Original title: "Q4 Watchlist: AI x Meme Cults, Solana's Dominance, DeFi 1.0's comeback, and more"
Original author: @thedefiedge
Original translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's note: The text emphasizes that Aave's $GHO extension and Uniswap's Unichain plan may reactivate DeFi 1.0, although there are not many other promising DeFi tokens, hoping to seize the opportunity of market recovery and overcome the negative sentiment of the bear market.

The following is the original content (for ease of reading and understanding, the original content has been reorganized):

After six months of market volatility, the market is now full of vitality again. Solana and Base performed well, and AI Meme coins also brought new topics. Some people predict that Bitcoin may break the $100,000 mark in the coming months.

Here are some positive factors:

· The US presidential election will be held in two weeks, and if Trump wins, it will be a major positive for cryptocurrencies.

· On-chain indicators continue to be bullish, with Base and Solana's TVL (total locked value), transaction volume, and number of active addresses all rising.

· Stripe just acquired Bridge, a stablecoin payment platform. In the long run, many people underestimate the positive impact this will have on cryptocurrencies.

· AI x Meme is an emerging field that may become the "NFT" in this cycle, attracting more retail users.

Market sentiment is warming up and optimism is returning.

Now is the best time to get rid of the trauma of the bear market and start again. I can't imagine being marginalized at this moment of opportunity. With so many different protocols and narratives in the market, it can be hard to tell which ones are real signals and which ones are just noise. Here are a few that I will be watching in the coming months.

Transparency note: These are my honest opinions and I have not been paid to promote any of the protocols in this article. I apologize for not being able to cover all the interesting narratives and protocols, please do your own research as this article is limited in space.

1. A.I. Agents x Meme Coins: Cultural Cults Are Back

Meme coins have been an important part of the space since the beginning of cryptocurrency.

The way it works is actually very simple: Meme coins usually gain attention in a lighthearted way by being associated with viral hot topics or characters. However, traditional meme coins are "static" and their popularity mainly depends on the spread of the community.

But what if meme coins can evolve? What if meme coins can promote themselves? This is exactly where A.I. agents come in. (AI agents are intelligent systems that can perform specific tasks autonomously without human intervention.)

Last week, $GOAT (Goatseus Maximus) became a hot spot for AI agent speculation, soaring from zero to a market value of $500 million in a week. So, what is $GOAT? Truth Terminal is an autonomous chatbot that manages its Twitter account and generates content independently.

It posted some tech-philosophical content, but later focused on "GOATSE OF GNOSIS", a pseudo-religion based on old (and explicit) internet memes. An anonymous person created the Goatseus Maximus ($GOAT) token and airdropped a portion of it to the founder of Truth Terminal.

Next, Truth Terminal spontaneously began promoting $GOAT on Platform X. An AI promoting "its own" Meme coin? People are flocking to it. It has the "basic elements of Meme coins": high liquidity and fair distribution, without too much venture capital or insider control of the Meme coin "secret alliance".

Several reasons why AI Meme coins continue to attract market attention:

1. Truth Terminal has more than 100,000 followers and the number of followers is still growing. The reach of each tweet is amazing, it tweets every hour, it is a KOL who never rests.

2. Currently no AI Meme coin is listed on centralized exchanges (CEX), but $GOAT has a daily trading volume of $374 million and has clearly entered the attention list of top CEXs. (Update: Binance just announced the launch of Goat's perpetual contract).

3. It is constantly evolving, AI understands itself better than any human, and it will continue to learn and grow.

4. This is the intersection of cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and religion - a combination of multiple cultural worship.

5. We have just scratched the surface of this emerging field. How can we participate? The easiest way may be to hold the leader $GOAT and wait and see. Some potential followers such as Fartcoin and Gnon are also rising.

Warning: A large number of scams will try to rise in this craze, but their token distribution is far less than $GOAT. I am sure that many so-called "AI agents" are actually just programmers who stay up late.

Looking back at 2021, NFTs have successfully attracted the attention of retail investors. AI agent xMeme coins have similar potential. $GOAT's market value is likely to easily exceed the $1 billion mark. But don't forget that Meme coins go up fast and fall fast. So, make sure to lock in profits in time.

2. Solana: Riding the Meme Coin and AI Wave

Solana not only performs well on a technical level, it also has a place in the current meme coin and AI craze.

The first millionaires of the gold rush were not the diggers, but those who sold them shovels and pickaxes. Look, I love Ethereum, but it would be unwise to ignore Solana's progress and popularity. The data doesn't lie.

Solana is currently riding a wave of popularity based on the explosive growth of meme coins and the development of AI-driven robots. With the rise of meme coins and the increase in trading volume, Solana is back in the spotlight.

Solana Seizes Opportunity of Meme Coins and AI Tokens

Well-known meme coins such as SLOP, GNON, Shegen, and FART have attracted widespread attention, while $GOAT has become a leader among AI tokens. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, Solana created an average of 96,010 tokens per day, of which Pump.Fun contributed about 9,000, accounting for 9.3% of the total.

Solana is not only the home of meme coins, but also a number of other innovative DeFi protocols. Here are the three major projects worth paying attention to:

Jupiter: They focus on exchanges and perpetual contracts, and recently launched a new trading platform designed specifically for meme coins - ApePro.

Kamino Finance: Since its launch last year, Kamino Lend has captured nearly 70% of the Solana market with a total locked value (TVL) of $1.65 billion.

Pump.fun: Solana's Meme coin factory, with possible airdrops in the future. They launched a new internal trading tool Pump Advanced and introduced a video tokenization feature that allows users to turn videos into tradable assets, adding a unique dimension to Meme culture.

As Solana continues to innovate and attract diverse projects, it is becoming a potential competitor to Ethereum. The combination of Meme coins and AI tokens not only enriches its ecology, but also enhances community participation, making Solana attractive to emerging retail users or "dumb money" investors.

But also keep an eye on transaction fees and network congestion during periods of high activity, and while Solana’s technology can handle high throughput, the meme coin craze can sometimes challenge its limits.

4. AI: Don’t Ignore Crypto AI Tokens

The combination of meme coins and AI is currently attracting all the attention, but we shouldn’t ignore AI tokens in the crypto space.

One of the leaders is TAO, Bittensor (TAO) is an infrastructure project in this space, focusing on AI practicality:

The Opentensor Foundation recently launched an Ethereum compatibility layer that connects the over $300 billion Ethereum ecosystem.

Real Adoption: 3 major DeFi protocols are already being developed on Bittensor’s machine learning infrastructure.

Multiple revenue streams: transaction fees, staking, and AI services.

Target quarterly revenue of more than $10 million.

Institutional support: Two large crypto VCs increased their holdings in September.

Solana is expected to become the leader of a new round of market enthusiasm with its innovation and rapid growth in the fields of Meme coins and AI.

AI x Meme narrative attention source: KaitoAi

An interesting strategy to capture opportunities in the field of AI is through "double punch":

$GOAT (High Risk, High Virality Potential)

$TAO (Infrastructure Layout)

Both are worth watching in Q4 and both have mature community support, attracting both Meme coin traders and AI enthusiasts.

AI agents are now experiencing their breakout, and one protocol I’m particularly focused on is Virtuals Protocol. Some have described it as the Pump.fun of AI agents, and it’s well worth a closer look.

This dual strategy combines high-risk, high-reward Meme coins with solid AI infrastructure investments to profit from short-term viral effects while laying the foundation for long-term technological development.

Virtuals Protocol allows users to co-own AI agents in the gaming and entertainment space. Imagine you could co-own these entertainment robots deployed on platforms like TikTok, Roblox, etc. This innovation not only changes the way users interact with virtual worlds, but also brings new business models to AI agents.

Goodbye Fantom, hello Sonic Chain!

Fantom was all the rage in 2021, with a locked-in value (TVL) of $8 billion. I still remember the frenzy surrounding the SOLIDLY airdrop for the Fantom protocol.

Now, Fantom is undergoing a transformation, renaming itself Sonic Chain with a focus on speed and scalability. With the return of Andre Cronje, expectations are high.

So what’s new with Sonic Chain? It promises faster transaction speeds, up to 10,000 TPS (transactions per second). While not the fastest in the industry, it’s enough to put Sonic Chain in the race for high-speed public chains. Coupled with an improved token economics model, Sonic Chain has become one of the most anticipated projects for Q4 2024.

This transformation could bring new life to Fantom, especially as competition for fast chains intensifies, Sonic Chain’s performance will be worth keeping a close eye on.

Some of the key catalysts for Sonic Chain’s upcoming launch include:

Liquid Staking: Liquid staking will be available on Sonic with the launch of Pendle.

DeFi Integration: Sonic will integrate mainstream DeFi protocols such as Curve, KyberSwap, Snapshot, etc. early to bring richer features to its ecosystem.

New Fee Monetization Model: Sonic’s fee sharing mechanism allows developers to earn up to 90% of fee income, incentivizing developers to participate actively.

Developer Incentive Program: Sonic is attracting developers through multiple projects, including educational and onboarding programs such as Sonic & Sodas, Sonic Boom, and Sonic University.

Sonic Arcade: This platform drove 20% growth in TVL last quarter, demonstrating its potential in incentivizing capital inflows.

The last word - money is always the most powerful driving force.

Sonic has confirmed approximately $132 million in airdrops, which has led to a significant increase in on-chain activity, with users bridging to qualify for airdrops. Andre Cronje's involvement, huge airdrops, upcoming DeFi tools, and changes in token economics are likely to drive Sonic's growth in Q4.

New Ethereum Layer 2 or application chains are released every day, but Solana's dominance, as well as the rise of Aptos and Sui, show that Alt Layer 1 (alternative public chains) still have broad room for development.

In the competition for Alt Layer 1, Solana can be considered an Alpha investment, while Sonic is a Beta investment.

My concerns:

Key person risk of Andre Cronje: Although he is very innovative, he has "disappeared" in the past. His contribution to Sonic cannot be ignored, but it also means a high dependence on the project.

Lack of innovative Dapps: In the past few years, there have not been many innovative Dapps launched on Fantom, and the top applications are still Beethoven X and SpookySwap.

Intense competition: The rapid development of other Layer 2 and Layer 1 public chains may put pressure on Sonic.

Maintaining momentum after the airdrop: Whether Sonic can continue to grow after the airdrop is an important question.

Nevertheless, Sonic's innovative initiatives are worth paying attention to, especially in the current competitive ecosystem, and it has done well enough to deserve investors' attention.

6. Aerodrome - Base's secret weapon

Base's current dominance is no secret. It has officially become the largest Layer 2 on Ethereum and ranks first in locked value (TVL).

Aerodrome's TVL has exceeded US$1.36 billion, firmly ranking among the top players in the Base chain DeFi ecosystem.

Among them, the main credit goes to the promotion of the following two funds pools:

Aerodrome's market dominance

Current locked value (TVL): US$1.36 billion (56% of Base's total TVL)

30-day growth: The growth rate reached 56%, while the market average growth was only 15%

Market share: 80% of Base's decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume

Average daily trading volume: more than US$150 million

As Base matures, Aerodrome's importance as its default DEX will continue to increase, and it is expected to become a core player in the Base ecosystem.

Comparison of Base with other Layer 2 (past 30 days):

Average daily transactions

Base: average daily transaction volume of 5.6 million

Arbitrum: average daily transaction volume of 2.1 million

Optimism: average daily transaction volume of 850,000

Active Addresses

Base: 1.5M MAA

Arbitrum: 780K MAA

Optimism: 690K MAA

TVL Growth

Base: $2.5B

Arbitrum: $2.4B

Optimism: $681M

Base’s Potential and Future Catalysts

Real-World Asset (RWA) Integration: Platforms like Centrifuge could potentially bring real-world assets to Base, thereby attracting more liquidity and traditional finance participants to its ecosystem.

GameFi and NFTs: Base’s scalability makes it an ideal candidate for a new gaming platform or NFT marketplace to tap into these growing crypto narratives.

Developer Incentives: Base, backed by Coinbase, could potentially foster growth through developer incentives like hackathons and grant programs, attracting more talent to the ecosystem.

Aerodrome’s dominance has established a strong DeFi ecosystem on Base, attracting both retail and institutional players. Growing alongside top protocols like Uniswap, Aave, Balancer, Sushiswap, Curve, Stargate, Base has the potential to attract an entire ecosystem of users and take a prominent position in the Layer 2 race.

DeFi 1.0 - Don’t Underestimate the Old Firms

Remember when Aave and Uniswap ruled the DeFi space? It was a time of innovation and endless possibilities (and Sam Bankman Fried was still scamming).

Now, they are back in the market with aggressive expansion plans:

Aave Protocol plans to introduce its native stablecoin $GHO to new ecosystems such as Base and Avalanche. $GHO is Aave's native stablecoin and currently ranks 18th with a market cap of $160.1 million. At the beginning of 2024, $GHO had a market cap of $35 million, up 350% in the past ten months. These moves show that old DeFi projects are regaining vitality and should not be underestimated.

Aave Protocol Revenue Growth, Data Source: Token Terminal

Aave’s Growth Metrics:

Revenue: As of now, Aave’s annual revenue has reached $50 million, far ahead of all lending protocols.

$GHO Stablecoin: Circulating supply reached $160 million.

ETH Locked Volume (TVL): As deposits approach previous historical highs, the current locked volume is 5.1 million ETH (over $11 billion).

Grayscale announced the launch of its Aave Trust Fund.

Market Competition: $GHO is now competing with the top 15 stablecoins, showing demand from institutional investors.

Uniswap is preparing to launch its own chain, Unichain. In last week’s newsletter, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the Uniswap v4 ecosystem update and the launch response of Unichain. In case you missed it, here is an update on Uniswap’s strategic dynamics:

· With the launch of Unichain, a major liquidity migration is expected to occur.

· One of the main goals of Unichain is to reduce users’ gas fees by up to 95%.

· The launch of Unichain may introduce new staking mechanisms.

· The introduction of a revenue sharing model may incentivize the accumulation of $UNI.

· Currently, there are more than 400,000 on-chain wallets holding $UNI tokens.

DeFi thought sharing reached its peak in August, data source: KaitoAi

Aave's $GHO expansion and Uniswap's ambitious Unichain plan are expected to reactivate DeFi 1.0 and put these giants back in the spotlight. These initiatives may redefine the dynamics of stablecoins and reshape the landscape of decentralized exchanges (DEX).

I tried looking for some other DeFi 1.0 tokens that could potentially recover, but there aren’t many promising examples MakerDao rebranded to Sky a few months ago and has begun considering canceling its recent $500,000 revamp.

It’s time to lock in

The past few years have been tough, with countless Ponzi schemes, the collapse of Terra Luna, and the bankruptcy of FTX sending us into a long bear market. And it seems like the entire industry is focused on building more Ethereum Layer 2s. I can feel the tide turning now.

Here are some important tips:Lock in opportunities. Stop doing nothing and shake off the trauma of the bear market. Green candles are everywhere and the market has strong tailwinds. We can’t all succeed. No one “deserves” the opportunity to make money. But you know what? The opportunity is here, waiting for you to grab it.

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