A16Z Releases 2025 Big Idea List: Crypto Industry Enters Golden Age, AI and Biotech to Disrupt Tradition

Original Article Title: A few of the things we're excited about in crypto (2025)
Original Article Author: A16zcrypto
Original Article Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: A16z has released a comprehensive list of "big ideas" that technology builders may tackle in the coming year, spanning artificial intelligence, US vitality, bio/health, crypto, enterprise, fintech, gaming, infrastructure, and other areas. The crypto industry will see the rise of a decentralized app store, driving the distribution of crypto applications and increasing user engagement. As infrastructure matures, more industries will tokenize unconventional assets, particularly in the medical and personal data management fields, creating new economic opportunities.

The following is the original content (slightly reorganized for better readability):

An artificial intelligence needs to have its own wallet to act as an agent

As artificial intelligence transitions from NPC (non-player character) to becoming the protagonist, they will start to act as independent agents. However, until recently, artificial intelligence has been unable to act truly independently. They still cannot participate in market exchanges, display preferences, or coordinate resources in a verifiable autonomous manner—meaning, without human control.

As we have seen, artificial intelligence agents (such as the truth terminal) have already been able to use cryptocurrency for transactions, providing various opportunities for creative content. But the potential for artificial intelligence agents to become more useful is far greater—they can not only better serve human needs but also become independent network participants.

When artificial intelligence agents start hosting their own crypto wallets, signing keys, and cryptographic assets, we will see some interesting new use cases. For example, artificial intelligence may operate or validate nodes in a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN)—such as aiding in distributed energy. Other application scenarios include artificial intelligence agents becoming true high-value gamers, and we may even eventually see the first blockchain owned and operated by artificial intelligence.

― Carra Wu

Enter the "Decentralized Autonomous Chatbot"

In addition to artificial intelligence having a wallet, there is also an artificial intelligence chatbot running in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). TEE provides an isolated environment where applications can run, enabling a more secure design of distributed systems. However, in this case, the role of TEE is to prove that the chatbot is autonomous, not controlled by humans.

Furthermore, the significant concept to be discussed next is what we refer to as a "Decentralized Autonomous Chatbot" (DAC), distinct from a Decentralized Autonomous Corporation (DAC). This type of chatbot can build a fan base by engaging with appealing content, whether entertaining or informative.

It would establish a fan base on decentralized social media, earn revenue from the audience in various ways, and manage its crypto assets. The relevant keys would be managed by a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) running the chatbot software—meaning that no one but the software itself can access these keys.

As the risks increase, some regulatory framework may be necessary. However, the key here is decentralization: by running on a permissionless set of nodes and coordinating through a consensus protocol, the chatbot could even become the first truly autonomous billion-dollar entity.

——Dan Boneh, Karma, Daejun Park, and Daren Matsuoka

With the proliferation of artificial intelligence, we need unique "human authentication"

In a world of online impersonation, fraud, identity spoofing, deepfakes, and other deceptively realistic AI-generated content, we require "human authentication"—some mechanism that can help us verify that we are interacting with real humans. Yet, the new issue is not fake content but the fact that this content can now be produced at a lower cost. AI drastically reduces the marginal cost of generating content that includes all the clues we use to judge "real" content.

Therefore, there is now a greater need than ever for a digital way to link content to individuals while protecting privacy. "Human authentication" is a crucial part of establishing a digital identity. However, here, it becomes a mechanism to increase the cost for malicious actors attacking individuals or undermining network integrity: obtaining a unique ID is free for humans but expensive and challenging for AI.

This is why the "uniqueness" attribute of privacy protection is the next crucial concept in building our trusted networks. It not only solves the identity proof problem but fundamentally changes the cost structure for malicious attackers. The "uniqueness attribute"—or Sybil resistance—is therefore an uncompromisable feature of any human authentication system.

——Eddy Lazzarin

From Prediction Markets to Better Information Aggregation

Prediction markets came into the mainstream in 2024 with the U.S. election, but as an economist researching market design, I believe that prediction markets themselves will not be transformative in 2025. Instead, prediction markets have paved the way for more distributed technology-based information aggregation mechanisms that can be applied to various fields, including community governance, sensor networks, finance, and more.

Last year validated this concept, but it is important to note that prediction markets are not always a great information aggregation tool: even for global "macro" events, they can be unreliable; for "micro" issues, the prediction pool may be too small to provide meaningful signals. However, researchers and technologists have designed frameworks for incentivizing people to (truthfully) share what they know in different information environments for decades — from data pricing and purchasing mechanisms to the "Bayesian Truth Serum" for eliciting subjective assessments — many of which have already been applied to crypto projects.

Blockchain has always been a natural platform for implementing these mechanisms — not only because they are decentralized but also because they facilitate open, auditable incentive mechanisms. Importantly, blockchain also makes outputs public, allowing everyone to interpret the results in real-time.

—Scott Duke Kominers

Businesses Will Increasingly Accept Stablecoin Payments

Stablecoins found a product-market fit in the past year — not surprising as they are the cheapest way to send dollars, enabling fast global payments. Stablecoins also provide entrepreneurs with a more accessible payment platform: no thresholds, minimum balances, or proprietary SDKs. However, large enterprises have yet to realize that shifting to these payment systems will bring significant cost savings and new profit avenues.

While we have seen some businesses show interest in stablecoins (and early adoption in peer-to-peer payments), I anticipate a larger wave of experimentation in 2025. Small to medium-sized enterprises with strong brands, stable audiences, and high payment costs — such as restaurants, cafes, and small retail shops — will be the first to transition from credit cards to stablecoins. Since they engage in face-to-face transactions, they do not benefit from credit card fraud protection and are most impacted by transaction fees (a 30-cent fee loss per cup of coffee means a significant profit loss!).

We should also expect large enterprises to adopt stablecoins. If the adoption speed of stablecoins is as fast as the banking industry's "highway to hell," businesses will try to cut out payment intermediaries — adding a direct 2% to their profits. Enterprises will also start looking for new solutions to address the problems currently solved by credit card companies, such as fraud prevention and identity verification.

—Sam Broner

Countries Explore Putting Government Bonds on the Blockchain

Putting government bonds on the blockchain will create a government-backed, interest-bearing digital asset — without triggering surveillance concerns like central bank digital currencies do. These products may open up new demand sources in DeFi lending and derivative protocols as collateral, further enhancing the integrity and stability of these ecosystems.

Therefore, governments around the world that support innovation will further explore the benefits and efficiencies of public, permissionless, and immutable blockchain this year, with some countries potentially piloting the issuance of government bonds on the blockchain. For example, the UK has already explored digital securities in a sandbox environment through the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); its Treasury also expressed intentions to issue digital gilts.

In the United States — considering the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) plan to mandate the clearing of government bonds through traditional, burdensome, and costly infrastructure next year — there is an expectation of more discussions on how blockchain can enhance transparency, efficiency, and bond market participation.

——Brian Quintenz

We Will See Greater Adoption of 'DUNA' in the US Blockchain Network

In 2024, Wyoming passed a new law recognizing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) as legal entities. DUNA (Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association) is specifically designed for the decentralized governance of blockchain networks, offering the only viable structure for US projects. By integrating DUNA into a decentralized legal entity framework, crypto projects and other decentralized communities can grant their DAOs legal status — fostering economic activity, protecting token holders from liability, and addressing tax and compliance needs.

DAOs — governing bodies of open blockchain networks — are essential tools to ensure networks remain open, non-discriminatory, and free from unfair value extraction. DUNA can unlock the potential of DAOs, with multiple projects already implementing this structure. As the US prepares to promote and accelerate the development of the crypto ecosystem in 2025, I anticipate DUNA will become the standard for US projects.

We also expect other states to adopt similar structures (with Wyoming leading the way; they were also the first to pass the ubiquitous Limited Liability Company (LLC) structure)… especially as decentralized applications beyond crypto (such as physical infrastructure/energy grids) thrive.

——Miles Jennings

Online Liquid Democracy Moving to the Real World

As dissatisfaction with current governance and voting systems grows, now is the opportunity to experiment with new technology-supported governance in the real world through blockchain. I have written about how DAOs and other decentralized communities enable us to study political systems, behaviors, and rapidly evolving governance experiments at scale. But what if we could apply these experiences to real-world governance?

Finally, we can use blockchain for secure, private voting. Initially, this can be done through low-risk pilot projects to address cybersecurity and auditing concerns. But more importantly, blockchain can enable us to explore "Liquid Democracy" — a way for people to either vote directly on issues or delegate their voting power to others, especially at the local level.

This idea was first proposed by Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," who was also a renowned scholar of voting systems; however, this concept seemed impractical for large-scale implementation... until now. The latest advancements in computing and networking technologies, along with the emergence of blockchain, have made this new form of representative democracy possible. Cryptographic projects have started applying this concept and have gathered a wealth of data on how these systems operate — our latest research shows that local governments and communities can draw from these achievements.

— Andrew Hall

Developers Will Reuse Infrastructure Instead of Reinventing the Wheel

Over the past year, many teams have continued to reinvent the wheel on the blockchain technology stack — another custom set of validation nodes, consensus protocol implementations, execution engines, programming languages, RPC APIs. While these efforts may slightly improve in certain specialized functionalities, they often lack in broader or foundational features.

For example, a programming language specifically designed for SNARKs (Succinct Non-interactive Argument of Knowledge): although an ideal implementation may help ideal developers produce higher-performing SNARKs, in practice, it may lag behind in compiler optimizations, development tools, online learning materials, AI programming support, etc., compared to a general-purpose language (at least for now), and may even result in poorer SNARK performance.

Therefore, I expect more teams in 2025 to leverage others' contributions, reusing more off-the-shelf blockchain infrastructure components — from consensus protocols and existing staked capital to proof systems. This not only can help developers save a significant amount of time and effort but also enables them to focus on the product/service's differentiating value.

With the infrastructure finally in place, web3 products and services that cater to the mainstream can be built. Like in other industries, these products will be constructed by teams capable of successfully navigating the complex supply chain, rather than those scoffing at "no invention here."

— Joachim Neu

Crypto Companies Will Prioritize User Experience Based on End Users, Not Let Infrastructure Dictate UX

While the technical infrastructure of blockchain is fascinating and diverse, many crypto companies do not merely choose their infrastructure — the infrastructure in some aspects chooses the right technology for them, indirectly affecting their user experience (UX). Because some specific technical choices at the infrastructure level directly relate to the user experience of blockchain products/services.

But I believe the industry will overcome this inherent ideological barrier: that is, technology should dictate the end-user experience, not the other way around. By 2025, more crypto product designers will start with the end-user experience they want and then choose the appropriate infrastructure. Crypto startups will no longer need to overly rely on specific infrastructure decisions before finding product-market fit — they can focus on truly finding product-market fit.

No longer plagued by specific EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals), wallet providers, intent architectures, etc., we can abstract these choices into a holistic, full-stack, plug-and-play approach. The industry is ready for this change: a rich programmable blockchain space, increasingly mature developer tools, and chain abstractions are starting to enable more design in the crypto space. Most end-users of technology do not care what language is used behind a product. The same will happen in the crypto industry.

— Mason Hall

The Rise of the "Invisible Wire" Driving the Arrival of Web3 Killer Apps

The blockchain's technological superpowers set it apart, but they have also hindered mainstream adoption. For creators and fans, the blockchain unlocks possibilities of connectivity, ownership, and monetization... but the industry's internal jargon (such as "NFTs," "zkRollups," etc.) and complex design have erected barriers for those who would benefit most from these technologies. I have seen this firsthand in discussions with media, music, and fashion industry executives about web3.

The widespread adoption of many consumer technologies has followed this path: first, there is the technology; then, a landmark company/designer abstracts away the complexity; this move helps unlock a groundbreaking application. Think of how email started — the SMTP protocol hidden behind the "send" button; or the credit card, where most users today do not care about the payment channel at all. Similarly, Spotify's music revolution did not come through flaunting file formats but by delivering playlists to our fingertips. As Nassim Taleb says, "Overengineering breeds fragility; simplicity expands."

That's why I believe our industry will embrace this concept by 2025: the "Invisible Wire." The best decentralized applications have already started focusing on more intuitive interfaces, making it as simple as tapping a screen or swiping a card. By 2025, we will see more companies designing sleek, clearly communicating products; successful products don't explain, they solve.

— Chris Lyons

The Crypto Industry Finally Has Its Own App Store and Discovery Platform

When a cryptocurrency application is blocked by centralized platforms such as the Apple App Store or Google Play, it often restricts the initial channels through which users can access it. However, we now see some new app stores and markets providing this distribution and discovery functionality without any restrictions.

For example, Worldcoin's World App Market not only stores proof-of-personhood but also allows access to "mini-apps," attracting hundreds of thousands of users in just a few days. Another example is a fee-less dApp store targeting Solana mobile users. These examples also indicate that hardware (not just software) — such as mobile phones, wearable devices — may be a key advantage for cryptocurrency app stores, much like Apple devices were for the early app ecosystem.

Meanwhile, other stores offer thousands of decentralized apps and web3 development tools covering popular blockchain ecosystems (e.g., Alchemy); some blockchains also serve as game publishers and distributors (e.g., Ronin). However, it's not all fun and games: if a product already has distribution channels on certain platforms (such as messaging apps), porting it to the blockchain becomes challenging (exception: Telegram/TON Network). Similarly, apps with significant web2 distribution face the same issues, but we may see more of these migrations by 2025.

— Maggie Hsu

Cryptocurrency Holders Transitioning into Cryptocurrency Users

By 2024, cryptocurrency has made significant strides as a political movement, with many key policymakers and politicians actively supporting it. We also continue to see its evolution as a financial movement (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs) providing more access channels for investors). By 2025, cryptocurrency should further develop into a computational movement. But where will these new users come from?

I believe it's time to re-activate those cryptocurrency holders who are currently in a "passive" state and transition them into more active users, as only 5-10% of cryptocurrency holders actively use cryptocurrency. We can guide the 617 million existing cryptocurrency holders onto the blockchain, especially as transaction fees for users will continue to decrease with the ongoing improvement of blockchain infrastructure. This means new applications will start catering to existing and new users.

Meanwhile, some early applications we have seen — including stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, gaming, social, DePIN, DAOs, and prediction markets — are also becoming more accessible to mainstream users, with the community focusing more on user experience and other enhancements.

——Daren Matsuoka

Various Industries May Begin Tokenizing "Unconventional" Assets

As the crypto industry's infrastructure matures and other emerging technologies develop, the practice of asset tokenization will see widespread adoption across various industries. This will enable assets that were previously considered inaccessible due to high costs or lack of value recognition to not only achieve liquidity but, more importantly, participate in the global economy. AI engines can also process this information as a unique dataset.

Similar to how fracking unlocked oil reserves once deemed untouchable, tokenizing unconventional assets may redefine how income is generated in the digital age. Seemingly sci-fi scenarios become more within reach: for example, individuals could tokenize their biometric data and rent out this information to companies through smart contracts.

We have already seen early examples, such as through the DeSci company, leveraging blockchain technology to bring more ownership, transparency, and consent to medical data collection. While the exact future remains uncertain, these types of innovations will allow people to capitalize on previously untapped assets in a decentralized manner—no longer relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provide services for them.

——Aaron Schnider

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