As the year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on a productive 2024 stacked with category-defining partnerships, significant technology upgrades, global policy shifts and cultural nuances pushing the world of Web3 forward.

While we often peer outside the window for macro trends on what’s to come, this time, we’ve turned in to tap our own Ava Labs ecosystem on top 2025 predictions.

Looking at forthcoming Web3 trends across gaming, institutions and capital markets, regulatory matters, consumer crypto adoption, investing and AI, subject-matter leads share their insights on trends to look out for.

Launching blockchains becomes as easy as websites

“The technology barriers to launching your own blockchain have literally been obliterated. You can launch a no-code, fully-managed custom Layer 1 (L1) blockchain with your own native token in minutes for less than the average person spends on take-out each month.” – Nick Mussallem, Head of Product at Ava Labs, AvaCloud

Wallets will become multipurpose hubs

“New cryptographic innovations have changed the way consumers interact on-chain. As the world of blockchains emerge, wallets will no longer serve just one purpose. Wallets will emerge and become more than what they are today – they will transform into a hub of on-chain interactions. For too long, the crypto UX has suffered because communities want to do what’s best for specific chains but not what’s best for the end user. Existing wallets will  shift their focus from solely user capture to consolidation through unification.” – Akash Gupta, Head of Consumer Product at Ava Labs, Core App

Stablecoins will continue to grow

Latin America (LATAM) is a diverse region with very different realities reflecting the state of blockchain and its adoption. As blockchain technology reshapes our financial landscape, organizations and governments throughout LATAM face a critical choice: adapt and play a role in steering its course, or risk being left behind in an increasingly digital financial world. – Leandro Davo, Ecosystem Lead at Ava Labs, Latin America

A major telecommunications company will use blockchain technology 

“Legacy telecommunications companies have seen growth in protocols that leverage blockchain to decentralize control and ownership of physical infrastructure in the real world (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks  or DePin) such as Helium, Uplink and Quantinium and will likely continue embrace the technology in fear of getting left behind. In areas of low coverage, a telecommunication company will leverage DePin technology to expand connectivity.. This pilot case will prove the lower capex and higher network effects DePin products enable.” – Justin Fiddes, Business Development at Ava Labs

AI and blockchain will converge

“AI's rise is undeniable. In 2024, excitement grew around AI and blockchain merging to boost capabilities like AI agents and provenance tracking, maintaining data integrity and smarter decisions. We expect to see this explode in 2025, with more projects joining the quest to understand how blockchain can help grow AI and vice versa.”  – Lydia Chiu, SVP of Corporate Development at Ava Labs and CIO of Blizzard the Avalanche Fund LP

SAB 121 is repealed

“SAB 121 is a SEC staff accounting bulletin that purports to interpret accounting rules for entities holding custody of digital assets. It is neither good accounting nor good securities policy.  Both Houses of Congress voted to repeal it but President Biden vetoed the repeal. Repeal happens in 2025.” – Lee Schneider, General Counsel at Ava Labs

“This particular bulletin will be an easy one for a new SEC administration to rescind,” Wee Ming Choon, Chief Legal Officer at Ava Labs as told to Blockworks in ‘Taking stock of crypto predictions for 2025’.

There will be an increased demand for tokenized assets 

“We'll see increased adoption of blockchain and tokenized assets by traditional Web2 companies with embedded distribution channels. In addition to stablecoins and money market funds, we'll start to see increased demand for other types of tokenized assets such as equities and fixed income.”  – Morgan Krupetsky, Senior Director of Business Development,  Institutions & Capital Markets at Ava Labs

‍Web3 gaming will hit 50 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in 2025

“With Web3 gaming attracting more than $4 billion in venture funding in 2022 alone, and game development on a 3-4 year cycle, we should expect to see a sharp rise in gaming related GTMs and TGEs in 2025.” – Parker Heath, Partnerships Lead at Ava Labs, Gaming

‍Traditional finance will continue to explore decentralized models 

“Some firms will use DeFi protocols directly, incorporating them as is into their tech stack. Others will look to fork and white label DeFi primitives with rules around regulatory compliance . For the first time, Institutions are not only buying digital assets but also looking to utilize the underlying blockchain technology in a meaningful way” – Eric Kang, Head of  DeFi at Ava Labs

Traders will rotate back to utility

“Memecoins have been the primary narrative for trading and people want something more. With new entrants in the space, the easiest thing to understand is the concept of utility. Areas like payments, identity, gaming, and DeFi in Web3 create new opportunities for utility and possibly the creation of a new category on the horizon.” – Avery Bartlett, Marketing Strategy Lead at Ava Labs

Sports teams and leagues will embrace blockchain

“We'll see a sharp rise in sports teams and leagues jumping back into blockchain partnerships whether that's sponsorship or loyalty and engagement programs.” – Dominic Carbonaro, Director of Ecosystem Growth, Enterprise & Retail

‍