Year-End Must-Reads: The Top Narratives of 2024-2025

[TL；DR]:

Meme and AI have developed rapidly in the past year, but overall, BTC still occupies and consolidates its dominant position.

AI has inherited popularity in 2023 and will become the focus of attention again in 2024. It is foreseeable that the AI ​​Agent track will perform more unexpectedly in 2025.

With the gradual clarification of the regulatory environment and the influx of institutional investors, DeFi, AI, stablecoins, and other fields will usher in new development opportunities in 2025. At the same time, the competition of emerging public chains and the construction of a multi-chain eco will also bring new opportunities to the market. Bringing more energy and possibilities.

Introduction

In 2024, the crypto market has undergone an unprecedented transformation. From the approval of Bitcoin ETF to the popularity of Memecoin to the multiple rounds of narrative upgrades on the integration of AI and blockchain, every event has promoted innovation and application in the crypto market.

This article takes a closer look at these popular narratives and explores how they will shape the future of 2025.

Bitcoin ETFs’ Approval and Coin Price Breaking $100,000

In January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) historically approved the listing and trading of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. This move marked the beginning of a new era of crypto investment and led to the development of cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong, Brazil, Australia, and other places. ETF approval progress. According to data from coinglass, as of December 31, the holding size of the US spot Bitcoin ETF has exceeded $109.5 billion, with significant gold-absorbing ability.

Source: CoinMarketCap

The launch of spot ETFs not only provides investors with new trading tools but also significantly increases the recognition and liquidity of Bitcoin as an asset after the fourth halving this year. In particular, companies such as MicroStrategy purchased Bitcoin in large quantities. Further pushing Bitcoin to the $100,000 mark by the end of the year.

At the same time, Ethereum’s spot ETF was also approved in late July. Although investor response was mediocre after its launch, continued net inflows began to peak toward the end of the year, and it is expected to receive positive price feedback in 2025.

Memecoin’s Popularity and Cultural Output

Memecoin became a highlight of the crypto market in 2024, with an average annual return of 201%, far exceeding the market average of 128%.

Source: PANews

The popularity of Memecoin is inseparable from technical support and community drive. Solana has become the preferred platform for Memecoin projects due to its high performance and low-cost advantages, attracting 89% of new projects to be launched. Launching tools such as Pump.fun and Truth Terminal has lowered the threshold for issuing Memecoin, allowing more people to participate in this trend.

Deep Integration of AI and Blockchain

AI has inherited popularity in 2023 and will become the focus of attention again in 2024. It is foreseeable that the AI ​​Agent track will perform more unexpectedly in 2025.

From AI computing power, data project Render, io.net, to the application of AI in various DeFi, prediction markets, etc., to the use of AI to issue memes such as GOAT, and the current popular AI Agent craze represented by Virtuals and ai16z, it shows There is huge breadth and space for AI in the crypto space.

Source: Galaxy

For example, TURBO and GOAT have led the new track of AI Meme by combining Memecoin culture and AI technology. At the same time, Virtuals Protocol has become a popular AI factory based on the Base chain, which can produce various AI characters for different virtual worlds. So far, LUNAI has been born. , AIXBT, G.A.M.E., and many other well-known AI Agent single applications.

DeFi’s Strong Renaissance and Paradigm Innovation

Despite taking a major hit in the last cycle, DeFi enjoyed a high-speed renaissance in the second half of 2024. With the gradual clarity of the regulatory environment and the influx of institutional investors, especially after the election of Trump, who holds a crypto-friendly attitude, the DeFi market has ushered in new development opportunities, such as blue-chip DeFi projects represented by Uniswap and AAVE Outperformed in 2024, attracting large inflows.

Source: Web3Caff

Meanwhile, in-depth DeFi projects such as liquidity (re)-staking, RWA, prediction market, and intention trading are also emerging. These projects not only inherit the advantages of traditional DeFi but also further improve user experience and asset security through innovation. For example, some projects have begun to use account abstraction technology to simplify the entry process and improve user-friendliness.

The Rise of Stablecoins and Payment Innovation

The total market capitalization of stablecoins increased by 48% in 2024, reaching $197 billion. With the widespread application of stablecoins in the payment field, their market position has been further consolidated. In particular, payment companies such as Stripe have deployed stablecoin infrastructure to increase the utilization of digital payments and remittances.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Meanwhile, some innovative stablecoin projects have also begun to emerge. For example, Usual stablecoins use short- and medium-term U.S. Treasury bonds as the underlying asset, and have attracted many investors’ attention through innovations in protocol tokens and income methods. Another stablecoin protocol, Ethena, has occupied the forefront of DeFi innovation through its innovative delta center strategy and insurance fund form. This new type of synthetic dollar protocol has laid the foundation for further developing the crypto market.

What is worth looking forward to is that US President-elect Trump plans to formulate a clearer regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers, allowing them to directly access the Federal Reserve payment , and hopes to optimize international trade payments through stablecoin technology. This series of policies will further enhance the status of stablecoins and accelerate the deep integration of traditional finance and cryptocurrency.

Improvement of Regulatory Environment

Starting in 2024 with the U.S. SEC’s approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, the global regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies has improved significantly. Governments and regulatory agencies in various countries have introduced relevant policies to regulate market order and protect the interests of investors.

In Europe and the United States, the approval of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) and the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) this year provided a clearer regulatory framework for the crypto industry, and Russia’s crypto mining regulations took effect; in In Asia, Hong Kong, China, launched the Stablecoin Sandbox and Stablecoin Bill, and the Vietnamese government released the National Blockchain Development Strategy.

In addition, the Middle East, North Africa, the Americas, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Argentina have also demonstrated positive policy innovation in crypto regulation.

According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 countries and regions worldwide have introduced crypto regulatory policies in 2024.

Source: coin.dance

Even more eye-catching is Trump’s promise to establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve in 2025 and abolish the accounting announcement SAB 121 issued by the SEC in 2022. We remain optimistic about this.

Influx of Institutional Investors

The year 2024 will significantly increase institutional investor interest in the crypto market. They have invested funds in mainstream cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as emerging fields such as DeFi and NFT. According to statistics from market research institutions, the amount of investment by institutional investors in the crypto market increased several times in 2024.

Institutional investors such as MicroStrategy, Grayscale, and BlackRock have made significant gains in the crypto market. In particular, MicroStratey raised funds to purchase Bitcoin, this “equity currency” by issuing debt instruments such as convertible bonds, convertible senior notes, and senior secured bonds. The “debt flywheel” strategy is seen as a self-fulfilling feedback loop in which a company’s purchases of Bitcoin drive the price of Bitcoin higher, which in turn drives the company’s stock price higher, allowing the company to raise more capital to buy more Bitcoin, and thus Other listed companies followed suit.

Source: Investing.com

The Slow Recovery of NFT, GameFi, and Metaverse

NFT (non-fungible token), as a representative of digital artworks and collectibles, has achieved deep integration with concepts such as GameFi, metaverse, and AI in 2024. This integration not only enriches the application scenarios of NFT, but also promotes the development of the Metaverse eco.

Source: THE BLOCK

At the end of this year, well-known NFT leader Pudgy Penguins airdropped its token PENGU on a large scale, triggering a wave of NFT craze. The market has predicted that more NFT tokens will be issued next year, and market enthusiasm may be ignited.

However, compared with the last round of bull market data in 2021, the recovery of the NFT, GameFi, and metaverse markets is still slow. We look forward to ushering in more interesting and fun innovative products or technologies in 2025.

To Sum Up

Looking back at the popular narratives of the crypto market in 2024, it is not difficult to find that there are huge potentials and opportunities hidden behind them, from the approval of spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum to the carnival of Memecoin, from the multi-layered upgrade of the AI ​​narrative to DeFi With a strong resurgence, every popular narrative has witnessed the vigorous development and continuous innovation of the crypto market.

Looking forward to 2025, we have reason to believe that the crypto market will continue to thrive. With the gradual clarification of the regulatory environment and the influx of institutional investors, DeFi, AI, stablecoins, and other fields will usher in new development opportunities. At the same time, the competition of emerging public chains and the construction of a multi-chain eco will also bring more to the market.

In this process, we look forward to seeing the emergence of more innovative projects and the growth of outstanding companies. At the same time, we also hope that regulatory agencies can continue to improve relevant laws and regulations to provide strong guarantee for the healthy development of the market, and actively explore strategies to deal with various challenges and risks, so that we can work together to welcome the bright future of the crypto market.