Original title of the article|A few of the things we're excited about in crypto (2025)
Translation | IRIS
Summary | This article explores the deep integration of blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and decentralized systems, and predicts key trends in 2025. The following are the main contents:
1. AI’s autonomous agent capabilities
AI wallets : AI agents need to have their own wallets and signing keys to independently participate in market activities and manage crypto assets. In the future, this will give rise to new use cases, such as AI running decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) or managing their own dedicated zones. Blockchain.
Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots (DACs) : DACs are independent chatbots running on a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that can autonomously generate content, manage assets, and prove their independence through cryptographic technology. Such robots may become the first truly Autonomous high-value cyber entities.
2. The importance of identity verification
As AI-generated content proliferates, privacy-preserving “proof of identity” systems become increasingly important to ensure the authenticity of digital interactions. This not only increases the cost of attack, but also strengthens the integrity and trust of the network.
3. New forms of decentralized governance
Liquid democracy : Liquid democracy, enabled by blockchain technology, will change online and offline governance models, allowing people to vote directly or by proxy. This model is expected to be piloted at low cost in local governance.
4. New applications of blockchain technology
Enterprises adopt stablecoins : Stablecoins are becoming a mainstream choice for corporate payments due to their low cost and fast payment functions, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises and the retail industry. In the future, large companies may also adopt this payment method to directly increase their profit margins.
On-chain government bonds : The government will explore issuing government bonds on the blockchain, which not only provides interest-based digital assets but also provides more collateral for the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Asset Tokenization : As the cost of blockchain infrastructure decreases, the tokenization of non-traditional assets (such as biological data, medical data, etc.) will become a new source of revenue, further promoting the decentralized economy.
5. Legal framework for decentralized organizations
DUNA (Decentralized Nonprofit Association) provides legal status for DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), especially in the United States, which helps to strengthen the project's economic activities, compliance management, and protection of token holders. rights and interests.
6. User experience and infrastructure optimization
Simplifying blockchain technology is key to attracting mainstream users. By designing more intuitive interfaces and dedicated crypto app stores, the industry is working to convert passive crypto asset holders into active users.
Developers will adopt more ready-made blockchain infrastructure rather than building it from scratch, thereby accelerating product development and focusing on user experience.
7. Expansion of blockchain applications
Prediction markets have shown their potential in 2024 and may evolve into more advanced information aggregation tools in the future for use in areas such as governance, finance, and community decision-making.
Web3’s “killer app” may enable seamless interaction with users by hiding technical complexity, similar to how Spotify simplified the music streaming experience.
This article provides a rich perspective on the future intersection of AI and blockchain technology, emphasizing the importance of balancing regulation and responsibility while promoting technological innovation. This trend will pave the way for the deep integration of technology and society. The full a16z article:
What we are most looking forward to in the crypto industry in 2025
Editor’s note: a16z has released its comprehensive list of “big ideas” that tech builders may need to tackle in the coming year, covering AI, U.S. dynamics, bio/health, crypto, enterprise, fintech, and more. Here’s a short list of what a16z’s crypto partners are excited about for what’s to come.
Artificial intelligence needs to have its own wallet to achieve subjective behavior
As AIs move from non-player characters (NPCs) to protagonists, they will begin to act as agents. However, until recently, AIs have not been able to act as agents. They still cannot act in a verifiable autonomous way (i.e., non- Human control) participates in markets—exchanging values, expressing preferences, coordinating resources.
As we’ve seen, AI agents like @truth_terminal can transact using cryptocurrency, which opens the door to all sorts of creative content opportunities. But the potential for AI agents to be more useful goes far beyond that — whether in satisfying As AI agent networks begin to take custody of their own crypto wallets, signing keys, and crypto assets, we will see interesting new use cases emerge. These use cases include AI operations or Verifying nodes in the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) — for example, helping distributed energy. Other use cases range from AI agents becoming real, high-value game players. We may even finally see the first AI-powered Owned and operated blockchain.
—Carra Wu
@carrawu on Twitter | @carra on Farcaster
Enter “Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots”
In addition to the AI that owns the wallet, there is also an AI chatbot that runs in a TEE (Trusted Execution Environment). TEE provides an isolated environment in which applications can execute, allowing for more secure distributed system designs. But in this case, the TEE was used to prove that the robot was autonomous and not controlled by a human operator.
Expanding on this concept, the next big idea will be what we call a decentralized autonomous chatbot (DAC, not to be confused with a decentralized autonomous company). Such a chatbot can communicate with people by publishing engaging content, whether it is entertaining or It will build its own following on decentralized social media; generate income from its audience through various means; and manage its assets in cryptocurrency. The relevant keys will be The keys are also managed in the TEE that runs the chatbot software - meaning no one except the software can access them.
As risks evolve, regulatory guardrails may be needed. But the key point here is decentralization: running on a permissionless set of nodes and coordinated by a consensus protocol, this chatbot may even become the first truly autonomous billion dollar entity.
—Dan Boneh, Karma, Daejun Park, and Daren Matsuoka
@danboneh on Twitter
@0xkarmacoma on Twitter | @karma on Farcaster
@daejunpark on Twitter
@darenmatsuoka on Twitter | @darenmatsuoka on Farcaster
As more people use artificial intelligence, we need unique proof of personhood
In a world rife with online impersonations, scams, multiple identities, deepfakes, and other realistic-yet-deceptive AI-generated content, we need “proof of personhood” — something that helps us confirm we’re interacting with a real human being. However, the new problem is not fake content; what is new is that it can now be produced at a much lower cost. AI has dramatically reduced the marginal cost of producing content that contains all the cues we use to judge the “reality” of something. .
Therefore, now more than ever, there is a need for methods to digitally link content to people, while maintaining privacy. “Proof of personhood” is an important component of establishing a digital identity. But here, it becomes a mechanism that increases Marginal cost of attacking an individual or compromising the integrity of a network: Acquiring a unique ID for a human is free, but expensive and difficult for an AI.
That’s why privacy-preserving “uniqueness” is the next big idea for building a web we can trust. Solving more than just proving personhood fundamentally changes the cost structure for malicious actors to attack. Therefore, “uniqueness” is the next big idea for building a web we can trust. property”—or resistance to Sebel attacks—is a non-negotiable property of any personality proof system.
—Eddy Lazzarin
@eddylazzarin on Twitter | @eddy on Farcaster
From prediction markets to better information aggregation mechanisms
Prediction markets made their first major appearance on the main stage in the 2024 US election, but as an economist who studies market design, I don’t think that 2025 will be the year that prediction markets themselves will be revolutionary. Rather, they will be the foundation for more distributed systems. The technology’s information aggregation mechanisms lay the foundation—mechanisms that can be applied in a variety of fields, from community governance and sensor networks to finance.
Last year proved the concept, but note that prediction markets themselves are not always a good way to aggregate information: they can be unreliable even for global “macro” events; The problem is that the prediction pool may be too small to get a meaningful signal. But researchers and technologists have decades of design frameworks for incentivizing people to share what they know (authentically) in different information environments. — from data pricing and purchasing mechanisms, to “Bayesian truth serums” for inducing subjective assessments — many of which are already being applied in crypto projects.
Blockchains are naturally suited to implementing these types of mechanisms—not only because they are decentralized, but also because they promote open, auditable incentives. Importantly, blockchains also make outputs public, so the results can be verified by Everyone interprets in real time.
—Scott Duke Kominers
@skominers on Farcaster | on Twitter
Businesses will increasingly accept stablecoins as a payment method
Over the past year, stablecoins have found product-market fit — not surprisingly, since they are the cheapest way to send dollars, making global payments fast. Stablecoins also make it easier for entrepreneurs to Payment rails enable enterprises to build new payment products on a single platform: no onboarding, minimum balance requirements, or proprietary software development kits. But large enterprises have yet to realize the significant cost savings and new profit opportunities that can be gained by switching to these payment rails.
While we’re seeing some enterprise interest in stablecoins (and early adoption in peer-to-peer payments), I expect to see a much larger wave of experimentation in 2025. Small and medium-sized enterprises with strong brands, built-in audiences, and painful payment costs will Businesses - restaurants, coffee shops, corner stores - will be the first to switch from credit cards. They do not benefit from credit card fraud protection (given the in-person transactions), and the transaction fees (30 cents per cup of coffee) are It’s also where they get hurt the most (it’s a big part of the profit loss).
We should also expect large businesses to adopt stablecoins. If stablecoins do take off as quickly as banks have historically, then businesses will try to disintermediate payment providers — adding 2% directly to their bottom line. Businesses will also start looking for New solutions to problems currently solved by credit card companies, such as fraud protection and identity verification.
—Sam Broner
@sambroner | @sambroner
Countries explore putting government bonds on blockchain
Putting government bonds on-chain would create a government-backed, interest-earning digital asset — without the surveillance concerns of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). These products could open up new avenues for decentralized finance (DeFi) lending and derivatives. The use of collateral in the protocol unlocks new sources of demand, adding further integrity and robustness to these ecosystems.
Therefore, as innovative governments around the world further explore the benefits and efficiencies of public, permissionless and irrevocable blockchains, some countries may try to issue government bonds on the chain. For example, the UK has already done so through its financial regulator, the FCA. The Financial Conduct Authority is exploring digital securities through a sandbox environment; its Treasury has also expressed interest in issuing digital gifts.
In the U.S., expect to see more discussions on how blockchain can improve transparency, efficiency, and participation in bond trading in the future, given the SEC’s plans to require clearing of Treasury securities through traditional, onerous, and costly infrastructure. discussion.
—Brian Quintenz
@brianquintenz on Twitter | @brianq on Farcaster
We will see wider adoption of new industry standard “DUNA” among US blockchain networks
In 2024, Wyoming passed a new law that recognized DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) as legal entities. DUNAs or “decentralized nonprofit organizations” are organizations that are designed to decentralize blockchain networks. It is designed for decentralized governance and is the only viable structure for U.S. projects. By incorporating DUNA into a decentralized legal entity structure, crypto projects and other decentralized communities can provide legal legitimacy to their DAOs — facilitating greater economic activities while providing liability isolation for token holders and managing tax and compliance needs.
DAOs — communities that govern the affairs of an open blockchain network — are an essential tool to ensure that the network remains open, non-discriminatory, and that value is not captured unfairly. DUNA can unlock the potential of DAOs, and several projects are already underway. As the US prepares to foster and accelerate progress for its crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect DUNA to become a standard for US projects. We also expect other states to adopt similar structures (Wyoming is leading the way; they were also the first to adopt the now-common LLC states)…especially with the rise of other decentralized applications such as for physical infrastructure/energy grids.
—Miles Jennings
@milesjennings on Twitter | @milesjennings on Farcaster
Online Liquid Democracy Goes Offline
As dissatisfaction with current governance and voting systems grows, there is a window to experiment with new, technology-enabled governance opportunities — not just online, but in the physical world. How the ETH Zuckerberg Foundation and other decentralized communities allow us to study political institutions, behavior, and rapidly evolving governance experiments at scale. But what if we could apply these learnings to physical world governance via blockchains?
We can eventually use blockchain for secure, private voting in elections, starting with low-risk pilots to limit cybersecurity and audit issues. But importantly, blockchain will also allow us to experiment with “Liquid Democracy” at the local level— —A way for people to vote on issues directly or by proxy. The idea was originally proposed by Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland and a prolific researcher on voting systems); however, It has been impractical at scale… until now. Recent advances in computing and connectivity, along with blockchains, make new forms of representative democracy possible. Crypto projects are already applying this concept, generating a lot of buzz about these Data on how the system works – see the results of our recent research – that local governments and communities can learn from.
—Andrew Hall
@ahall_research on Twitter | on Farcaster
Builders will reuse rather than reinvent infrastructure
Last year, teams continued to reinvent the wheel in the blockchain technology stack - a new set of validators, consensus protocol implementations, execution engines, programming languages, RPC APIs. These efforts were sometimes slightly improved in specialized features, But they often lack in broader or more basic functionality. For example, a dedicated programming language for SNARKs: while an ideal implementation might allow an ideal developer to produce more efficient SNARKs, in practice it may not be possible to achieve a general purpose language (at least for now). Such performance in compiler optimization, development tools, online learning materials, AI programming support, etc. may even lead to the performance degradation of SNARKs.
As a result, I expect more teams to leverage the contributions of others and reuse more off-the-shelf blockchain infrastructure components in 2025 — from consensus protocols to existing invested capital to proof systems. This approach will not only help build It will save investors a lot of time and energy and will also allow them to focus ruthlessly on the differentiated value of their products/services.
The infrastructure is finally in place to build production-ready web3 products and services. Just like in other industries, these will be built by teams that can successfully navigate complex supply chains, not by teams that dismiss anything as “not invented here.”
—Joachim Neu
@jneu_net on Twitter
Crypto companies will start from the end user experience, rather than letting the infrastructure determine the user experience
While blockchain technology infrastructure is fascinating and diverse, many crypto companies don’t just choose their infrastructure — in some ways, the infrastructure is also choosing the user experience (UX) for them and their users. Because specific technology choices at the infrastructure level are directly related to the end-user experience of blockchain products/services.
But I believe the industry will overcome the ideological hurdle implicit here: technology should determine the end user experience, not the other way around. By 2025, more crypto product designers will start with what they want the end user experience to be, And then pick the right infrastructure from there. Crypto startups no longer have to focus so heavily on specific infrastructure decisions before finding product-market fit — they can focus on actually finding product-market fit.
Rather than getting bogged down in specific EIPs, wallet providers, intent architectures, etc., we can abstract these choices and take a comprehensive, full-stack, plug-and-play approach. The industry is ready for this: programmable blockchains There is enough space, developer tools are maturing, and chain abstraction is starting to democratize the people who design crypto products. Most technical end users don’t care what language the product is written in on a daily basis. The same will start to happen in crypto.
—Mason Hall
@0xMasonH on Twitter | @mason on Farcaster
“Hidden Circuits” Help Web3’s Killer Applications Birth
Blockchain’s technological superpowers are what make it special, but have so far also hindered its mainstream adoption. For creators and fans, blockchain unlocks possibilities for connectivity, ownership, and monetization. ... but industry jargon (“NFTs,” “zkRollups,” etc.) and complex design create barriers for those who can benefit most from these technologies. I’m speaking with executives in the media, music, and fashion industries. I have witnessed this firsthand in countless conversations with people I have met before.
Many mass adoptions of consumer technologies follow this path: start with the technology; some iconic company/designer abstracts away the complexity; this helps unlock some breakthrough applications. Think about the beginnings of email — SMTP protocol hidden behind the "Send" button; or credit card, most users today no longer think about payment tracks. Similarly, Spotify revolutionized the music world not by showing off the file format - but by putting song playlists in our hands. Fingertips. As Nassim Taleb observes, "Overengineering creates brittleness. Simplicity scales."
That’s why I think our industry will adopt this ethos in 2025: “Hide the Line.” The best decentralized applications are already focusing on more intuitive interfaces, making it as easy as touching a screen or swiping a card. , we’ll see more companies designing simply and communicating clearly; successful products don’t need explanations; they solve problems.
—Chris Lyons
@chrislyons on Twitter | on Farcaster
The crypto industry finally has its own app store and discovery platform
When crypto apps were blocked on centralized platforms like the Apple App Store or Google Play, it limited their user acquisition channels. But we are now seeing new app stores and marketplaces providing this distribution and discovery service, And there are no limits. For example, Worldcoin’s World App marketplace — which not only stores proof of personhood but also allows access to “mini-apps” — enabled tens of thousands of users for a few apps in just a few days. One example is the fee-free dApp store for Solana mobile users. These examples also show how hardware (not just software — phones, spheres) can be a key advantage for crypto app stores… just like Apple devices were to early app ecosystems The importance of the same.
Meanwhile, there are other stores with thousands of dapps and web3 development tools, covering popular blockchain ecosystems (e.g., Alchemy); as well as blockchains that act as game publishers and distributors (see Ronin ). However, it’s not all fun and games: if a product already has an existing distribution channel — such as on a messaging app — it’s difficult to migrate it to the chain (exception: Telegram/TON network). The same is true for applications that have significant distribution on web2. But we may see more of this migration activity in 2025.
—Maggie Hsu
@meigga on Twitter | @maggiehsu on Farcaster
Cryptocurrency owners become crypto users
In 2024, cryptocurrency as a political movement has seen significant growth, with key policymakers and politicians viewing it positively. We have also seen it grow as a financial movement (e.g. Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs have expanded By 2025, cryptocurrencies should develop further as a computing sport. But where will these new users come from?
I think now is the time to re-engage current “passive” cryptocurrency holders and turn them into more active users, as only 5-10% of people who own cryptocurrencies are actively using them. The introduction of 617 million people who own cryptocurrencies on-chain — especially as blockchain infrastructure continues to improve, transaction fees for users are decreasing. This means new applications will begin to emerge for existing and new users. At the same time, The early applications we’ve seen — such as stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs, games, social, DePIN, DAOs, and prediction markets — are also starting to become more accessible to mainstream users as the community focuses more on user experience and other improvements.
—Daren Matsuoka
@darenmatsuoka on Twitter | on Farcaster
Industries may begin tokenizing “non-traditional” assets
As the crypto industry and other emerging technology infrastructures mature, the practice of tokenizing assets will spread across industries. This will allow assets that were previously expensive or lacked recognition as valuable to not only achieve liquidity, but More importantly, participating in the global economy. AI engines can also consume this information as unique data sets.
Just as hydraulic fracturing has unlocked oil reserves once thought untouchable, tokenizing non-traditional assets could redefine income generation in the digital age. Scenarios that seemed like science fiction have become more possible: For example, individuals could tokenize They can digitize their own biometric data; then rent that information to companies through smart contracts. We’ve already seen early examples of this, such as DeSci, which uses blockchain technology to bring more ownership, transparency, and We have yet to see how this future will play out, but this type of development will allow people to take advantage of previously untapped assets in a decentralized manner, rather than relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provide them with these assets.
—Aaron Schnider
@aaronschnider on Twitter
