# Introduction

2024 is destined to be a historic year for the cryptocurrency industry. This year, Bitcoin reached a groundbreaking price point of $100,000, marking the official entry of crypto assets into the realm of mainstream financial assets; the combination of AI and blockchain technology sparked a new narrative wave, injecting unprecedented innovative vitality into the industry; the rapid development of stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA) further solidified the important position of blockchain technology in traditional finance.

As a symbol of the rapid development of the crypto industry, the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs and Trump's election not only propelled a strong increase in Bitcoin prices but also opened a new era of deep participation by institutional investors in the crypto market. Meanwhile, continuous breakthroughs in decentralized technology have made the Solana and Base ecosystems new focal points for on-chain infrastructure, profoundly impacting trading efficiency and ecological diversity. The revival of the NFT market and the explosion of AI Agents demonstrate the limitless potential of the crypto industry in narrative shaping and technological implementation. Accompanied by dramatic changes in macroeconomic variables and the ongoing evolution of the policy environment, 2024 not only defines the current market landscape but also lays the foundation for the development of 2025 and the years to come.

This article aims to review the highlights of the crypto industry in 2024, analyze the breakthroughs and challenges faced during the year, and look forward to the future landscape of 2025. By analyzing key events, technological innovations, and market trends, we will depict how the crypto industry is moving towards a more mature and stable phase in its golden age, and explore the infinite possibilities of this field in the wave of globalization.

# Part One: Highlights of the Crypto Industry in 2024

1. Bitcoin and Institutionalization: The Core Driving Force of the Crypto Industry

1.1 The Launch of Bitcoin ETFs: Entering the Mainstream Financial System

The approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs was the most significant event at the beginning of 2024. This breakthrough marked the formal entry of crypto assets from being marginalized speculative tools into the mainstream financial system, attracting significant attention from traditional institutions. The launch of ETFs not only provided investors with a safer and more convenient channel for Bitcoin investment but also further propelled the rise in Bitcoin prices.

Data shows that since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs, market inflows have significantly increased. Driven by the listing of BTC spot ETFs and the BTC halving, BTC achieved over 130% growth, breaking through the important psychological barrier of $100,000 by the end of the year, and even approaching $110,000 at one point.

1.2 Evolution of Market Structure: The Impact of Institutionalization

The structure of the Bitcoin market underwent significant changes in 2024. The continuous influx of institutional funds shifted the dominant landscape from retail-driven to institution-led, with Bitcoin gradually becoming an important component of global investment portfolios. A report from K33 Research indicates that institutional participants purchased 859,454 Bitcoins in 2024, accounting for 4.3% of its total circulating supply. As of December 31, 2024, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF held 551,917.901 BTC, while MicroStrategy purchased 444,262 Bitcoins, bringing the total Bitcoin holdings of these two institutions close to 1 million BTC.

Source: https://x.com/NateGeraci/status/1872463503828959450

1.3 The Impact of the U.S. Election and Trump's Victory on Bitcoin

The outcome of the 2024 U.S. election played a significant role in driving up Bitcoin prices and also propelled the development of Polymarket prediction markets and meme tokens related to the U.S. election. During his campaign, Trump publicly expressed support for the crypto industry and promised to implement a series of friendly policies, including firing the current SEC chairman, encouraging Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, and easing cryptocurrency regulations.

After Trump's confirmation of his election, market sentiment for Bitcoin surged, with prices breaking through $100,000 within just a few weeks and continuing to climb. Analysts pointed out that Trump's election provided greater confidence for institutional investors, further accelerating the inflow of funds into Bitcoin ETFs. Additionally, Trump's supportive policy direction led the market to anticipate more institution-friendly financial products in the future, further solidifying Bitcoin's position in mainstream finance.

2. Stablecoins and RWA: The Integration of Traditional Finance and Crypto

2.1 The Rise and Mainstreaming of Yield-Bearing Stablecoins

In 2024, yield-bearing stablecoins became one of the important innovations in the stablecoin market. These stablecoins provide holders with stable and considerable interest income by being tied to high-yield decentralized finance protocols or traditional financial instruments.

The rise of yield-bearing stablecoins not only attracted crypto-native users but also traditional investors and enterprises. Many companies began using yield-bearing stablecoins as reserve assets to hedge against market volatility and achieve stable returns. This trend indicates that the crypto industry is establishing a deeper connection with traditional finance through stablecoins as a bridge.

According to DefiLlama data, as of December 31, the total market capitalization of stablecoins had exceeded $200 billion. Fiat-collateralized stablecoins represented by USDT and USDC still dominate the market. Crypto-collateralized stablecoins and algorithmic stablecoins are also gradually gaining attention, with new stablecoins like USDe, USD0, and BUIDL rapidly rising to the top ten stablecoins, showcasing the immense potential of yield-bearing stablecoins.

Source: https://defillama.com/stablecoins

2.2 The Ecological Status and Representative Projects of RWA

The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) made significant progress in 2024. By transforming traditional financial assets such as real estate, bonds, and commodities into tokens on the blockchain, RWA brought new narratives and investment opportunities to the crypto industry. Representative projects like Ondo Protocol and MANTRA excelled in this field, attracting substantial capital inflows with their tokenized products.

Moreover, the rapid growth of RWA was also supported by improvements in the policy environment. Several countries have passed legal frameworks supporting the application of blockchain technology in financial assets, providing stable legal guarantees for the development of RWA. The rise of this market offers new entry points for institutional investors into the crypto industry while also providing unprecedented diversified investment opportunities for individual investors.

3. The Rise and Prosperity of the Solana and Base Ecosystems

3.1 The Strong Comeback of the Solana Ecosystem and the Prosperity of Meme Coins

The Solana ecosystem made a strong comeback in 2024. With its high throughput and low transaction costs, Solana attracted a large number of developers and users to reinvest in its ecosystem, gradually developing into a paradise for meme coins.

• Surge in Public Chain Activity and Trading Volume: In 2024, on-chain activities in the Solana ecosystem significantly increased, with daily active addresses rapidly climbing from millions. Data shows that Solana significantly outperformed other public chains in terms of new token issuance, with 80% of new tokens being issued on the Solana chain.

• The Leading Role of the Pump.fun Platform: As a one-click token issuance platform, Pump.fun leveraged the low-cost and high-efficiency advantages of the Solana public chain, bringing revolutionary changes to the meme coin market. As of December 31, 2024, the platform had issued over 5.26 million tokens, with a cumulative trading volume exceeding 1.94 million SOL, attracting millions of users and becoming an important part of the Solana ecosystem.

Source: https://dune.com/evelyn233/pump-data

3.2 The Rapid Rise and Diversification of the Base Ecosystem

The Base chain, launched by Coinbase, is a Layer 2 scaling solution that provides strong market influence, funding support, and technical endorsement, significantly enhancing user and developer trust. Since its launch in August 2023, the Base chain has achieved remarkable ecological construction results in a short time due to its low cost, high efficiency, and robust technical architecture.

The total locked value of the Base chain grew from $440 million at the beginning of the year to $3.75 billion by December, making it the second-largest Layer 2 network after Arbitrum. Many innovative projects emerged, attracting a large number of users and developers. In 2024, the Base ecosystem saw the emergence of star projects like BRETT, DEGEN, VIRTUAL, and Morpho, covering multiple fields such as meme, social, AI, and DeFi.

4. The Expansion of Staking and Restaking Ecosystems

In 2024, the staking and restaking sectors experienced significant development, becoming an important part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

4.1 Increased Staking Rates and Demand for Liquidity Release

Staking, as the core mechanism of proof-of-stake (PoS) networks, continued to play a key role in 2024. The staking rates of major blockchains like Ethereum steadily increased, attracting a large number of investors. Liquidity staking protocols (LSTs) such as Lido solidified their market positions this year by providing liquidity solutions for staked assets. However, as staking rates increased, the market's demand for staking services also grew, prompting the emergence of new solutions and protocols to meet this demand.

4.2 The Rise and Expansion of the Restaking Sector

Restaking emerged as a new sector in 2024, showcasing immense potential. This concept first gained attention at DevConnect in 2023 and has since seen a sharp increase in adoption. Restaking allows users to reuse already staked assets for other protocols, sharing the security of staking to improve capital efficiency. EigenLayer, as a leading project in this field, has received support from top investment institutions, including a16z, with a valuation reaching billions of dollars. Inspired by Ethereum projects like EigenLayer, Bitcoin's strong consensus foundation and security provide broad prospects for staking and restaking. Projects like Babylon have begun exploring the restaking of Bitcoin assets, which could not only activate dormant Bitcoin holders to participate in ecosystem construction but also potentially form a restaking ecosystem comparable to Ethereum.

4.3 The Rise of Liquidity Restaking Protocols (LRTs)

Liquidity restaking protocols (LRTs) gained widespread attention in 2024. These protocols act as intermediaries between restakers and operators, managing capital allocation and providing liquidity solutions. Unlike liquidity staking tokens (LSTs), LRTs handle various risk factors, including inflation, penalty conditions, and technical risks. Projects like Ether.fi, Renzo, Puffer Finance, and KelpDAO made significant progress in this area, attracting substantial user and capital participation.

5. The Formation of a Diverse BTCFi Ecosystem

In 2024, the Bitcoin financial ecosystem (BTCFi) achieved significant development, encompassing inscriptions, runes, decentralized finance (DeFi), and staking.

In 2024, the Bitcoin DeFi sector experienced explosive growth. According to DeFiLlama data, the total locked value (TVL) of Bitcoin DeFi surged from $305 million at the beginning of the year to $6.7 billion by the end of the year, increasing more than 20 times. This growth was primarily driven by the rise of staking protocols, particularly the Babylon protocol, which accounted for over 82% of the TVL, becoming the largest protocol on Bitcoin.

Source: https://defillama.com/chain/Bitcoin

Staking and restaking became important components of the Bitcoin ecosystem in 2024. The rapid development of staking protocols shifted Bitcoin's application from the payment sector (like the Lightning Network) to the staking sector. The success of the Babylon protocol spurred the emergence of a series of staking and restaking protocols, further promoting the diversification of Bitcoin applications.

Additionally, the Bitcoin ecosystem also saw continuous development in applications such as NFTs, gaming, and social networking. Although the enthusiasm for inscriptions and runes has waned, a diverse Bitcoin ecosystem has begun to take shape, laying a solid foundation for future development. As the ecosystem continues to improve, Bitcoin is gradually evolving from a single value storage tool to a platform encompassing diverse applications in finance, art, and social interaction.

6. The Struggles and Resurgence of Altcoins and the NFT Market

6.1 The Warming of Altcoins and Structural Changes

The launch of Bitcoin ETFs led to a high concentration of market liquidity towards Bitcoin. This phenomenon caused many altcoin projects to face funding shortages and user attrition in 2024. For much of 2024, while meme tokens surged, established altcoins performed relatively poorly.

As Bitcoin prices stabilized, market sentiment began to shift towards altcoins. Investor confidence in established projects rebounded, prompting these tokens to rise in turn. XRP's price rose from about $0.60 at the beginning of the year to $2.44 by the end of the year, an increase of over 300%. This growth was primarily attributed to Trump's friendly attitude towards cryptocurrencies, with the market anticipating the SEC would end its legal action against Ripple. Additionally, Ripple's plan to issue a new stablecoin, RLUSD, further boosted market confidence in XRP.

The altcoin market underwent noticeable structural changes in 2024. Funding and attention concentrated on a few high-quality projects, such as Aave, Ondo, and FET, while traditionally speculative tokens gradually fell out of favor. This change signifies that the altcoin market is evolving towards a healthier and more sustainable direction.

6.2 The Resurgence and Differentiation of the NFT Market

After experiencing a market cooldown from 2022 to 2023, the NFT market saw a resurgence in 2024. Blue-chip NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club once again became the focus of the market.

The differentiation among NFT projects was significant, with high-performing blue-chip projects maintaining their value through strong community support and scarcity. Projects like Pudgy Penguins attracted widespread attention and capital support through tokenization and community governance. However, smaller NFT projects lacking innovation and community support lost their market positions during the bear market, with underperforming projects gradually exiting the market.

7. The Strong Performance of the Meme Sector: Winning Over People with Growth

In 2024, the meme coin market maintained strong growth, showcasing robust vitality and market appeal. According to GoinGecko data, the total market capitalization of meme coins grew from $22.28 billion at the beginning of the year to approximately $116 billion. Among the top 100 crypto projects by market capitalization, meme coins accounted for 10%, with established projects like DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE still leading, while emerging meme projects like WIF, BRETT, and GOAT rapidly rose through innovation.

Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/

The meme narratives of 2024 can be categorized into the following types:

• Animal-themed Memes: Such as DOGE, PEPE, MOONDENG, and PNUT, these coins are often driven by celebrity effects and have strong community foundations.

• Cult Culture Memes: Represented by WIF and POPCAT, these memes gain market recognition through unique community cultural cohesion.

• Hotspot Mapping Memes: Such as BAN and MAGA, these coins can quickly respond to market events and attract funding attention.

• Technology-themed Memes: Combining new technology narratives, such as GOAT, ACT, FARTCOIN, and RIF, these memes attracted a large number of biotech investors and AI enthusiasts.

As the meme market develops, more institutions are beginning to pay attention to and invest in this sector. Major exchanges and investment institutions like Binance, Coinbase, and a16z are actively participating, providing support for multiple meme projects. This trend indicates that, despite early controversies surrounding meme coins, institutional attitudes are gradually changing, recognizing their potential value. The established mining coin Litecoin stated, "Given the current market conditions, we now recognize LTC as a MEME coin," quickly sparking a marketing trend around memes, with many institutions and projects following suit.

8. The Combination of AI and Crypto: From Technological Innovation to Market Explosion

In 2024, the cryptocurrency market witnessed the rapid development of AI-related tokens, particularly in the fields of AI Memes and AI Agents. These tokens combine the innovation of AI-generated content with the dissemination advantages of meme culture, driving market activity and investor attention.

8.1 The Rise of AI Meme Tokens

AI meme tokens performed particularly well in the second half of 2024. Tokens represented by GOAT, ACT, and FARTCOIN achieved leaps in market capitalization and price in a short time. For example, TruthTerminal, an AI agent, not only received $50,000 from a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen but also became a millionaire through social media. Its supported AI + Meme project, represented by GOAT, combined AI's technical capabilities with the dissemination effects of meme culture, becoming a leader in the AI meme field, repeatedly creating "wealth creation" myths and entering the mainstream stage of the meme circle by the end of the year.

8.2 The Expansion of Application Scenarios for AI Agent Tokens

AI Agent projects rapidly developed in the second half of 2024, showcasing strong discussion heat and "wealth creation effects." Among them, ai16z and Virtuals Protocol were undoubtedly the two most prominent representative projects. ai16z is a decentralized AI trading fund based on the Solana blockchain, aiming to utilize AI agents to acquire market information, analyze community consensus, and automatically conduct token trading. Its open-source framework, Eliza, gained widespread attention in the developer community, promoting the development of the AI Agent ecosystem.

Virtuals Protocol is positioned as a distribution platform for AI Agents, allowing users to create and deploy AI agents. Its token, VIRTUAL, performed excellently in 2024, with a market capitalization exceeding $380 million, becoming one of the leaders in the AI Agent field. Tokens created through Virtual, such as LUNA and AIXBT, also quickly became the hottest AI agents at the moment.

# Part Two: Outlook for the Crypto Landscape in 2025

1. Macroeconomic Environment and Policy Drivers

1.1 Trump's Re-election Brings Expectations for Crypto-Friendly Policies

• Regulatory Reform: Trump proposed to fire the current SEC chairman Gary Gensler and appoint a pro-crypto policy advisory committee. This high-level personnel change will create a more friendly regulatory environment for the crypto industry.

• Strategic Reserve Plan: Plans to designate Bitcoin as a national strategic reserve asset, formally entering the mainstream financial framework of the United States. This will further solidify Bitcoin's position in the global financial system.

• Policy Support Tools: Potential tax incentives, regulatory relief, and other measures may be introduced to encourage the development of the crypto industry in the U.S.

1.2 Continued Influx of Institutional Capital and Synergistic Effects

• Expansion of Market Size: In 2024, institutional capital purchased over 1.4 million Bitcoins, accounting for about 7% of the market circulation, and this trend is expected to continue and accelerate in 2025. The increased holdings of publicly traded companies and institutional investors, such as MicroStrategy and pension funds, will continue to drive up the prices of Bitcoin and other mainstream crypto assets.

• Linkage Between Price and Capital Flow: Data from 2024 shows a significant correlation between the inflow of funds into spot ETFs and Bitcoin prices. This relationship may become more pronounced in 2025 as more funds choose to enter the market through ETFs.

• Synergistic Effects of Global Institutional Capital: The U.S.'s pro-crypto policies will encourage other regions globally to relax regulations to maintain market competitiveness. The Asian region (especially Hong Kong and Singapore) may continue to attract institutional capital to counter the competitiveness of the U.S. market.

1.3 Further Promotion of Spot ETFs

• Simplification of Investment Pathways: Bitcoin spot ETFs provide traditional investors with a low-risk, high-convenience investment method that does not require direct ownership of crypto assets. This attracts more long-term capital, such as pension funds and sovereign funds.

• Potential for Altcoin and Thematic ETFs: As institutional investors show increased interest in niche areas, there may be ETFs focusing on themes such as DeFi, Layer 2, and AI + Crypto. The emergence of altcoin ETFs could provide funding support for smaller projects and become a new favorite for high-risk, high-reward investors.

• Expansion of Regulation and Compliance: The promotion of ETFs requires more regulatory support, especially regarding the review standards for diversified asset portfolios. This may trigger competitive regulatory optimizations regarding ETFs on a global scale.

2. Sector Trend Analysis

2.1 Accelerated Adoption of DeFi Protocols by Financial Institutions

• Lending Sector: Traditional financial institutions utilize DeFi protocols to improve capital utilization, especially in cross-border payments and corporate financing.

• Insurance Applications: On-chain insurance solutions have become new tools for institutional investors to manage risks.

• Derivatives Innovation: The DeFi derivatives market is expanding, including further developments in options, swaps, and index derivatives. Institutional investors are gradually adopting complex strategy combinations, including liquidity mining and yield enhancement tools, providing new sources of liquidity for the market.

2.2 Deep Integration of AI + Crypto

• AI Agent-Driven Crypto Economy: AI Agents will play a larger role in asset management and DAO governance, as AI agents autonomously manage funds and make decisions through decentralized networks, providing long-term growth space for AI tokens.

• Integrated Development of AI Technologies: The application of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-SNARKs) and multi-party computation (MPC) technologies provides security guarantees for the combination of AI and blockchain, enabling AI systems to more efficiently call computing resources through distributed physical infrastructure networks.

• Blurring Boundaries Between Virtual and Real Economies: Crypto projects combining AI technology will have far-reaching impacts in areas such as decentralized finance, content creation, and data analysis. The boundaries between virtual and real economies will further blur, creating new growth points for the industry.

2.3 Deepening Integration of RWA and Real-World Financial Products

• Application Scenarios: The tokenization of real-world assets such as real estate, commodities, and bonds is expected to see broader applications, particularly in cross-border settlements and improving asset liquidity.

• Market Impact: The market size of tokenized assets is expected to exceed trillions of dollars, providing institutional investors with more diverse options.

2.4 The Rise of DeSci Narratives

• Decentralized Scientific Research: Achieving transparent management of scientific research funding through smart contracts and DAOs, particularly in the fields of genetic research and medical innovation.

• Potential Release: Funding support from Binance Labs and other leading investment institutions provides strong growth momentum for DeSci projects.

2.5 The Extension of Meme Coins and Attention Economy

• Narrative-Driven Diversification: AI narratives and community autonomy become the core driving forces for the long-term growth of meme coins, attracting more new users through continuous creation of hotspots and dissemination effects.

• Transition from Emotion to Actual Value: Some meme coin projects are exploring real-world application scenarios, such as social networks and in-game economies.

2.6 Diversification and Integration of Layer 2 Scaling Solutions

• Continued Expansion and Optimization of Layer 2: As user demand grows and technology continues to iterate, Layer 2 networks will continue to lead the expansion trend of the crypto industry. Cross-chain interoperability and user experience optimization will become core themes for future development.

• Shared Security and Ecological Synergy: The interactivity between Layer 1 and Layer 2 is further enhanced, with more emerging Layer 2s sharing the security of mainnet staking ETH through restaking features on platforms like Eigenlayer, providing users with seamless experiences and ecological integration.

# Conclusion

2024 was a tumultuous year for the crypto industry, with the approval of Bitcoin ETFs and the expectations of pro-crypto policies following Trump's victory driving market development and structural changes globally. The landmark event of Bitcoin breaking through the $100,000 mark not only elevated its status as a global value storage tool but also further solidified its recognition in traditional finance.

This year saw unprecedented institutional participation. From the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs to the large-scale purchases of Bitcoin by MicroStrategy and other institutions, mainstream financial capital gradually penetrated the crypto market. This phenomenon not only brought in capital inflows but also promoted the institutionalization and professionalization of market structures. However, this also significantly increased the volatility of the market and its correlation with traditional financial markets, with Bitcoin's performance increasingly influenced by macroeconomic and policy changes.

On the other hand, 2024 also witnessed a comprehensive explosion of innovative sectors. The hot performance of meme coins once again showcased the potential of the attention economy, while the combination of AI and crypto became the core narrative of the market, and the DeSci narrative was poised for takeoff. These trends not only reflect the market's high speculative nature but also demonstrate its strong innovative capabilities and sensitivity to new technologies.

Looking ahead to 2025, the crypto industry will enter a new cycle, beginning to move towards a golden age. Bitcoin, as a mainstream asset for global value storage, will continue to enhance its stability and global recognition. However, caution is needed regarding the potential impact of reduced volatility on its investment attractiveness. Meanwhile, RWA, AI Agents, and DeSci will become growth points for the future market. In 2025, we have reason to expect more technological breakthroughs and new market highs, while also preparing for potential challenges. The story of the crypto market remains full of unknowns and opportunities.