Unlocking the new era of encryption: A preview of major industry events in 2025

Written by: Lei, Golden Finance

2025 is considered an important year for the encryption industry to mature and standardize. A series of major events and technological breakthroughs will push the market into a new stage and have a profound impact on the global financial system. The following are eight major events in the encryption industry worth paying attention to in 2025, along with their background and impact.

**1. Trump’s new administration takes office: a turning point in crypto

market regulation**

Trump’s second term is expected to bring a new direction to U.S. financial regulation, especially in policy-making at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new leadership team may adopt a more open and flexible regulatory attitude to promote market development.

background

1. Promotion of CFTC

• More commodity crypto-assets will be included in the regulatory scope: The CFTC may classify more mainstream crypto-assets (such as Solana and Polygon) as commodities to clarify their regulatory framework.

• Promote the expansion of the crypto derivatives market: The CFTC may accelerate the approval of more crypto futures and options transactions to provide institutional investors with a wider range of hedging tools.

• Global cooperation: Promote compliance and standardization of cross-border transactions by strengthening cooperation with regulatory agencies in other countries.

2. SEC transformation

• Expansion of spot ETFs: Following the Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, more mainstream asset ETFs (such as Solana, Hedera) may be approved, further promoting capital inflows.

• Implementation of the stablecoin regulatory framework: Stablecoins may be included in the "payment instrument" framework to promote the integration of mainstream payment and settlement systems.

3. Joint action between CFTC and SEC

• Launch a unified crypto-asset classification standard.

• Promote institutional funds to enter the crypto market more smoothly.

Influence

• Improved market transparency: A clear regulatory framework will reduce market uncertainty and attract large amounts of institutional capital.

• Industry reshuffle: Stricter compliance requirements may eliminate some small and medium-sized projects, and the market will develop in a more concentrated and mature direction.

2. Ethereum Dencun upgrade and Pectra technology innovation

Ethereum will usher in a number of technical upgrades in 2025, including the full implementation of Danksharding and an upgrade called "Pectra". These technical improvements will significantly enhance Ethereum’s scalability and user experience.

background

• Account abstraction (EIP-7702): Simplify user operations and support complex decentralized applications (DApps).

• Zero-knowledge proof support (EIP-2537): Improved privacy and scalability.

• Verifier staking limit increase (EIP-7251): Improve network efficiency and facilitate institutions to participate in staking.

• Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS): Reduce Layer-2 transaction costs and promote ecological expansion.

Influence

• Attract more developers and users into the Ethereum ecosystem.

• Promote the further development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT markets.

3. Implementation of the global stablecoin regulatory framework

In 2025, the G20 is expected to complete a unified regulatory framework for global stablecoins, which will have a significant impact on the issuance, reserve requirements and cross-border payment applications of stablecoins.

background

• Financing dynamics: Financing in the stablecoin field will reach US$1.86 billion in 2024, of which Stripe acquired Bridge Network for US$1.1 billion.

• Traditional institutions enter the game: PayPal’s PYUSD market value has exceeded US$1 billion, promoting the integration of stable currency payments and traditional payments.

• Regional regulation: The EU’s MiCA regulations and Hong Kong’s stablecoin sandbox program will be fully implemented in 2025.

Influence

• Accelerating popularity of international payments: Stablecoins will play an important role in high-inflation areas and international trade.

• Market size expansion: The market value of stablecoins is expected to exceed US$400 billion, becoming the fastest growing track in the encryption field.

4. Deep integration of AI and blockchain

The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is leading technological innovation, especially in the areas of AI wallets, decentralized AI agents, and AI training networks. In 2025, this integration will give rise to a number of new technologies and applications.

background

1. Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots (DACs): Blockchain-based AI chatbots can autonomously manage assets and complete complex tasks.

2. AI wallet: AI agents will support independent investment and payment functions.

3. Identity verification and privacy protection: AI technology is combined with blockchain to ensure the authenticity and privacy of interactions.

4. AI Agent: As a new generation of AI and blockchain protocols, Virtual promotes the application of AI in the Metaverse and Web3 through rapid deployment, autonomous agents, and plug-and-play infrastructure, attracting extensive community participation. and investment support. As the world's first chatbot, Eliza laid the theoretical foundation for human-computer interaction and provided important inspiration and historical accumulation for the logic and functions of modern AI agents.

5. Technology giants such as Google and Apple launch AI agent products. Decentralized AI networks (such as Fetch.ai) have become a hot spot in the market.

Influence

• The combination of AI and blockchain will help lower the technical threshold of Web3, enhance user privacy and security, and at the same time promote the integrated development of the virtual economy and the real economy. It is expected to generate more mainstream applications and technological breakthroughs by 2025, leading the industry Move towards maturity.

5. Global expansion of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs

The approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has brought capital inflows and mainstream recognition to the crypto market, and more assets may enter the ETF field in 2025.

background

• Capital inflows: As of December 2024, Bitcoin ETF management scale has exceeded 100 billion US dollars.

• Expanding to other assets: Several institutions have submitted applications for the Solana ETF, including Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary Capital. These applications will mainly be submitted in November 2024, and the final approval deadline is expected to be in early August 2025. At the same time, institutions such as Canary Capital and Bitwise have submitted applications for spot XRP ETFs to the SEC.

Influence

• Accelerated mainstreaming: The popularity of ETFs will enhance market liquidity and transparency.

• More institutions participate: Traditional institutional funds will flood in on a large scale.

6. Breakthrough in Tokenization of Real World Assets (RWA)

Real-world asset tokenization (RWA) achieved remarkable results in 2024, and the market size may further expand in 2025.

background

• Amount locked in 2024: The total RWA market value has reached US$60 billion.

• Main projects: Ondo Finance, Maple Finance and Centrifuge promote assets on the chain.

• Stablecoin market value: As of March 2024, stablecoins, as the largest sector of RWA, have a market value of more than US$150 billion.

• Tokenized financial products: Institutions such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Ondo Finance have launched their own tokenized financial products.

Influence

• Market size breakthrough: RWA lock-up volume is expected to exceed 200 billion US dollars.

• More asset classes: Tokenization will accelerate including stocks, real estate and commodities.

7. NFT renaissance

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are gradually transforming from their original art collections and speculation tools into more practical on-chain tools. In 2025, with the development of blockchain technology and the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, the potential of NFT in practical applications will be more widely explored

background

• Practicality has become the core driver: NFT is no longer limited to collection value, but has gradually been integrated into practical application scenarios, such as on-chain identity (DID), in-game assets, membership and consumer rewards.

• Emerging markets and cross-border cooperation: Projects such as Sofamon realize the economic value development of digital identities and wearable devices on the chain by combining NFT with the emoji market.

• Technology and industry support: NFT will show higher technical flexibility in 2024 and be used to mark, transfer and evaluate digital assets and real assets.

Influence

• Promote the maturity of the Web3 ecosystem: The practical implementation of NFT injects new vitality into the Web3 ecosystem. By integrating identity management, member benefits and innovative applications across industries.

• Reshaping the relationship between brands and consumers: The addition of traditional brands (such as IWC) shows that NFT has become an important tool for brands to redefine user experience and brand loyalty.

• Promote the protection and monetization of intellectual property: Projects like Story Protocol show that NFTs can be an important tool for intellectual property protection, especially in combating counterfeit products and empowering creators.

• Accelerate the integration of on-chain and off-chain economies: Through the tokenization and evaluation capabilities of NFT, crypto assets will be more closely connected with the real economy, providing higher transparency and liquidity for the capital market.

• Activeness and standardization of the investment market: The NFT market in 2025 will be more standardized. NFT is no longer a simple speculative tool, but an asset class with long-term value support.

8. DeFi 2.0: Improved capital efficiency and compliance

DeFi protocols will further develop in 2025 by enhancing capital efficiency, introducing on-chain credit, and integrating RWA.

background

• DeFi protocols will significantly promote the improvement of capital efficiency in 2024 and optimize the capital utilization model through innovative mechanisms. Traditional DeFi protocols (such as Aave, Compound) rely on high mortgage rate mechanisms, resulting in low capital efficiency, while emerging protocols adopt the Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) model, by holding liquidity pool assets or introducing Locking mechanisms to reduce dependence on external capital, such as Balancer and Curve’s “liquidity locking rewards” significantly improve liquidity stability.

• The introduction of on-chain credit is an important direction for the development of DeFi in 2024. Credit is assessed through user on-chain behaviors (such as transactions and repayment records), thereby reducing mortgage requirements and releasing more liquidity. For example, credit scoring protocols such as Arcx and Spectral have begun to be used on multiple lending platforms, while mainstream protocols such as Aave and Maple Finance are testing low-collateral or unsecured lending models, bringing new capital release paths to the DeFi field.

• The integration of real world assets (RWA) is another highlight of DeFi development in 2024, improving capital efficiency by tokenizing traditional assets such as bonds, real estate and accounts receivable. For example, MakerDAO added U.S. Treasury and corporate bonds as collateral, increasing its Dai stablecoin supply by more than 20%. In addition, Ondo Finance focuses on the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds, and its locked-up volume has exceeded US$600 million.

• Hyperliquid’s innovative token standards HIP-1 and HIP-2 enhance the utility and liquidity of tokens. HIP-1 allows users to create fungible tokens directly linked to the spot order book on the chain, promoting the token to a specialized financial instruments. Compared with the ERC-20 standard, it ensures instant tradability and high performance, and is specially designed for financial assets.

Influence

• Improved capital efficiency: POL and dynamic lending rates will attract more capital inflows, pushing the total value locked in DeFi to exceed US$300 billion in 2025.

• On-chain credit reshapes lending: The popularization of on-chain credit lowers the mortgage threshold, promotes doubling of the scale of low-mortgage lending, and attracts more users and capital participation.

• RWA tokenization expands asset classes.

• Acceleration of compliance and institutional participation: The introduction of a compliance framework attracts institutional funds, promotes the diversified development of DeFi, and strengthens its deep integration with traditional finance.

summary

2025 will be the year when the encryption industry matures and diversifies. These major events and trends will jointly promote market standardization, technological innovation and mainstreaming, while attracting more traditional institutions and retail users to join, and accelerating the deep integration of the encryption industry with the global financial system.