Summarize

• Stablecoins are emerging as core infrastructure. Once driven by narrative, stablecoins are now showing clear product-market fit and are establishing themselves as an important component of the digital economy.
• The expectations for artificial intelligence have exceeded the current development. Although artificial intelligence is a major theme (accounting for 11% of the conference), many participants have pointed out the widening gap between industry hype and actual implementation progress.
• The industry is entering a stage of structural maturity. The cryptocurrency industry is transitioning from the speculative "frontier era" to a phase focused on infrastructure and practical use cases. The market increasingly requires validated applications and clear value propositions, rather than conceptual innovations.

1. TOKEN2049: A strategic indicator for the Web3 market direction

Source: TOKEN2049

TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 once again confirmed its status as a leading global crypto assets event, attracting over 15,000 participants from more than 160 countries. The two-day conference featured a series of high-profile speeches and discussions, reflecting the evolving market dynamics and emerging trends.

As an important industry forum, TOKEN2049 has established itself as a barometer of the future trajectory and narrative shift of the web3 market. This report provides a structured review of TOKEN2049 in Dubai 2025, organizing the main stage content through core themes and conducting in-depth analysis of some announcements. At the same time, it captures key changes within the ecosystem and offers strategic insights to help interpret potential development directions for the industry in the future.

2. Above the waterline: The agenda tells us what

Source: TOKEN2049, Tiger Research

TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 brought together a wide range of blockchain discussions, reflecting the evolving focus of the industry. Infrastructure-related topics took the largest share at 15.7%, followed by artificial intelligence at 11%. Despite the initial enthusiasm around artificial intelligence agents waning, ongoing efforts to integrate artificial intelligence and blockchain indicate the continued structural relevance of this theme.

It is particularly noteworthy that the combined share of stablecoins (8.7%) and real-world assets (RWA, 5.5%) exceeds that of artificial intelligence. This reflects the growing market interest in blockchain applications with direct utility. In particular, stablecoins have attracted attention due to their practical value in payments and settlements, while real-world assets have become the dominant category for the next generation of blockchain applications.

dYdX founder Antonio discusses a timely question: "Is DeFi slowly devouring CeFi? And then suddenly." Source: dYdX

The DeFi discussion reveals a more mature perspective compared to previous years. Rather than focusing on replacing traditional finance, the emphasis has shifted to how decentralized systems can complement existing institutions. This aligns with the broader industry trend towards regulatory involvement and institutional adoption.

An interesting development is the increasing attention to Solana. Despite suffering a major setback during the FTX collapse, the Solana ecosystem has rebounded, now having more stage performances and technical discussions than Ethereum. The dynamic shift in the ecosystem deserves closer scrutiny as this may be a turning point in the Layer 1 space.

Overall, the main stage reflects a more down-to-earth and pragmatic mindset. While attention-grabbing elements like memecoins and celebrity appearances exist, they are still secondary. The core discussion revolves around long-term growth drivers, including regulation, financial integration, infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.

However, as in previous years, the most meaningful developments occurred behind the scenes. Emphasis on activities and closed-door meetings revealed deeper drivers of industry direction, strategic reorganization, and fundamental shifts - factors that often shape the market before they enter the public narrative.

3. Below the waterline: What does the conversation reveal

3.1. Stable coins are now infrastructure

Stablecoins have established themselves as core infrastructure in the digital economy and are now seen as an important opportunity in the Web3 landscape. An increasingly recognized view is that stablecoin trading will expand from on-chain activities to the real economy, potentially forming a market worth trillions of dollars. This prospect is attracting more and more participants to enter the stablecoin field.

With the consolidation of this view, the industry focus has shifted from integration to controlling the payment layer. The current ambition has surpassed issuance and is extending towards building end-to-end financial infrastructure. Web3 projects and institutions are stepping up efforts to establish a leadership position in the stablecoin field.

Although still in the early stages, this shift has accelerated the pace of ecosystems such as Solana, Tron, and TON becoming foundational settlement platforms. Their strategies go beyond issuance and also encompass wallet development, payment infrastructure, and institutional adoption.

3.2. Artificial Intelligence in Crypto Assets: Exciting, but still in the experimental stage

In the discussion of artificial intelligence, a cautious attitude dominates. Many participants point out that the gap between market enthusiasm and current development continues to widen. In particular, some artificial intelligence agent projects have been criticized for lacking clear use cases, further reinforcing the view that most activities in this field are still speculative in nature.

Despite these concerns, people's long-term confidence in the potential role of Web3 in the artificial intelligence market remains strong. Concepts such as decentralized artificial intelligence computing and open-source agent frameworks are seen as areas with significant potential. These are not seen as short-term trends but rather as long-term opportunities that may receive attention after the current market noise subsides.

While artificial intelligence continues to attract attention, most participants agree that it should be approached with a long-term perspective. The focus remains on fundamental experiments rather than immediate large-scale adoption.

3.3. Node sales surge

A significant trend in this activity is the increasing interest in node sales related to physical devices. By opening up node operation to a wider audience (previously limited to a few), these measures are seen as a step towards greater decentralization and the redistribution of participation opportunities.

However, some participants are skeptical of this trend. They question whether such sales are just a retail fundraising strategy framed around ecosystem participation. Criticisms focus on exaggerated reward structures, unclear token models, and a lack of meaningful network activities to prove the legitimacy of these sales.

Despite these concerns, some projects have attracted significant funding and attention. However, their long-term sustainability remains uncertain and will be determined by the actual network utility over time.

3.4. Technology alone is no longer sufficient for the market

The gap between technological advancement and market adoption continues to widen. Even highly capable teams have acknowledged that continuous research alone is no longer sufficient to attract market interest. Although many technically mature protocols have failed to gain user attention, simple memecoins launched through the meme starter section continue to generate consistent trading volumes.

In response, industry participants are shifting their focus from research to execution. Their efforts are increasingly concentrated on strategic market entry, understanding liquidity, establishing exchange relationships, and designing user-friendly token models. Technical excellence remains important, but the ability to create meaningful value will be limited without an effective distribution strategy.

Market participants are becoming increasingly concerned that short-term returns and immediate utility are now more important than long-term innovation. In the current environment, execution takes precedence over potential. The market has evolved into a place where survival cannot be guaranteed solely by technology.

4. Key Announcement

• Tether - US Dollar Stablecoin ProgramTether's Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino announced a new compliant US dollar stablecoin program, different from USDT, expected to be launched between 2025 and 2026. The move reflects ongoing regulatory discussions, including talks with US lawmakers.
• OKX – OKX payments and institutional partners: OKX has launched OKX Pay, a self-hosted cryptocurrency payment application that offers zero-fee transfers and wallet recovery through split key technology. The company also disclosed collaborations with institutions, including partnering with Standard Chartered Bank in the VARA Sandbox in Dubai, as well as a preview of integration plans with Mastercard and Stripe.
• Zodia custody - entering and regulatory cooperation in the UAE market: Zodia announced the acquisition of Tungsten Custody to establish a regulated base in the UAE. It also launched a new custody partnership with Bybit and jointly released a custody framework with Abu Dhabi regulatory authorities.
• Grid - Retail Crypto Assets Payment IntegrationMesh demonstrated new Apple Pay integration, allowing users to pay with Crypto Assets while merchants receive stablecoin. The feature is supported by its 'SmartFunding' solution, set to launch in the second quarter of 2025, aimed at streamlining cryptocurrency payments in retail environments.
• World Liberty Financial and TRON - $2 billion stablecoin investmentAbu Dhabi's MGX Fund completed a $2 billion investment in Binance using stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. After the transaction is completed, the US dollar 1 will be integrated into the TRON ecosystem.
• MEXC Ventures - Ecological Development FundMEXC Ventures announced the establishment of a $300 million fund focusing on blockchain, ZK-rollups, and self-custody solutions. This move reflects a renewed interest in infrastructure investment following the market downturn in 2022.
• Lightspark – Bitcoin-based payment infrastructure: Former PayPal executive David Marcus has launched Spark, a Bitcoin-native protocol built on the Lightning Network. The protocol aims to achieve high-speed, low-cost payments, extending the utility of Bitcoin beyond store of value use cases.

These announcements are closely related to the theme of TOKEN2049. Stablecoins remain a core topic, as confirmed by the compliance initiative of the Tether public chain and the $2 billion stablecoin investment entering Binance. Infrastructure development is another key theme, with companies like OKX, Zodia, and MEXC driving efforts in scalability, custody, and modular architecture.

The continuous development of Bitcoin is also highlighted by Lightspark's Spark protocol, reinforcing the ongoing discussion about the broader functional potential around Bitcoin. While artificial intelligence dominates the speech section, it is not very prominent in the main announcements. Instead, the focus remains on the actual deployment of payments, compliance, and institutional access, marking a continued shift from experimentation to scale implementation.

5. From the forefront era to urbanization

This year's conference has highlighted a clear shift in the crypto asset industry, from speculative enthusiasm to a focus on practicality and infrastructure development. Three key thematic directions have emerged:

• Stablecoins have surpassed the narrative. They are now demonstrating a real product-market fit and are establishing their position as the foundation of the digital economy.
• Artificial intelligence is being taken seriously, but the sentiment remains cautious. Many participants have noticed the growing gap between the excitement in the market and the current maturity of artificial intelligence development.
• Dubai has solidified its role as a regulatory and capital center for Web3. The UAE continues to lead global expansion in Web3.

Rather than introducing a completely new trend, the event highlighted the consolidation of existing narratives - especially around artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and RWA. The increased participation of institutions and the progress of regulatory frameworks point to a new stage of structural transformation in the market.

The era of idealistic experiments is giving way to a pragmatic execution era. Just as the shift from a frontier economy to an urbanized economy—driven by transportation and distribution revolutions— the Web3 ecosystem is now entering a phase of sustained growth that depends on infrastructure, integration, and delivery.

While economic considerations will continue to be a relevant factor, the market no longer rewards conceptual innovation alone. Stakeholders now expect real-world applications and clearly defined value propositions. This shift signals a broader maturity of the entire ecosystem, paving the way for a more stable and long-term development, and heralds the arrival of what can be seen as the urbanization era of Web3.

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