Investment themes to watch in crypto in 2025

Author: hitesh.eth

Compiled by: Deep Wave TechFlow

Pure information, no false hopes.

Before you start reading, I hope you can suspend your preconceptions and take a few minutes to carefully look at what I am going to share.

From a macro perspective, Web3 investment themes can be divided into two major categories: underlying infrastructure (infra) and application scenarios (apps).

Investments can essentially be divided into two types: those that may seem mundane in the short term but may pay off handsomely in the long run; and those that may be exciting in the short term but may end up worthless. A worthwhile investment.

Most cryptocurrency investors enter this market in pursuit of quick and substantial returns, and are willing to take corresponding risks.

As a result, people are more likely to choose cyclical investments -investments that are typically short-term and only valid during specific bull market cycles.

2025 will be the “Year of Regulation” in cryptocurrency.

The United States and some other major economies plan to introduce relevant regulations in their countries. The introduction of these regulations will not only increase the trust of traditional investors (especially the older generation), but also filter out the few cryptocurrencies with real potential

• only those projects backed by solid fundamentals and stable cash flow will stand out.

We can foresee that the market will usher in a new wave of traditional investors. These investors have “old money” and will be venturing into cryptocurrencies for the first time.

They will not invest blindly just because of market hype, but will carefully study the project, read the reports and data carefully, and only make investment decisions when it is logical.

In this context, decentralized finance (DeFi) will become an investment theme favored by traditional investors, and the other is the first layer protocol (L1) of the blockchain.

However, because DeFi projects have a lower market cap, they have greater room for growth and are highly consistent with fundamentals and data. This year, some DeFi projects have generated more than $100 million in revenue, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of traditional investors.

Traditional investors have huge amounts of capital, and sufficient capital is the key to healthy market growth. Don’t forget, many institutional investors are also led by traditional investors.

It is foreseeable that DeFi will eventually become one of the important layout directions for top institutional investors.

BlackRock has begun to cooperate with DeFi projects, and this trend is gradually taking shape.

DeFi is not a cyclical investment; it is more of a long-term investment, much like investors have viewed BTC and ETH in the past.

The long-term potential of AAVE may be considered comparable to that of ETH.

When you invest in blue-chip DeFi projects, you can focus on long-term development;

When you choose to invest in a new DeFi native project, you can consider short-term returns. These projects may also bring returns several times or even higher.

In a crypto market dominated by DeFi, many emerging projects will emerge one after another, and some established projects will also regain attention. You're going to see a wave of price increases around these projects.

In the DeFi field, many blue-chip applications (such as Uniswap) are planning to transform into underlying infrastructure projects. This transformation will further enhance the value potential of Tokens, and next year some projects may announce adjustments to the handling fee mechanism. You need to be prepared for this.

These changes will inject strong momentum into the development narrative of DeFi.

I expect DeFi to dominate at least two quarters of next year, much like AI did this year.

As for AI, I think 2025 will be the year that AI is widely criticized in pop culture for its rapid and uncontrolled expansion.

The discussion of “responsible AI” will take center stage.

Market activity around encrypted AI infrastructure, AI agents, and Initial Agentic Offerings may enter a period of adjustment due to the narrative of “responsible AI.”

But before that happens, I predict that AI agents will experience a bubble-like growth.

There are currently 13,000 agents on the market, and I expect this number to grow to at least 100,000.

We may then enter a bubble phase that bursts the following year.

Exactly in which quarter this occurs will depend on the time course of events related to AI regulation.

Regulation will also trigger interest in privacy infrastructure, so some major projects involving confidential DeFi, private computing, private storage and private reasoning will receive more attention, and this attention will also be reflected in their asset performance (PA) superior.

The meme market will continue to be active.

Although regulators may not support it, people will always find a way in because total prevention is impossible.

Speculators will continue to look for opportunities in the 100,000 new coins being added every day.

However, some established memes, such as DOGE and PEPE, may attract the attention of more serious investors.

Even if you don't like memes, you should consider setting aside some investment exposure to them.

2025 will also be the year that mobile Web3 wallets and super apps come to the fore.

Recently, a Web3 wallet company called Exodus was listed on NASDAQ with a valuation of US$1.2 billion, which may drive speculation in tokens related to Web3 wallets with strong revenue performance next year.

AI and DeFi will become the two core narratives next year:

• DeFi is poised to dominate;

• AI agents may enter a bubble stage;

• Meme speculation will attract more people to participate;

• Privacy and DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) will come to the fore in a certain quarter;

• Web3 wallets will gain more traction and drive mainstream adoption through easier user onboarding and a better experience.

The above is all I have to share.

Please note that I am neither an astrologer nor an expert in the field of cryptocurrency. I'm just a regular guy with some random thoughts about the market, so don't take my opinions too seriously.