Analysis of Main Trends in the Web3 Industry

Looking back at last year's predictions for the main trends in Web3, although there were some deviations, the overall direction was basically correct. Currently, the industry presents the following main development clues:

1. Stablecoins and RWA

Several projects in this field are worth paying attention to:

• CRCL: As the token of Circle, it reflects the prospects of the stablecoin market. Although the current price of $135 still seems overvalued, considering the potential for 5-8 times growth in the stablecoin market over the next 5 years, along with the recent pullback from $300 to $108, now might be a better entry point.

• PlasmaFDN: As a representative of stablecoin public chains, Plasma is leading in terms of fundraising scale, ecological construction, and community influence. The TVL is expected to reach 3-4B USD after the mainnet launch. Although the current valuation of 6B is high, considering the enormous potential of the future stablecoin market, it is worth paying attention to investment opportunities after the mainnet launch.

• ENA: The Ethena project, as a representative of decentralized stablecoins, has seen its USDE surpass a market value of 13.5B. Meanwhile, its centralized stablecoin USDTB is also nearing a scale of 2B. Despite the recent poor performance of the coin price, the fundamentals remain solid.

• Ondo: As the first project to achieve 24/7 trading of US stocks without KYC requirements, Ondo has a unique advantage in the RWA field. If you are optimistic about the trend of borderless US stocks on the blockchain, Ondo is one of the few investable targets.

2. AI Agent

Although the AI Agent projects predicted last year, such as Goat and ai16Z, did not continue to be popular, this year has indeed seen a number of AI Agent projects with practical value and potential market prospects emerging. Noteworthy projects include Skywork in the Web2 space, as well as HeyAnonai, Gizatech, Almanak, and ReiNetwork in the Web3 space.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the upcoming halving event of the Bittensor project may present a good entry opportunity if there is a price correction before and after. As an industry leader, Bittensor currently has multiple subnets that have started generating revenue, and the overall development prospects are promising.

3. Meme Coin

The meme coin craze has continued from last year to now, even sparking competition between major launch platforms and pump platforms. However, the pump platform remains in a leading position and has begun to venture into the live streaming field, developing towards a Web3 version of TikTok. In the meme coin space, while short-term opportunities are abundant, in the long run, pump remains the most stable choice.

4. Prediction Market

Prediction markets are becoming an emerging important track. Polymarket's data continues to grow, while Kalshi has performed particularly well recently. A large number of new prediction market projects have emerged in the primary market, and the Hyperliquid platform has also proposed the HIP-4 proposal for event prediction markets. Some experts believe that the development of prediction markets may even have a disruptive impact on the traditional insurance industry.

However, there are currently few investable targets in the secondary market, and investors can pay attention to the potential token issuance by Polymarket in the future.

Overall, the projects that are currently worth paying attention to are those that "have real income, have profits, and are conducting token buybacks." From this perspective, Hype and Pump are two investment targets worth considering.

In addition to the projects mentioned above, Tempo is also worth special attention. Although it has not yet been determined whether tokens will be issued, the strong B2B distribution channels of Stripe and the direct involvement of Paradigm as a well-known VC in its development highlight Tempo's potential in the stablecoin sector.

In the future, stablecoin public chains may form a dual-head pattern where Plasma dominates the To C market and Tempo dominates the To B market.