Analysis of Major Trends in Web3 for 2024

Looking back on the predictions for the main trends in Web3 from a year ago, it can be said that some of the predictions were accurate. Currently, the main and secondary directions of the industry are roughly as follows:

1. Stablecoins and the Tokenization of Real-World Assets ( RWA )

The projects currently worth paying attention to in this field include:

• CRCL: Essentially a bet on the position of a certain company in the stablecoin market. Although the current price is still relatively high, considering the potential for 5-8 times growth in the stablecoin market over the next 5 years, along with the recent significant correction, it could be a good entry opportunity.

• PlasmaFDN: As the only investable stablecoin public chain project at present, its financing scale, ecological construction, and community influence far exceed those of other competitors. The locked amount after the mainnet launch is expected to reach at least $3-4 billion in TVL(. Although the current valuation is slightly high, opportunities can be sought after the spot listing.

• ENA: As a representative of decentralized stablecoins, Ethena's USDE has surpassed an issuance of 13.5 billion USD, with robust fundamental indicators. In addition, its centralized stablecoin USDTB is also approaching a scale of 2 billion USD, and a RWA public chain will be launched in the future.

• Ondo: Recently launched a service that supports all-day trading of US stocks, with no KYC threshold and backed by large institutions, making it relatively safe and reliable. If you are optimistic about the trend of cross-border US stocks on the blockchain, Ondo is one of the few investable targets.

2. AI Agent

Many of the popular AI Agent projects from last year were short-lived, but this year, there are indeed some AI Agents that have practical value and potential product market fit. For example, Skywork in the Web2 space, as well as HeyAnonai, Gizatech, Almanak, and ReiNetwork in the Web3 space, are all worth paying attention to.

What I am most concerned about is the halving event of a well-known AI network early next year. If there is a good entry opportunity at that time, it can be considered. As an industry leader, 3-4 sub-networks have already started generating revenue, and overall, it remains the most promising Web3 AI project for breakthroughs.

3. Meme Coin

Meme coins have been hot since last year, and this year has even seen major launch platforms competing with a certain well-known project for market share. However, the leading project is still far ahead and has begun to venture into the live streaming field, taking the Web3 version of Douyin route. The alpha of the meme coin track changes daily, but there is only this one leading project for beta.

4. Prediction Markets

In addition to the three main lines mentioned above, prediction markets are a potential new trend. Data from a well-known platform continues to grow, while another platform has recently shown even more impressive performance. Dozens of new prediction market projects have emerged in the primary market, and proposals for event prediction markets have also appeared on a certain derivatives trading platform. Some experts believe that the development of prediction markets could disrupt the traditional insurance industry, as users can directly access and hedge transparent probabilities and risks, rather than accepting the opaque pricing of insurance companies.

However, the current secondary market for this sector lacks investable targets and can only wait for a well-known platform to issue tokens, which is rumored to have a valuation of 3 billion dollars.

From another perspective, the main theme of this round may be projects that "truly have income, profits, and buyback tokens." From this standard, only two tokens are worth investing in.

In addition, in the stablecoin/RWA field, apart from the several projects mentioned earlier, a certain time protocol is also worth paying attention to. Although it was previously thought that it might not issue tokens, after listening to the latest podcast episode, it seems that it will eventually issue tokens.

If one has confidence in a public chain due to its backing investors, the execution capability of its founders, and relationships with major DeFi blue chips and exchanges, then confidence in this time protocol stems from its service to millions of businesses through its ToB channels, as well as the direct involvement of the most technically capable and well-known venture capital firms in building ) rather than merely investing in (.

The stablecoin "CMB" war of a certain trading platform has already proven to the market the importance of channels in addition to issuance for stablecoins. In the future, the landscape of stablecoin public chains may be a dual model of ToC and ToB coexisting.