If you want to maximize your profits in this bull run, you must choose the right narrative. In the last cycle, we witnessed the explosive growth of L1, DeFi, and Metaverse category tokens, and in this cycle, institutions are injecting funds into these narratives.
1.Depending on the PIN
It stands for "decentralized physical infrastructure". It is a blockchain protocol that incentivizes the decentralized community to build and maintain physical hardware. Users who invest resources to contribute to the network will receive corresponding token rewards.
The DePIN field is vast, covering multiple hardware fields worth billions of dollars: Cloud storage Computing power Wireless sensor networks, etc. Messari predicts that the total market value of these DePIN industries will reach 3.2 trillion US dollars by 2028. Existing products such as RNDR, FIL, AKT are representative projects of current solutions, and there are many interesting upcoming solutions, such as AethirCloud.
2. Artificial Intelligence
2023 is a breakout year for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, with more than $50 billion in new investment flowing into the sector. Venture capital investments related to AI in 2023 topped $50 billion, and even that only scratches the surface of AI’s potential.
As AI continues to advance exponentially, it’s both scary and exciting to imagine what the next 2-3 years will hold (let alone 10).
Cryptocurrency and AI have yet to fully find their feet, and many current solutions are simply using AI as a buzzword and treating it as an AI proxy (trading around major events/hype) rather than a long-term fundamental investment. However, AI and crypto could intersect in many interesting ways in the future:• Crypto-powered reputation systems for GPU leasing;• AI bots for trading and prediction;• Blockchain-based incentives for AI training;• Digital media certification;KyleSamani also wrote a great article detailing the potential intersection of AI and crypto, expanding on more potential use cases. (Fun fact: he wrote most of the article using AI). I strongly believe that some of the best performers in this cycle will be AI tokens. My current strategy is to trade AI tokens as proxies around major events like conferences/press releases/announcements, but I have a fair portion of my stablecoin allocations for new AI projects.
3.RWAs
Real World Assets (RWAs) have been gaining a lot of momentum lately, especially after the endorsement of Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock. After all, when the CEO of the world’s largest asset management company has repeatedly advocated for asset tokenization, it’s hard not to be optimistic about RWAs. RWAs refer to the tokenization of real-world assets (such as real estate, treasuries, bonds, gold, etc.) on the blockchain. This will increase: efficiency (lower costs without brokers); accessibility (fragmentation and more liquidity);
RWAs have access to huge markets such as real estate ($326 trillion), global bonds ($124 trillion), and gold ($12 trillion).
4. Games
When I think of industries that could truly attract millions of new retail users, the first thing that comes to mind is gaming. It is also one of the most well-funded crypto industries, with over $14.4 billion raised since 2019, with the majority of investment inflows into crypto gaming coming in 2021/2022.
Games take years to make, so we’re only now starting to hit the development inflection point. We’ll likely realize the true size of this money through a flood of new quality games between 2024 and 2026. , and crypto games add two very important verticals to traditional games: the ability to have real, verifiable ownership of game assets; the ability to financially reward/benefit game users, rather than purely siphoning off liquidity in a closed in-game economy;
When investing in the gaming industry, I like to take a layered approach, in order of weight: Gaming infrastructure: L1 and L2, SDK, etc. Game studios: providing multiple gaming experiences simultaneously Individual games: highest returns, highest risks;
5.BRC-20
Since its launch, BRC-20 tokens have continued to rapidly gain traction, creating demand for block space and bringing new use cases to the Bitcoin blockchain.
First, what are BRC-20 tokens?
Inscriptions are data attached to satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin), and "BRC-20" refers to an experimental standard for attaching JSON codes to sats based on inscriptions.
Despite being in the experimental stage, BRC-20 tokens have a market cap of over $2.5 billion. As the Bitcoin story heats up with ETFs and the upcoming halving, BRC-20 tokens are poised to benefit.
The BRC-20 ecosystem is still relatively nascent and lacks quality infrastructure, I have made a small bet in this space and have been keeping an eye on new projects. With many upcoming products, there are also a lot of airdrop opportunities.
6.Restaking
I see Restaking as the new version of the DeFi Ponzi scheme of the previous cycle. During the 2021 bull run, we witnessed an insatiable pursuit of yield due to bullish market sentiment, and if we enter a broader bull run (as I expect), expect the demand for yield to return. We are already seeing early signs of this, with the EigenLayer airdrop being a major catalyst for the industry. So, what is Restaking? In short, it allows you to reuse your already staked ETH in multiple other protocols. This allows you to stack your yield on top of your main ETH yield and gain access to protocol airdrops.
EigenLayer is the middleware that pioneered the concept of re-staking, but interestingly, most of the re-staking is actually the corresponding points system. EigenLayer will be one of the largest airdrops in 2024, which is why more than $1.4 billion in funds are locked on the platform (Foresight News note, more than $3 billion as of the time of writing).
7. ZKZK
The technology is one of the biggest encryption innovations of the decade. It is a type of cryptography that can prove the validity of a message without revealing any identifying details.
ZK helps: Reduce network congestion (helps scalability); Add privacy protection elements to support new applications; Enhance network security; Many projects are now leveraging ZK technology, including Linea, zkSync, Manta, Polygon, etc. While scalability has been one of the more prominent use cases, ZK proofs have applications in many verticals. An interesting example is Chainlink's "DECO" project, which uses ZK proofs to ensure tamper-proof content transmission across Internet protocols.
Decentralized identity oracles like zkMe are another important use case, especially for KYC and AML compliance. Many new use cases are unlocked due to the introduction of ZK technology.
