The End of the Public Chain Myth, Shift in Crypto Capital: Who Will Take Over the Next Hundred-Billion Sector?

Once upon a time, Layer 1 and Layer 2 public chains were the unquestioned “Holy Grail” of the crypto world. VC firms competed fiercely to invest, often raising hundreds of millions in funding, with narratives of “Ethereum killers” echoing loudly. However, in just three years, the tide has completely turned. Recent data shows that among large-scale financings exceeding ten million dollars, new public chain projects are nearly extinct. The era of infrastructure frenzy is quietly coming to an end.

So, where have the money and attention gone?

The answer is clear: from “building the world’s computer” to “finding real users and revenue.” The logic of crypto investment has undergone a fundamental shift. The market has finally realized that we don’t lack high-performance chains; what we need are applications that can be used by a billion people. As industry observers have pointed out: “No one is anymore obsessed solely with infrastructure. The spotlight has shifted entirely to application layers—consumer-facing products and real use cases.”

2025 Capital Trend Indicator: Three Major Sectors Rising Strong

1. Prediction Markets: From Marginal Experiments to Mainstream Stage

This is undoubtedly the most dazzling dark horse of the year. Just Polymarket and Kalshi alone have secured over #ETH billion USD in funding, demonstrating astonishing dominance. Polymarket’s performance during the 2024 US election was phenomenal, with prediction accuracy even surpassing traditional polls. Trading volume exceeded #BTC billion USD, leading to a strategic investment of up to #加密市场小幅回暖 billion USD from the parent company of the NYSE, pushing its valuation to $90 billion. This is no longer a “niche experiment” but a declaration that a new financial category for market prediction of social events has officially emerged.

2. Payments and Banking: Stablecoins Enter a “Super Cycle”

The payments sector, with nearly #Gate社区圣诞氛围感 billion USD in total funding, has taken over the former popularity of public chains. Its underlying logic is solid: stablecoins’ monthly transaction volume has surpassed trillion USD, on par with global payment giants like Visa. Giants like Ripple and Rapyd have single-round financings of up to $500 million, and new digital banks and compliant payment services worldwide are also gaining capital support like mushrooms after rain. This clearly indicates that the practicality of cryptocurrencies as a value transfer tool is being priced heavily by traditional capital.

3. RWA: Asset Tokenization Moving from Narrative to Scale

Tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is no longer just a white paper concept. The total value of tokenized assets on-chain has exceeded billion USD, with tokenized gold skyrocketing 227% within a year. A more critical signal comes from traditional financial giants: asset management firms like BlackRock, Apollo, and Franklin D. are actively moving their fund products “on-chain.” This means blockchain is shifting from a parallel crypto world to an efficiency upgrade tool for mainstream financial systems. Figure’s nearly $800 million IPO is a loud testament to this trend.

Underlying Logic Shift: From Technical Showoff to User-Centric

Beyond these three star sectors, capital is quietly nurturing the soil for future growth: user infrastructure aimed at lowering usage barriers (such as smart wallets, social login), and DeFi 2.0 projects that focus more on sustainability after reshuffling, all receive steady support.

All these changes reveal a core logic: the crypto industry is moving beyond the “tech geek” fantasy into the “user is king” business reality. Investors are voting with real money—they are no longer buying into stories of “higher TPS,” but asking: who does your product serve? What real pain points does it solve? Can it generate healthy revenue and cash flow?

The story of public chains may temporarily come to a close, but the story of crypto is opening a more grand and turbulent chapter. As infrastructure matures like water, electricity, and gas, true value creation will belong to those who can craft clever products that connect blockchain technology with the lives of billions of ordinary people.

The next crypto project with a market cap of hundreds of billions or even trillions may not call itself an “Ethereum killer,” but it’s very likely to be a service—such as a payment app, prediction platform, or stock tokenization service—that allows global users to use blockchain technology seamlessly without even noticing. The era has changed—do you see the new coordinates clearly?