CoinFund Investment Firm Founder's 2024 Prediction: 70% Optimistic About the Crypto Market, AI Remains the Fastest Growing Sector
Founders of over 30 projects invested by CoinFund expressed their insights on the cryptocurrency market in 2024.Author: Jules Mossler
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
As 2023 comes to a close and 2024 approaches, different people have varying opinions on the development of Web3 in 2024.
In this article, founders of over 30 projects invested by CoinFund share their insights on the cryptocurrency market for 2024.
Are they optimistic or pessimistic about the entire crypto market? Which sectors do they unanimously favor?
"What stage of cryptocurrency development are we in now, and what will happen next?"
This is clearly a classic question in the cryptocurrency field, as technology continues to evolve.
Web3 enthusiasts and developers are the cornerstone of the future, tirelessly showcasing their vision and eager to clarify facts while mainstream media and the public have yet to fully understand Web3. If you want to know how cryptocurrency will develop, the best way is to ask those practitioners.
Predictions from Founders of CoinFund's Portfolio Companies for 2024
In November 2023, CoinFund surveyed the founders or CEOs of 30 portfolio companies to understand their views on the prospects of Web3 in 2024.
The main findings were: Most founders plan to expand hiring next year and are optimistic about the future of Web3 across various fields, from blockchain and artificial intelligence to zero-knowledge proofs.
Despite the optimistic market sentiment, a quarter of respondents indicated that uncertainty regarding U.S. regulations significantly impacts their strategies for 2024. As these entrepreneurs adjust their resources and strategies to cope with U.S. regulatory measures, they believe jurisdictions like Singapore are more conducive to supporting their innovations. The U.S. may lose its technological edge and the economic impact built on the new internet due to the departure of these teams.
The respondents effectively represent the investment situation of CoinFund's portfolio companies, which have collectively raised nearly $1.5 billion.
Founders' attitudes toward development are optimistic yet cautious, likely having learned to operate conservatively during the bear markets of the past two years. 70% of respondents expressed optimism about entrepreneurial opportunities in cryptocurrency and Web3, and 70% of founders plan to expand hiring next year, with no one planning to lay off employees.
Half of the surveyed founders do not plan to raise funds next year. Those intending to raise funds (20% of respondents) may seek between $5 million and $10 million.
2023 has been a year of rapid blockchain development, with technology teams genuinely committed to the long-term development of Web3 diving deeper into the space. Many newly funded companies are focusing on infrastructure to improve efficiency and expand blockchain capabilities to meet mainstream consumer demands. Respondents predict the fastest-growing areas in 2024 will be:
1) Web3 x AI;
2) ZK;
3) DeFi and consumer applications;
4) Gaming, Layer 2s, and wallets;
RWA, NFTs, DePin, and services linking users from Web2 to Web3 follow closely behind.
Regarding the choice of startup locations, if you are considering starting a company, have you thought about Singapore? Seven founders believe Singapore is currently the most crypto-friendly country for startups. They view it as having efficient capital flow, a clear and friendly regulatory environment, and a position as a gateway to the Asian and global ecosystems. The UK has also gained favor due to recent regulatory developments and access to broader EU opportunities. Despite the confusion caused by small business banking and opaque regulatory environments, the U.S. is praised for its talent density, networking capabilities, and infrastructure support for small businesses.
Evan Kohlmann, founder and CEO of Cloudburst Technologies, stated: "For startups, the friendliest country in the world is the U.S., but if the U.S. does not work hard to adopt standardized cryptocurrency regulations (like other countries in the world), the legal environment will not allow cryptocurrency businesses to operate." Almost all respondents (97%) claimed to be "aware or somewhat aware" of U.S. regulatory dynamics; 80% of respondents were "aware or somewhat aware" of regulatory dynamics outside the U.S. A quarter of respondents indicated that their development strategies are significantly influenced by U.S. regulations.
Predictions from Respondent Founders on Other Aspects for 2024:
Growth
Ben Fielding, Co-founder of GenSyn
The next wave of Web3 applications will address problems in the traditional world, where decentralization holds unique value.
Danny Zuckerman, Co-founder of 3boxlabs
The growth of Web3 will not come from a single killer application but from a set of killer use cases, as the killer feature of Web3 is composability—leveraging assets and data across multiple applications. The following two trends will make this more likely in 2024:
PWA + key models significantly accelerate consumer usage of Web3 applications.
The availability and scalability of the Web3 data stack will bring about more complete composability.
AI
Nick Emmons, Co-founder and CEO of Upshot
Decentralized AI will become the fastest-growing category in the crypto space over the next 18 months. Developers will heavily leverage artificial intelligence when building the next generation of decentralized applications.
Consumers
Doug Petkanics, Co-founder and CEO of livepee
The intersection of artificial intelligence, social media, and blockchain lays the groundwork for mass consumer entry into Web3. If AI significantly lowers the barriers to mass creation of media like videos and music, human design becomes particularly important. Blockchain is especially suited for coordinating people globally in real-time to provide this cultural management. This outcome will lead to more innovative, interesting, and engaging media forms than TikTok short videos, disrupting existing social media formats.
Aké Andre, Founder and CEO of Crypto Rogue Games, creator of Naramunz
In 2024 and 2025, due to the development of Web3 gaming, Web3 games will be widely accepted by many consumers, with an impact on Web3 that may even surpass the influence of the free-to-play business model on the gaming industry. This will drive a wave of mergers and acquisitions, as larger blockchain gaming studios find that small teams have become streamlined and powerful with the help of AI, allowing them to profit more by catering to players' experiences of wealth progression in games through new business models.
Noah Diskine Kline, Founder and CEO of Wincast
The future of blockchain depends on eliminating entry barriers for broader consumers. Currently, blockchain is presented as a revolutionary advancement, but the technology is too abstract. If blockchain companies can concretize and simplify technical concepts and deliver their products to those who previously dismissed Web3 or rejected it due to technical complexity, then blockchain will be accepted by the public.
Luke Truitt, Co-founder and CEO of Bridgespilt
In 2024, the decline of cryptocurrency regulation will be limited, leading to significant growth in Web3 products that utilize cryptocurrency for more traditional financial and social functions.
DeFi & RWA
Aaron Nevin, Founder and CEO of Moonmortgage
2024 will be the year TradFi makes a significant entry into Web3. Any product supporting TradFi has a chance of success. More friendly ETH staking solutions may have greater development opportunities.
Graham Rodford, Founder and CEO of Archax
In 2024, we may begin to see the combination of tokenized real-world assets and DeFi.
