As the sun prepares to set on 2024, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on where we are – and how far we’ve come. Whatever your expectations were for the last 12 months in cryptoc, it’s safe to say the industry has blown them away, breaking new records in terms of asset prices, trading volumes, and active users.
But there’s a lot more to measuring 2024 than checking the price of Bitcoin. Because while the state of the markets shows how far we’ve come, it doesn’t capture the innovations that have taken root during the past year, from RWAs to DeSci and from AI to data delivery. While there are many metrics by which the current cycle can be measured, DWF Ventures’ end-of-year thread is as good a place as any to start.
Looking Back on a Year to Remember
This year, the cryptocurrency landscape has evolved in ways that few would have predicted at the outset. While previous cycles have vacillated between boom and bust, 2024 charted a more diverse narrative, with the market action complemented by the maturation of decentralized finance (DeFi), the explosion of real-world assets (RWAs) onchain, the rise of memecoins as cultural phenomena, and the introduction of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs that bridged retail enthusiasm with institutional credibility.
As the crypto industry gears up for everything 2025 has to throw at it, hopefully propelled by a lighter-touch US administration, it’s a good time to reflect on how far we’ve come. BTC, for the record, began the year a hair under $40K, making its rally to six-digit dollar territory the most blatant embodiment of how far crypto’s come. But behind the scenes, there was much more going on, with DWF Ventures highlighting everything from the $5.9T – yes trillion – in stablecoin volume to the sharp rise in onchain activity.
Memecoins, Stablecoins, and the Year’s Unlikely Heroes
While sectors such as stablecoins and RWAs saw huge growth in TVL and onchain volumes, it wasn’t just the serious corners of crypto that benefited from these tailwinds. Memecoins, those improbable darlings of internet culture, also saw record activity. Initially dismissed as just a passing fad, they ended up teaching the industry a few lessons about viral community growth and the universal appeal of a fair launch.
Ignited by projects like Pump.fun, memecoins created a trading frenzy that dwarfed every other onchain vertical. Every retail-focused network followed Solana’s lead, from Base to BNB Chain and from TON to Sui, spawning launchpads and memecoin communities in their droves. Naturally, DWF Labs had a finger in most pies, with its $20M Meme Fund attempting to drive real-world use cases and further adoption.
While memecoins dominated trading volumes on chains from Solana to Ethereum, they weren’t the only show in town. Onchain perps finally got up to speed through the launch of protocols such as Hyperliquid and Orderly Network’s expansion to Solana. AI was also another area where DeFi found product-market fit, fueled by the growth of distributed GPU networks such as io.net that showed that anything the centralized web can do, its decentralized counterpart can do just as well – and often for less.
ETFs, Institutional Money, and the Drive for Legitimacy
Perhaps the most anticipated events of the year were the approvals of the Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs. Opening the floodgates to institutional inflows, they were the driver – BTC especially – of everything that followed. No, institutions aren’t trading memecoins in the Pump.fun trenches. But if their entry into the industry had not occurred, the subsequent rise in all digital asset classes would not have been possible.
For many of those who work on the frontlines of web3, coding protocols, deploying dapps, tinkering with AI agents, and enhancing onboarding, there’s a desire to divert this institutional interest into other areas. This Particularly DeFi, where the infrastructure for professional investors has been rapidly improving all year, including better solutions for custody, compliance, and asset tokenization – particularly when it comes to RWAs.
The growth of real-world assets, which are now a multi-billion dollar sector including stablecoins, has suggested the shape of institutional adoption to come. Tipped to become a $10T industry by 2030, RWAs have moved from concept to working reality. Gold; crude oil; fine art; real estate. You name it, it’s now being tokenized and traded onchain. With its ability to generate sustainable DeFi yields, particularly through innovations such as stablecoins collateralized by tokenized T-Bills, it will be exciting to watch this sector evolve in 2025.
Throw in the rise of AI agents, DeSci, GameFi, TravelFi, and all those other DeFi derivatives that are itching to disrupt legacy industries and it’s fair to say that 2024 has been a prolific year for crypto. It won’t all be plain sailing going into 2025, with geopolitical tensions, the capricious global economy, and crypto’s inherent volatility ensuring the going is anything but smooth. Nevertheless, few would bet against crypto being in a better place 12 months from now than where it currently stands.
Having weathered everything that’s been thrown at it over the last decade and a half, crypto is finally closing in on the dream it’s been chasing for so long: mass adoption. Next year will surely be the year when this vision comes to pass.
