Major Trends and Noteworthy Projects in the Web3 Space

Looking back at the predictions for the industry's main lines a year ago, half of them were accurate. Currently, the main and secondary trends in the Web3 field are as follows:

1. Stablecoins and Real-World Asset Tokenization (RWA)

The projects in this field that are currently worth following include:

• CRCL: Essentially a bet on Circle's position in the stablecoin market. Although the current price of $135 may not seem cheap, considering the potential 5-8 times expansion of the stablecoin market over the next 5 years, coupled with the recent pullback from $300 to $108, it could be a good entry opportunity.

• PlasmaFDN: As a stablecoin public chain project, it leads its peers in terms of financing scale, ecological construction, and social influence. The locked amount after the mainnet launch is expected to be at least $300-400 million. Although the current valuation of $600 million may seem expensive, it is worth following considering the enormous potential of the stablecoin market in the coming years.

• ENA: The token of the Ethena project, representing a decentralized stablecoin. Its USDE has surpassed a circulation of 13.5 billion USD, with various fundamental indicators remaining strong. Additionally, they have a centralized USDTB that is about to exceed 2 billion USD, as well as the upcoming RWA public chain Converge.

• Ondo: Currently the only platform that enables 24/7 trading of US stocks without KYC barriers and has backing from large institutions, making it relatively safe and reliable. If you are optimistic about the borderless US stocks on-chain trend of RWA, Ondo is one of the few investment targets available.

2. AI Agent

Although some AI agent projects that were popular last year turned out to be just hype, this year there are indeed some real AI agents with potential product-market fit. Notable projects in the Web3 space include HeyAnonai, Gizatech, Almanak, and ReiNetwork.

What I am most concerned about is the halving event of Bittensor early next year. If a good entry opportunity arises at that time, it is worth considering. As an industry leader, Bittensor currently has 3-4 subnets generating income, and overall, it is the most promising project to achieve breakthroughs in the Web3 AI field.

3. Meme Tokens

Meme tokens have remained popular since last year, and this year has even seen a competition among various launch pads and pumps in the market. However, Pump is still far ahead and has begun to venture into the live streaming field, taking the Web3 version of TikTok route. In the realm of Meme tokens, Alpha changes every day, but Beta has only Pump.

4. Prediction Market

In addition to the three main lines mentioned above, prediction markets are becoming a potential new trend. The data from Polymarket has been steadily growing, while Kalshi's performance in the past month has been remarkable, far exceeding Polymarket. In the primary market, dozens of new prediction market projects have emerged over the past year. Some experts believe that the development of prediction markets could disrupt the existing insurance industry, as it allows users to directly access and hedge transparent probabilities and risks.

However, this field lacks investable targets in the secondary market, and can only wait for the possible token issuance from Polymarket. It is reported that Polymarket has reached a valuation of 3 billion dollars.

From another perspective, the main theme of this round may focus on projects that "have real income, profits, and buyback tokens." From this point of view, Hype and Pump may be two tokens worth following.

Finally, in the stablecoin/RWA space, in addition to the projects mentioned earlier, Tempo is also worth following. Although it was previously thought that it might not issue a token, the latest information indicates that Tempo may eventually issue a coin. The optimism for Tempo is primarily based on Stripe as a distribution channel for services to millions of merchants, and Paradigm’s direct involvement in building it as one of the most technically robust and well-known venture capital firms in the industry (rather than just investing).

In the future, the stablecoin public chain may form a dual dominance pattern with Plasma aimed at the C-end and Tempo aimed at the B-end.