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Author: Franklin Bi, partner at Pantera Capital; compiled by: 0xjs@Bitchain Vision
What is the path toward the mainstream of cryptocurrencies?
When you put aside noise and guessing, this is the most important issue.As investors, our job is to explore the path to adoption because this is where we find the next 100 times the opportunity.
But the best venture capitalists don’t predict the future.They look at the present very clearly.One thing that’s clear about the coming year: 2025 will be a turning point in the crypto industry.
Imagine what the internet would have been like if Jeff Bezos was jailed for selling books online.What would the Internet look like if Steve Jobs was sanctioned for launching the App Store?Or, what would the internet look like if Huang Renxun was forced to create Nvidia outside of the United States because of a choke action?This is the confusion that our industry is coming out.
2025 is the first time in blockchain history that entrepreneurs, regulators and policy makers have been able to finally unlock the path to adoption.
Facing the current and future road of openness, we return to the original question: What is ahead on the road adopted?Where will the biggest opportunity—the next 100- or even 1000-fold investment—be?
Just as “SoLoMo” (social/local/mobile) unleashed the potential of the internet in the 2010s,The convergence of three major trends will unlock the adoption of cryptocurrencies from 2025:
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Gateways – bringing traditional financial systems into the blockchain track;
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Developers – Easily build on the native economy of the Internet;
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Applications – Build meaningful applications for everyday life.
Gateways
From the introduction of electronic transactions in the 1970s to the digitalization of payments today, Wall Street has undergone 50 years of software upgrades.The steady and inevitable process of software eroding finance has taught us one thing:All financial assets will eventually migrate to their freest flow, most efficient trading, and most valuable areas.
Today, the blockchain network has provided guarantees for $3 trillion in crypto assets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) and small but powerful asset-backed tokens (tokenized USD and US Treasury bonds).The total financial assets held by households, governments and businesses around the world exceed US$1,000 trillion (10 trillion!).This means we still have 300 times potential growth.
Which innings of the game are we in?The player hasn’t even gotten off the car.Global assets and liabilities are reflected in the beginning of migration to the blockchain track.To be successful, we need gateways to connect us to traditional financial systems.
We must expand the scale of the platform that can effectively absorb new users and existing assets.Latin AmericanBitsoRegional remittance platforms such as the region are using blockchain to process more than 10% of US-Mexico remittances.OndoTokenization platforms such as the one are in a head-on confrontation with Franklin Templeton and BlackRock, bringing more than $20 trillion in US Treasury bonds to the chain.
Cryptocurrencies are spawning the first real global capital market, which is due to real-time settlement and borderless liquidity.But the global market needs global trading venues.Exchanges such as Figure and AvantisIt is integrating global supply and demand while changing the forex, credit and securities markets.
Finally, we need products that are compatible with existing systems, not just a parallel crypto world.They may look likePremium wallets for institutions provided by Fordefi.Or likeTipLink’s simple, granny-friendly solution for sending payments.
What does it look like when we get there?We believe that one day your net assets will have a greater value on the chain than off-chain.Once moved onto the chain, your wealth can instantly flow to all parts of the world.It can trade at low cost, no agency fees, and can obtain global demand to achieve its highest value.This is the way to no return.
Developers
There are currently about 100,000 developers developing applications on blockchain.That’s half the size of a tech giant in Silicon Valley.To achieve mainstream adoption, we need to increase this number by 100 times and attract 10 million developers.
Unlocking the creative potential of blockchain technology is crucial.Just as providing mobile developers with better tools unlocks the potential of the Apple App Store, we need tools that can simplify on-chain app building and creating useful new products.
In 2025, the blockchain development stack will make a major leap.A critical step depends on making the blockchain itself more convenient for developers to use.Expansion solutions such as Arbitrum’s optimistic rollup technology have created the first “broadband moment” for cryptocurrencies.But, likeArbitrum StylusSuch an upgrade may have a greater impact.Stylus enables developers to write smart contracts in multiple major programming languages such as C, C++, and Rust, opens the door to more than 10 million developers around the world.
Zero-knowledge technology was once considered too scary to be developed.but,StarkWare Development ToolkitNew tools like this make zero-knowledge realization unprecedentedly easy.Nowadays, zero-knowledge proof isFreedom Tool and other productsProvide support, Rarimo’s blockchain voting tool, has been deployed in Russia, Georgia and Iran to increase democratic participation.
Tools and infrastructure that support blockchain development will play a vital role in driving progress.Platforms like AlchemyHelping developers build and deploy on-chain applications at scale.By simplifying the development process, Alchemy has helped many projects succeed, from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to gaming applications.As the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, these developer platforms must keep pace so that developers can break through possible boundaries on the chain.
In 2025, the multi-chain world will continue to grow and may grow at a faster rate.As developers face increasingly complex challenges, new chains continue to emerge to address these challenges, each chain has its own strengths and weaknesses in computing, execution, or decentralization.To meet specific use cases such as games or transactions,Application-specific infrastructure such as B3In preparation.This explosive growth of chains, L2 and application chains requires seamless connection, and that’s whatCross-chain liquidity solutions such as Everclear and interoperability protocols such as OmniWhere it comes into play – let developers focus on building novel applications.
Web development has evolved from original coding to an intuitive codeless solution, now controlled by AI.We expect blockchain development to usher in similar developments.Every wave of technological advancements and developer-centric tools will usher in a new wave of talent.Ultimately, building on-chain applications may become as simple as using ChatGPT conversations.
Applications
How many people are on-chain users today?
According to most estimates, the number of on-chain users is about 80 million.This growth is largely due to the attractiveness of cryptocurrencies as Wall Street 2.0—a new place to raise funds, speculate and remittance.But expanding the number of users by 100 times to 8 billion will depend on the cryptocurrency’s shift from Wall Street to Main Street.
2025 is likely to be a turning point in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.This will be the “FarmVille moment” of blockchain technology.FarmVille is Facebook’s first social game hit.It has driven the network’s first exponential growth, transforming it from a photo-sharing app to a global platform.
Cryptocurrencies are accelerating towards their “FarmVille moment.”Onchain functionality is being integrated into new gaming and social applications.Like IGame studios like nfiniGodsCreating users who use onchain for the first time.TheirMobile Casual Game King of DestinyApp downloads have exceeded 2 million times in the past year, attracting those who spend more time on Candy Crush than on Coinbase.
On-chain gaming, social and collectibles activities account for about 50% of today’s independent active wallets.With our diverse user base involved in on-chain commerce, it is clear that blockchain will be disrupting more than Wall Street.
A new category of “productive” applications are leading a new industrial revolution.The rise of enterprises gave way to the rise of industrial networks.These applications, also known as DePIN, focus on underserved markets in areas such as wireless connectivity, hyperlocal data and human capital.They achieve this through on-chain coordination and market-driven mechanisms.Hivemapperis a decentralized map network that has mapped over 30% of the world’s roads, thanks to over 150,000 contributors, capable of delivering more timely and accurate data than Google Maps.
Importantly, these “productive” applications are tapping into real revenue streams.By 2025, we believe that the annual revenue of the DePIN industry will exceed $500 million in 2024.These industrial-grade cash flows provide a profitable pathway based on real-world utility, building a powerful business engine for new capital to flow into the on-chain economy.
But how do we get these apps to the hands of 8 billion people?In 2025, a new distribution model will emerge that can cover hundreds of millions of consumers on a large scale.Cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Binance areCreate your own chain to bring customers to the chain.Telegram and SonyWeb3 capabilities are being incorporated into its huge impact platform.Game companies are relaunching popular games with on-chain features, such asMapleStory, which may attract millions of players.PayPal and BlackRockInstitutions such as this are launching on-chain finance and payment solutions.
The convergence of these trends in 2025 will lead to a critical turning point.When the average person has reason to spend 60 minutes on the chain a week, the “on-chain” will become the new “online”.Forget the “killer app”.Just like we switch between applications on the internet, people have many reasons to spend time on the chain.They may do this for entertainment, connection or money.By then, the on-chain economy will quickly become a part of our daily lives.
Future Outlook
A new era will begin next year, and blockchain technology will begin to be integrated into our daily lives, just like the Internet.The transition from Wall Street to the average population is no accident—it is accelerating, driven by entertainment, business and practical applications.
To achieve this goal,We need to invest in more accessible gateways, improved technology and developer tools, and applications that solve real-world problems.
With mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies becoming a reality, the road ahead of us in 2025 is still full of 100 times the opportunity.
As a wise man once said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
