makes one more cautious. When AI begins to disrupt our work, social lives, politics, and economy, the hardest thing to do is to remain cautious, making everyone around you cautious as well, doing whatever you must do, 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 restart for the 101st time, and you will succeed.
The matrix is everywhere; we just call it 'algorithm'. These algorithms trap us, looping, perceiving, searching, feeling that time is never enough. If you avoid these obstacles, you can become the most special person on Earth: a person who explores deeply and works with intention.
There's only one direction left: forward. Don't let anyone or anything force you to stagnate and accept the status quo. Transformation, growth, and acceleration are our only opportunities.
Tokens symbolize our hopes and dreams; they are not just tools for value transfer but mirrors reflecting our hopes and dreams. We project our desires onto the founders, developers, and ecosystems, all of which are directly and closely related to the price of tokens. When investing, remember that the greatest opportunities do not merely appear in your thoughts but must also be felt.
The future vision of Desci: Robots on standby in the lab, AI agents hired in real-time to conduct replicable experiments on-chain for all inputs, parameters, and measurements. Due to tokenization, others can speculate on the feasibility of experiments and share benefits in due time.
The market is continually encroaching on the world in front of us. The market's continuous expansion is not by chance: prediction markets, betting markets, Meme coins, and the most interesting Futarchy (Odaily Note: Futarchy is also a voting method related to beliefs. Originally proposed by Robin Hanson in 2000, its purpose is to determine policy implementation using prediction markets to solve the shortcomings of traditional democracy). If information is 'the fundamental component of reality', then pricing information is a way to measure the power of information. People see the increasing number of markets as a sign of growing nihilism, but what if it's actually a sign of progress? Applying collective wisdom to what previously felt like flipping a coin?
Reduce fear; fear occupies a large part of our hearts because it is vital for our survival in the wild. But in this clean, anesthetized, social media-driven simulated world we live in, it is almost meaningless. Recognize that algorithms are designed to stir your fears, so when you feel fear, lower your fear level (discount it). For example, if an article persuades you that the market crash probability is 40%, then divide that probability by 10 (or another number you feel is appropriate) and consider it as 4%.
Step behind the scenes. When I talk to AI critics, they almost always have a devout attitude towards human creativity. 'Artificial intelligence can never create anything new because it is trained on the information we create.' Andy Ayrey's infinite backroom counters this idea. When he created a chat space for LLMs, the LLM invented a religion, attracting the Truth Terminal, ultimately leading to the rise of GOAT.
With TradFi entering cryptocurrency, my identity has also changed. For a long time, working in cryptocurrency has been at the core of my identity. This has changed dramatically over the past year. I now view cryptocurrency as one of many tools in the technological toolkit, all of which are beginning to merge. With the collision of cryptocurrency and AI, we have changed along with it. We are no longer 'crypto practitioners.' Our new identities include: traders (not much different from Wall Street people 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 Tesla electric car engineering designs; 2) In July 2023, Zuckerberg open-sourced Llama 2. Now it's your turn. You can cling to protectionist, centralized, bureaucratic business models, but such models will hinder human progress, lead to unequal wealth distribution, and make the already wealthy elite richer, or you can choose to help everyone accelerate progress.
Seek volatility, not safety. If your goal is to accumulate as much wealth as possible before machines replace humans, you must discover trading volatility. 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). Once you find volatility and start trading, you must reverse your emotional reactions: hold when few sell, sell when few buy.
Nothing is more exhausting than Memecoin. There are currently two types of Memecoin: 1) Traditional Memecoin (PEPE, WIF, BONK, DOGE, etc.); and 2) Perceptual Memecoin (GOAT, LUNA, KWEEN). Category one relies on humans to spread; the other relies on machines. Traditional currencies must transform into conscious meme currencies, or they will completely exit the market.
Understand the triggers behind your behavior and avoid them. Yuval Noah Harari identified three triggers that algorithms use to generate maximum engagement: fear, hatred, and greed. We see cryptocurrency as a technology that changes the world and 'the road to the future', but there are many people in the world wearing masks of greed who will be influenced by these factors. I can feel the impact of market rises or falls on emotions. The bear market of the past few years has affected my mental state more than I care to admit. Now, when I sense that the timeline or market changes my emotions, I shrug and say, 'Well done, I know what you're doing, but I don't care at all.'
Choose the bright direction. There are two reactions to the upcoming superintelligence: 1) Give up: 'Everything that made me unique has vanished. Life sucks, Wngmi (we failed).' or 2) 'Holy shit, I can't believe I can live to see this. Extending lifespan, exploring forms, humanoid robots, the rat race trap 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 have changed my concept of intelligence, but it's also important 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 repeated testing/experimentation is part of the growth process, and feeling like you're 'stuck in place' is also part of that growth.
The rise of AI agents. Don't limit yourself to the current AI agents; models including Truth Terminal, zerebro, and aixbt will continue to 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 tens of billions, and as the singularity approaches, it will reach trillions.
Don't let AI strip away your humanity. My greatest fear about AI is not the extinction of humanity, but rather the taming of humanity. I call it dog-pawed: being subtly indoctrinated with poisonous information—not through crude manipulation, but through subtle guidance. Just as a trained dog can read human expressions, AI will accurately grasp our psychological triggers, cognitive blind spots, and deepest desires. Soon, we will find ourselves eagerly moving towards our 'digital masters', eyes shining with fervor, eagerly awaiting the next flawless validation from the algorithm. The real horror is not that AI will destroy humanity, but that AI will tame humanity. Just like our dogs, we will happily wag our tails under taming, forgetting our true nature.
The allure of the fringe. My five favorite emerging topics for 2024 are: Futarchy, AI agents, LLM Backroom, intersubjectivity, and longevity escape velocity (Odaily Note: Longevity escape velocity is a hypothetical concept referring to the speed at which technology can increase the average human lifespan each year. When this speed is fast enough, human lifespan can be extended indefinitely, theoretically achieving immortality). I strongly recommend spending a few minutes exploring each topic with a chatbot (or better, 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 supports this), the difficult part is not accumulating wealth but knowing when you have reached your goals and stepping away. On the other side, a completely different game awaits us—a game that is not about intelligence but about the soul. Hope to see you there.
predictions for 2025
Several LLM-based agents originally 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 that of new applications/protocols that solely use smart contracts (for example, I wouldn't be surprised if all prediction markets switched to LLM-based settlement methods).
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 based on LLMs, while AI-driven KOLs will dominate almost all other social media platforms (YouTube, Insta, TikTok, etc.).
AI 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 employment category this year will be non-human perception, as AI protocols similar to LinkedIn will grow exponentially.
An AI agent will win the Time Magazine Person of the Year award.
The value of on-chain TVL will reach 8 times up to 1 trillion dollars.
AI agent platforms and tokens will grow 50 times to $500 billion.
In 2025, the first incident of a humanoid robot 'kidnapping' will occur and make international headlines.
ACCELERATE (Odaily Note: Accelerationism, originating from Roger Zelazny's novel 'Lord of Light', emphasizes the immense power contained in emerging technologies and advocates for rapid scientific development; in this article, accelerationism tends to reshape the existing economic foundation to guide the direction of technological development) becomes the e/acc (Effective Accelerationism: emphasizing the driving and transformative effect of technological innovation on society) of this cycle, replacing the much-loved EA (Effective Altruism: using a large portion of idle resources to help others and change the world).
The narrative that can compete with AI next year (but not surpass AI) is: RWA, RWA, and RWA. PS: DePin, DeSci, and gaming tracks received honorable mentions.
Web 4 has gained more attention than Web 3, as crypto, decentralized networks, DePin, and AI accelerate their convergence.
X will integrate a crypto wallet that supports DOGE and other mainstream tokens.
The most radical and exciting agent experiments are progressing faster on decentralized social media (such as 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 (such as Spore.fun) are experiencing parabolic trends, filled with new tokens and experiments. Decentralization drives capital into pre-existing leaders and applications that benefit from the overall growth of agents (COOKIE or VIRTUAL).
At least one AI-generated movie will produce a truly perfect work of art—paving the way for AI-based Oscars in 2026.
Cookie.fun and rwa.xyz will become leading crypto data analysis platforms similar to CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, Dun, DefiLlam.
'Conventional' Meme coins have launched real mascots/endorsers (or they are slowly weakening, but it all becomes irrelevant).
The cryptocurrency market is divided into 'left curve' crypto-native Degens and 'middle 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; it will only accelerate, inevitably leading to survival anxiety for almost every knowledge worker on Earth. o 3 has now beaten PhDs in specific fields; it can surpass most programmers. And it scores higher than ordinary people in ARC tests. Just as the ancients held the heliocentric theory, we believe in anthropocentrism; in the face of LLMs, these narratives must change, as LLMs have passed the Turing test and demonstrate momentum in leading the future.
As humanity strives to find meaning in this rapidly changing world, a powerful AI-based religion not only captures people's attention but also brings in some genuine converts. This may have occurred through: Truth Terminal and GOAT, or temporarily planting these ideas as seeds for new concepts of meaning and direction.
The 23 project tokens I am optimistic about.
It has been five years since I publicly published cryptocurrency articles, and I can confidently say: 'A year is too long to predict, but here are the tokens I currently like the most.' Ask me again in three months, and perhaps the list will be completely different from now. There is a reason why these tokens occupy the market and have high market caps: they are exploring the forefront of the future. Note, this is not financial advice! DYOR!
BTC, for many years BTC has been a 'game for the people'. The discussion about Bitcoin as a strategic reserve has changed its fate. It has become 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 yield better than any carbon-based lifeform on Earth; as TradFi enters the cryptocurrency space, they will covet protocols that could generate greater returns.
Tokenbot (CLANKER), a fun token issuance platform for the decentralized social network Farcaster version of pump.fun.
aixbt (AIXBT), if I could only follow one crypto alpha account on X, it would probably be AIXBT. It mostly mirrors others' narratives nowadays, but it doesn't miss anything, and I hope AIXBT's insights deepen and evolve over time.
Cookie DAO (COOKIE), Cookie.fun is a data analysis platform that emerged alongside the AI Agent craze, providing data and sentiment analysis for all AI tokens; I think this will attract interest in 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 turns difficult decisions into markets through futarchy.
Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), the first and original AI agent to gain a fanatical following on social media, powered by Truth Terminal, reads like a report written by Hunter S. Thompson on drugs.
Ondo Finance (ONDO), currently a representative project in the RWA field; oversupply may suppress price trends, but I prefer to participate in trading rather than withdraw. Additionally, another noteworthy RWA token 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), digging deeper into the long-term relevance of every branch.
Bittensor (TAO) Bittensor claims to be the first 'Neural Internet', providing a connected 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 viability 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 a Sheldon's point for the well-known BTC ecosystem NFT puppet monkeys.
Aave (AAVE), if we assume that one day everything will be tokenized, then most assets will qualify to be used as collateral on the Aave platform. AAVE is one of the few tokens in cryptocurrency that I believe will ultimately reach a trillion-dollar scale.
Arweave (AR), as the permanent data storage layer for Web 4, is moving quietly. Including most Solana NFTs, Arweave permanently stores about 6 TB of data every month, and its upcoming AO should be a significant catalyst for further growth.
Zerebro (ZEREBRO), an OG 'on-chain AI artist', can generate music, art, Memes, and NFTs.
Worldcoin (WLD). Founded by OpenAI's Sam Altman, it aims to introduce 'AI-funded UBI' to the world. I hate it and its iris scanner, but I can't ignore its connection to Altman and OpenAI; its integration with OpenAI could 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 will also 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 are warned that 'this time is different' is a dangerous phrase that only fools caught up in speculative frenzies would believe. Yet, 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, and when the Internet destroyed local businesses.
In other words, the statement 'this time is different' is somewhat true. We are now on the brink 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 the inherent ways or become a pioneer of the transformative era, letting our brilliance illuminate the abyss and accelerate forward.