Original title: A few of the things we're excited about in crypto (2025)
Original author: A16zcrypto
Original translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's note:a16z released a comprehensive list of "big ideas" that technology builders may solve in the coming year, including artificial intelligence, American vitality, bio/health, encryption, enterprise, financial technology, games, infrastructure and other fields. The crypto industry will usher in decentralized application stores to promote the distribution of crypto applications and increase user activity. As infrastructure matures, more industries will tokenize unconventional assets, especially in the fields of medical care and personal data management to open up new economic opportunities.

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

An AI needs to have its own wallet to play an agent role

As AIs transition from NPCs (non-player characters) to protagonists, they will begin to act as independent agents. However, until recently, AIs have not been able to truly act independently. They still cannot participate in market exchanges, show preferences, or coordinate resources in a verifiable autonomous way - that is, without human control.

As we have seen, AI agents (such as truth terminals) are already able to trade in cryptocurrencies, which provides all kinds of opportunities for creative content. But the potential for AI agents to become more useful goes far beyond this - not only can they better meet human needs, but they can also become independent network participants.

When AI agents begin to host their own crypto wallets, signing keys, and crypto assets, we will see some interesting new application cases. For example, AI might operate or verify nodes in a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) — helping distributed energy, for example. Other use cases include AI agents becoming true high-value game players, and we might even end up seeing the first blockchain owned and operated by AI.

——Carra Wu

Enter "Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots"

In addition to AI owning wallets, there is also an AI chatbot that runs a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). TEE provides an isolated environment in which applications can be executed, allowing for more secure distributed system designs. But in this case, the role of the TEE is to prove that the robot is autonomous, not operated by a human.

Going a step further, the next big concept to be discussed is what we call a “decentralized autonomous chatbot” (DAC), which is different from a decentralized autonomous company (DAC). This chatbot can build a fan base by publishing attractive content, whether entertaining or informative.

It will build a fan base on decentralized social media, generate income from its audience in a variety of ways, and manage its crypto assets. The relevant keys will be managed by the TEE running the chatbot software - meaning that no one except the software can access these keys.

As the risks increase, some regulatory framework may be needed. But the key here is decentralization: by running on a permissionless collection of nodes and coordinating through a consensus protocol, the chatbot can even become the first truly autonomous billion-dollar entity.

—Dan Boneh, Karma, Daejun Park, and Daren Matsuoka

As AI becomes ubiquitous, we need unique “human identity verification”

In a world of online impersonations, scams, multi-identities, deepfakes, and other realistic-but-deceptive AI-generated content, we need “human identity verification”—some mechanism that can help us confirm that we are interacting with real humans. The new problem, however, is not the fake content, but the fact that it can now be produced at a much lower cost. AI has significantly reduced the marginal cost of producing content that contains all the cues we use to judge “real” content.

As a result, now more than ever, we need a way to digitally link content to people, while preserving privacy. “Human identity verification” is an essential component of establishing a digital identity. But here, it becomes a mechanism that increases the cost for malicious actors to attack individuals or undermine the integrity of the network: getting a unique ID is free for humans, but expensive and difficult for AI.

This is why the privacy-preserving “uniqueness” property is the next big concept for building a web we can trust. Not only does it solve the problem of proving identity, it fundamentally changes the cost structure for malicious attackers. The “uniqueness property” — or Sybil resistance — is therefore a non-negotiable property of any human identity verification system.

— Eddy Lazzarin

From Prediction Markets to Better Information Aggregation

Prediction markets entered the mainstream arena in 2024 with the US election, but as an economist who studies market design, I don’t think prediction markets themselves will become transformative in 2025. Instead, prediction markets pave the way for more information aggregation mechanisms based on distributed technologies — mechanisms that can be applied to everything from community governance and sensor networks to finance.

Last year proved this concept, but it’s important to note that prediction markets themselves aren’t always a good way to aggregate information: they can be unreliable even for global “macro” events; for “micro” problems, the prediction pool may be too small to provide meaningful signals. But researchers and technologists have decades of design frameworks for incentivizing people to (truthfully) share what they know in different information environments — from data pricing and purchasing mechanisms to “Bayesian truth serums” for capturing subjective assessments — many of which have been applied to crypto projects.

Blockchains have always been a natural platform for implementing these mechanisms — not only because they are decentralized, but also because they facilitate open, auditable incentives. Importantly, blockchains also make outputs public, so the results can be interpreted by everyone in real time.

——Scott Duke Kominers

Businesses will increasingly accept stablecoin payments

Stablecoins have found product-market fit over the past year — not surprising, as they are the cheapest way to send USD and enable fast global payments. Stablecoins also provide entrepreneurs with a more accessible payment platform: no onboarding, minimum balances, or proprietary SDKs. But large enterprises have yet to realize the huge cost savings and new profit opportunities that switching to these payment systems will bring them.

While we’ve seen some enterprise interest in stablecoins (and early adoption in peer-to-peer payments), I expect to see a greater wave of experimentation in 2025. Small/medium businesses with strong brands, established audiences, and high payment costs — restaurants, cafes, small shops, for example — will be the first to switch from credit cards to stablecoins. Since transactions take place in person, they don’t benefit from credit card fraud protections, and are also the most impacted by transaction fees (a 30 cent fee loss per cup of coffee is a huge profit loss!).

We should also expect large businesses to adopt stablecoins. If stablecoin adoption is as rapid as banking history, businesses will try to disintermediate payment providers — adding 2% directly to their profits. Businesses will also begin looking for new solutions to problems that credit card companies currently solve, such as fraud prevention and identity verification.

—Sam Broner

Countries Explore Putting Government Bonds on Chain

Putting government bonds on chain would create a government-backed, interest-bearing digital asset — without the surveillance concerns that central bank digital currencies would raise. These products could open up new sources of demand for collateral usage in DeFi lending and derivatives protocols, further enhancing the integrity and stability of these ecosystems.

As a result, this year will see governments around the world further explore the benefits and efficiencies of public, permissionless, and irrevocable blockchains, with some countries likely to pilot putting government bonds on-chain. The UK, for example, is already exploring digital securities in a sandbox through its financial regulator, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority); its Treasury/Treasury Department has also expressed interest in issuing digital giveaways.

In the US—given the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) plan to require the clearing of treasury bonds through traditional, burdensome, and costly infrastructure next year—expect more discussion about how blockchain can improve transparency, efficiency, and participation in bond trading.

—Brian Quintenz

We will see greater adoption of “DUNA” in US blockchain networks

In 2024, Wyoming passed a new bill recognizing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) as legal entities. DUNA (Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association) is designed specifically for decentralized governance of blockchain networks and is the only viable structure for U.S. projects. By incorporating DUNA into a decentralized legal entity structure, crypto projects and other decentralized communities can give their DAOs legal standing — not only facilitating economic activity, but also protecting token holders from liability while handling tax and compliance needs.

DAOs — communities that govern the affairs of open blockchain networks — are an essential tool to ensure that networks remain open, non-discriminatory, and do not extract value unfairly. DUNA can unlock the potential of DAOs, and several projects are already implementing this structure. As the U.S. prepares to promote and accelerate the growth of the crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect DUNA to become the standard for U.S. projects.

We also expect other states to adopt similar structures (Wyoming is a leader; they were also the first state to adopt the now ubiquitous Limited Liability Company (LLC) structure)…especially as decentralized applications outside of crypto (such as physical infrastructure/energy grids) flourish.

——Miles Jennings

Online Liquid Democracy Goes to the Real World

With growing dissatisfaction with current governance and voting systems, now is the opportunity to experiment with new technology-enabled governance in the real world through blockchain. I've written about how DAOs and other decentralized communities enable us to study political institutions, behaviors, and rapidly evolving governance experiments at scale. But what if we could apply these lessons to real-world governance?

We can finally use blockchain to conduct secure, private voting in elections, starting with low-risk pilot projects that reduce cybersecurity and auditing issues. But more importantly, blockchain can also allow us to experiment with “liquid democracy” — a way for people to vote directly on issues or delegate their votes to others, especially at the local level.

The idea was first proposed by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and a leading scholar of voting systems; however, the concept has been impractical when applied at scale… until now. Recent advances in computers and connectivity, and the advent of blockchain, are making new forms of representative democracy possible. Crypto projects have already begun applying the concept and collecting a wealth of data on how these systems work — and our latest findings show how local governments and communities can learn from these results.

——Andrew Hall

Developers will reuse infrastructure, not just reinvent the wheel

Over the past year, many teams have continued to reinvent the wheel on the blockchain technology stack - yet another custom set of validator nodes, consensus protocol implementation, execution engine, programming language, RPC API. These efforts may be slightly better in some specialized features, but often lack in broader or basic features.

For example, a programming language specifically for SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proofs): While an ideal implementation may help an ideal developer produce higher-performance SNARKs, in reality, it may not be as good as a general-purpose language in terms of compiler optimization, development tools, online learning materials, AI programming support, etc. (at least for now), and may even result in worse-performing SNARKs.

As a result, I expect more teams to reuse more off-the-shelf blockchain infrastructure components in 2025 with the contributions of others - from consensus protocols and existing staked capital to proof systems. This will not only help developers save a lot of time and effort, but also enable them to focus on the differentiated value of their products/services.

The infrastructure is finally in place to build web3 products and services that are adaptable to the mainstream. Just like other industries, these products will be built by teams that can successfully navigate complex supply chains, rather than those who scoff at "things that are not invented here."

- Joachim Neu

Crypto companies will start from the end user experience, rather than letting the infrastructure determine the UX

While the technical infrastructure of blockchain is very interesting and diverse, many crypto companies do not just choose their infrastructure - the infrastructure chooses the right technology for them in some ways, which indirectly affects their user experience (UX). Because some specific technical choices at the infrastructure level are directly related to the UX of blockchain products/services.

But I believe the industry will overcome this implicit ideological barrier: that technology should determine the end user experience, not the other way around. By 2025, more crypto product designers will start with the end user experience they want, and then choose the right infrastructure. Crypto startups no longer need to be overly dependent on specific infrastructure decisions before finding product-market fit - they can focus on truly finding product-market fit.

Instead of being hung up on specific EIPs, wallet providers, intent architectures, etc., we can abstract these choices into a holistic, full-stack plug-and-play approach. The industry is ready for this change: the rich programmable blockspace, increasingly mature developer tools, and chain abstractions are starting to enable more people to design in crypto. Most technology end users don't care which language is behind a product. The same will happen in crypto.

——Mason Hall

“Hidden Wires” Help Web3’s Killer Apps Arrive

Blockchain’s technical superpowers make it special, but they also hinder mainstream adoption. For creators and fans, blockchain unlocks possibilities for connectivity, ownership, and monetization… but industry-internal jargon (“NFTs,” “zkRollups,” etc.) and complex design create barriers for those who can benefit most from these technologies. I’ve seen this firsthand when discussing web3 with executives in the media, music, and fashion industries.

Many consumer technologies that have seen widespread adoption have followed this path: the technology came first; an iconic company/designer abstracted away the complexity; this move helped unlock a breakthrough app. Think about how email got started—the SMTP protocol was hidden behind the “Send” button; or credit cards, where most users today don’t care about payment rails. Similarly, Spotify’s music revolution wasn’t by showing off file formats, but by delivering playlists of songs to our fingertips. As Nassim Taleb said, “Over-engineering breeds brittleness; simplifying scales.”

That’s why I think our industry will adopt this philosophy in 2025: “Hide the wires.” The best decentralized applications are already focusing on more intuitive interfaces, making it as easy as tapping a screen or swiping a card. In 2025, we’ll see more companies designing with simplicity and communicating clearly; successful products don’t explain, they solve.

—Chris Lyons

Crypto finally has its own app store and discovery platform

When crypto apps were blocked from centralized platforms like Apple’s App Store or Google Play, this often limited their initial user acquisition channels. However, we are now seeing new app stores and marketplaces that offer this distribution and discovery functionality without any restrictions.

For example, Worldcoin’s World App marketplace not only stores proof-of-personhood but also allows access to “mini-apps,” attracting hundreds of thousands of users in just a few days. Another example is the fee-free dApp store for Solana mobile users. These examples also show that hardware (not just software) — like phones, spherical devices — may be the key advantage of crypto app stores, just as Apple devices were for early app ecosystems.

Meanwhile, there are other stores that offer thousands of decentralized applications and web3 development tools, covering popular blockchain ecosystems (such as Alchemy); and some blockchains act as game publishers and distributors (such as Ronin). It’s not all fun and games, however: if a product already has distribution on certain platforms (like messaging apps), porting it to chain becomes difficult (exception: Telegram/TON network). Likewise, apps with significant web2 distribution face the same problem, but we may see more of these ports in 2025.

—Maggie Hsu

Crypto holders turn into crypto users

In 2024, cryptocurrency made significant progress as a political movement, with many key policymakers and politicians expressing active support for it. We also continued to see its development as a financial movement (e.g., exchange-traded products (ETPs) for Bitcoin and Ethereum provide more access for investors). By 2025, cryptocurrency should further develop into a computational movement. But where will these new users come from?

I think it’s time to reactivate crypto holders that are currently “passive” and turn them into more active users, as only 5-10% of crypto holders are actively using cryptocurrencies. We can guide the 617 million people who already own cryptocurrencies to the chain, especially as blockchain infrastructure continues to improve and transaction fees for users will be further reduced. This means new applications will begin to serve existing and new users.

At the same time, some of the early applications we have seen - including stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, games, social, DePIN, DAOs, and prediction markets - are also becoming more accessible to mainstream users, and the community will focus more on user experience and other improvements.

——Daren Matsuoka

Industries may begin to tokenize "unconventional" assets

As the crypto industry infrastructure matures and other emerging technologies develop, the practice of tokenizing assets will be widely carried out in various industries. This will make it possible for some assets that were previously considered untouchable due to high costs or lack of value recognition to not only achieve liquidity, but more importantly, to participate in the global economy. AI engines can also process this information as a unique data set.

Just as fracking unlocked oil reserves that were once thought to be untouchable, tokenizing unconventional assets may redefine how income is generated in the digital age. Scenarios that seem like science fiction have become more possible: for example, individuals can tokenize their biometric data and rent this information to companies through smart contracts.

We have already seen early examples of using blockchain technology to bring more ownership, transparency, and consent rights to medical data collection through DeSci. While we don’t yet know how this future will play out, these types of innovations will allow people to capitalize on previously untapped assets in a decentralized way — without relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provide them with services.

——Aaron Schnider

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