VanEck, a financial services company, has made 10 predictions for the future of cryptocurrency in a recent blog post. They believe that the crypto bull market will reach its peak in the first quarter of 2025 and set new highs in the fourth quarter. They predict that Bitcoin will be valued at around $180,000 and Ethereum will trade above $6,000. They also expect Solana and Sui to exceed $500 and $10, respectively.
After this peak, VanEck anticipates a 30% decrease in Bitcoin and even sharper declines of up to 60% for altcoins during the summer as the market consolidates. However, they believe that a recovery is likely in the fall, with major tokens regaining momentum and reaching previous all-time highs by the end of the year.
VanEck also predicts that the United States will embrace Bitcoin by establishing a strategic reserve. They believe that either the federal government or at least one state, such as Pennsylvania, Florida, or Texas, will create a Bitcoin reserve. They also expect the approval of multiple new spot crypto ETPs (exchange-traded products) with new SEC leadership. Ethereum ETPs will include staking, and both Ethereum and Bitcoin ETPs will allow in-kind transactions and redemptions.
Another prediction by VanEck is that the value of tokenized securities will exceed $50 billion. They believe that 2025 will be a breakthrough year for tokenized securities launching on open-source blockchains. They also project that stablecoins will revolutionize payments, with daily settlement volumes reaching $300 billion by the end of 2025, tripling from the current $100 billion per day.
VanEck sees AI Agents as a compelling narrative that will gain traction in 2025. They predict that 1 million new AI agents will emerge, generating significant revenues and expanding beyond DeFi (Decentralized Finance) into social media, gaming, and consumer applications.
Additionally, VanEck expects Bitcoin Layer-2s to reach a total value of 100,000 BTC, building on the growth of 600% in 2024. They also foresee Ethereum blob space generating $1 billion in fees due to Layer-2 adoption, rollup optimizations, and high-fee use cases like tokenized assets and enterprise applications.
VanEck predicts that DeFi will reach all-time highs with $4 trillion DEX (Decentralized Exchange) volumes and $200 billion total value locked. They believe this will be driven by AI-related tokens, consumer-facing dApps (decentralized applications), and tokenized assets. They also project that NFT (Non-Fungible Token) trading volumes will rebound to $30 billion in 2025, despite the recent downturn in the NFT market.
Lastly, VanEck expects DApp (Decentralized Application) tokens to narrow the performance gap with Layer-1 tokens. In 2024, Layer-1 blockchain tokens outperformed DApp tokens by 2x, but the launch of innovative dApps in AI and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) is expected to drive a shift in performance.
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