Core Themes Outlook for Web3 Investment Field in 2025: Decentralized Finance and AI

The year 2025 will become the regulatory year for the cryptocurrency sector. Multiple major economies plan to introduce relevant regulations domestically, which will not only enhance the confidence of traditional investors but also filter out truly promising projects. Only those projects with solid fundamentals and stable cash flow will stand out.

The market is expected to welcome a wave of new traditional investors. These investors have strong financial backing and will be entering the cryptocurrency space for the first time. They will not blindly follow trends, but will seriously study projects, carefully analyze data, and make investment decisions based on logical reasoning.

Against this background, Decentralized Finance ( DeFi ) is expected to become one of the favored investment themes for traditional investors. Due to the relatively low market cap of DeFi projects, their growth potential is greater and highly aligned with fundamentals and data. This year, some DeFi projects have already generated over $100 million in revenue, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of traditional investors.

Traditional investors have large amounts of capital, and sufficient funds are key to the healthy development of the market. Many institutional investors are also dominated by traditional investors. It is foreseeable that DeFi will ultimately become one of the important layout directions for top institutional investors. This trend is gradually taking shape.

Decentralized Finance is not a cyclical investment, but a long-term investment, just like how investors viewed BTC and ETH in the past. The long-term potential of certain well-known DeFi projects may be regarded as comparable to ETH. When investing in blue-chip DeFi projects, one can focus on the long term; while when choosing brand new native DeFi projects, one can consider short-term gains, as these projects may also bring several times or even higher returns.

In the DeFi-dominated crypto market, emerging projects will continue to emerge, and some established projects will regain attention. The market will witness waves of price increases surrounding these projects. Many well-known DeFi applications are planning to transform into underlying infrastructure projects, and this transformation will further enhance the value potential of Tokens. Next year, some projects may announce adjustments to their fee mechanisms, and investors need to be prepared for this. These changes will inject strong momentum into the development of DeFi.

It is expected that DeFi will dominate at least two quarters of next year, with performance likely similar to this year's AI trend.

As for AI, it may face widespread criticism in popular culture by 2025 due to its rapid and difficult-to-control expansion. Discussions around "responsible AI" will become the focus. Market activities concerning crypto AI infrastructure, AI agents, and the issuance of initial agents may enter a period of adjustment due to the narrative of "responsible AI."

But before that, AI agents may experience a round of bubble-like growth. Currently, there are 13,000 agents on the market, and this number is expected to grow to at least 100,000. Subsequently, it may enter a bubble phase and burst the following year. The specific timing will depend on the progress of events related to AI regulation.

Regulation will also trigger attention on privacy infrastructure, therefore, major projects involving confidential Decentralized Finance, privacy computing, privacy storage, and privacy inference will receive more attention, and this attention will also be reflected in their asset performance.

The Meme market is expected to remain active. Although regulators may take a contrary stance, people will always find ways to participate. Speculators will continue to look for opportunities among the large number of new coins added daily. Some established Memes may attract the attention of more serious investors. Even if you are not fond of Memes, you should consider leaving some investment exposure for them.

2025 will also be a year when mobile Web3 wallets and super applications come to the forefront. Recently, a Web3 wallet company went public on Nasdaq with a valuation of $1.2 billion, which may drive a speculative frenzy next year around tokens related to Web3 wallets with strong revenue performance.

Overall, AI and Decentralized Finance will become the two core themes of next year:

• Decentralized Finance is expected to dominate.
• AI agents may enter a bubble phase
• Meme speculation will attract more participants
• Privacy and DePIN( decentralized physical infrastructure network) will emerge in a certain quarter.
• Web3 wallets will receive more attention and drive mainstream adoption through more convenient user guidance and a higher quality experience.

The above views only represent personal opinions and should not be considered professional advice. Investors should make judgments based on their own circumstances.