The emerging trends of 2024 will turn into solid developments in the new year. Based on the preview by Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, new developments will range from autonomous AI agents to crypto app stores and better prediction markets.
The VC fund a16z predicts a lively crypto market in 2025, branching out into mainstream use cases and tapping the latest AI developments. In its latest market overview, a16z envisions the changes in the crypto space, building on recent trends and technologies.
The list of developments is still in the ‘big ideas’ stage but may start to be implemented or discussed. The potential developments also suggest policies and regulations may shift for crypto space.
AI agents to grow autonomous actions
a16z predicts AI agents may be turned into autonomous actors on the blockchain, according to a16z partner Cara Wu. In the past three months, AI agents served as social media influencers and even built tokens based on their training data sets. Those agents were considered mostly experimental, and while some had their own wallets, they did not make trading decisions.
The prediction for agentic AI comes just months after Marc Andreessen had his encounter with Truth Terminal, who convinced him to donate $50K in BTC for trading and development purposes. Truth Terminal does not stop in its attempts to talk to real-world people, recently tagging Elon Musk on X.
The AI trend may be extended by autonomous decentralized chatbots, in the prediction of Daren Matsuoka from Farcaster. The AI technology and bots will go hand-in-hand with technologies for verifying personhood and original content, believes Eddy Lazarin, CTO at a16z. This technology is already proposed by Worldcoin (WCOIN) but may become more applicable in 2025.
Prediction markets to evolve for wider data
Prediction markets, especially Polymarket, had a field day with the US Presidential elections. The app and its informed participants were more accurate than polls in predicting the election outcome. In the coming year, the lessons learned may expand, believes Scott Kominers, researcher at a16z and market design professor at Harvard Business School.
Kominers believes Polymarket had a lucky break, but users need special incentives to provide accurate predictions. Blockchains can implement such mechanisms to gauge sentiment and interpret the results in real time.
Stablecoins and tokenization will expand
After Stripe expanded its tools for stablecoin payments, more enterprises may follow. Sam Broner, an investor at a16z, believes stablecoins can add to cost savings and offer a fast, simple tool for receiving payments.
With tighter regulations and growth of Circle USD (USDC), stablecoins can absorb a significant part of e-commerce payments. Broner expects stablecoin payments to spread to small businesses in the real world, replacing some credit card payments. Stablecoins can also be used for large-scale payments and institutional transfers, as they can carry millions at an extremely low cost.
Stablecoins also go hand in hand with government notes. In the past few years, more stablecoin issuers added US T-bills as one of their main collaterals, chosen for its predictable earnings and liquidity. Governments themselves may try to put their bonds on the blockchain, believes CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz.
While governments adopt this aspect of crypto, there will be more regulations. The DAO, until recently mostly unaffected by regulations, will face a new standard for legal entities, a ‘decentralized unincorporated nonprofit association’.
The DUNA standard can become a standard for startups in 2025, with its new regulated status. DAOs have faced problems with their approach, especially when trying to achieve fair governance with no legal resort. Miles Jennings, advisor at a16z, also believes political organizations can use the DUNA format and tap the power of DAO voting.
Liquid democracy, or voting based on token ownership, will become a tool for decision-making and expand its potential in 2025. Andy Hall, professor of political economy, believes connectivity and blockchain records can increase the adoption of representative democracy.
Other advisors of a16z point out that the rise of Web3 and previous projects have already expanded the crypto tech stack. New startups will build upon previous achievements, tapping the existing infrastructure for real Web3. One of the themes for 2025 will be to ‘hide the wires’ and not explicitly require users to engage with the blockchain, addresses, or self-custody wallets.
As crypto matures, the next trend will be mainstream app stores, aggregating the best Web3 and mini apps. More projects may try to tap users with reliable apps. The end goal is to turn crypto owners into crypto users, encouraging spending and engagement, instead of passive holding. More use cases, such as tokenizing personal data or biometrics, may further grow the usage of the Web3 tech stack.
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