It took a while, but 2024 was the year Bitcoin met a million year-end predictions and finally hit $100,000. Pop the champagne if you want, but I believe that Bitcoin breaking this historic barrier is the harbinger of something even bigger, and that 2025 will be the long-awaited Year of Decentralization.
The reason has very little to do with the rising valuation of bitcoin. Anyone who has taken a look at the decentralized technology landscape over the last year will have witnessed an explosion of new use cases. Many are quirky, some are genius, and some promise to solve some of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. Together, they are sending the utility of decentralization into the stratosphere through measurable impact rather than mere speculation. More importantly, they provide a number of compelling reasons for people to adopt and join decentralization in 2025.
So, buckle up as we take a tour of my top five predictions for the year ahead.
1. Bitcoin is aiming for the moon.
It wouldn’t be December without bold predictions about the price of bitcoin. But instead of dismissing another $250,000 or $500,000 figure like everyone else, let’s explore a more radical possibility: that Bitcoin could become the basis of a global strategic reserve.
The fundamentals support this possibility. If a major world power (or an unexpected one) officially adopts bitcoin as part of its treasury reserves, current price predictions could be overturned. We’re not just talking about $500,000; A million dollars or even more could become the new normal, fueled by countries’ scramble to secure the world’s rarest digital asset.
Even without geopolitical adoption, bitcoin’s scarcity alone makes it a unique asset. Only 21 million BTC will exist, a number much smaller than the 60 million million dollars worldwide. Now that institutions and now potentially governments are buying up huge reserves of bitcoins, it will soon be a small minority that can hope to own just one, that is, unless they were smart enough to invest early.
If we add to this the continued growth of bitcoin’s utility as a decentralized network and its role as an alternative to fiat instability, we are looking at exponential growth.
But here’s the wild card: what will happen when the price of bitcoin is no longer driven just by markets, but by nations protecting each other in the race for digital dominance? That’s where things get really tense. With several countries already testing bitcoin treasury programs, $500,000 could become the starting point.
2. Depinners get rich quick.
Someone has to admit it: the crypto industry sometimes does a poor job of selling its vision to the world. Phrases like “financial self-sovereignty” mean little to the average person on the street, unless, of course, they have had their bank account closed.
So how about this as a sales pitch? Decentralization allows you to make money without doing anything at all. No, it’s not too good to be true, because that’s what Depinners are already doing. By leveraging and “farming” your computer resources, such as your phone’s processor, anyone can earn passive income by contributing to the new decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) paradigm.
The DePIN revolution is an excellent example of how decentralization transforms the concept of ownership and puts (procuring) power in the hands of the people. Equally important, it is generating incredible new use cases that are already solving problems, from noise pollution to power grid management to natural disaster alerts. Although still in its infancy, the nearly endless possibilities of DePIN apps mean that by 2025 early adopters could soon earn up to 5% of the average person’s income, all without lifting a finger.
3. Memecoins get serious.
Here is a prediction of what No This will happen in 2025: “serious” financial commentators still won’t accept that memecoins have any use, or that they are anything more than an Internet inside joke that went too far. And they will be more and more hilariously wrong.
In some respects, I can’t blame them: at first glance, most memecoins seem as a joke, especially the ubiquitous and ubiquitous DOGE. But ignore them at your own risk: memecoins are growing rapidly and evolving beyond their origins. The value of these tokens is driven less by speculation than by their ability to bring people together in projects ranging from the playful to the political.
In fact, memecoins have a lot to teach us about the nature of community and participation in the decentralized world. In 2025, we will see brands realize the extraordinary potential of memecoins to reach new audiences, foster new communities, and reimagine the relationship between businesses and consumers. There is certainly money to be made from memecoins, but in the long term, their value to forward-thinking brands will be far more significant than their symbolic price.
4. Time magazine chooses an Android of the year.
In 2025, I predict Time magazine’s Person of the Year… won’t be a person at all. For the first time in its 98 years of existence, the annual award will go to what I call “Mrs. Humanoid,” a composite character that symbolizes the rise of AI and robotics, and the integration of both into human society.
This humanoid (or “gynoid” robot, as they are sometimes called) will represent the incredible impact that these twin technologies are having in a variety of sectors, from healthcare to education, demonstrating capabilities that blur the line between human work and that of the machines. . Time magazine has chosen some controversial characters in the past (see its 1938 “Person of the Year”), but I don’t think there’s anything remotely strange about choosing a robot. I would even go a step further and say it would be irresponsible. No Put one on the cover.
The rapid rise of robots should be sparking global debates about the ethics of AI, as well as how work, privacy, and human identity are being redefined. Many of these changes are incredibly positive, some are morally gray or even dark, and some are potentially incredibly alarming. Therefore, this conversation should take place alongside climate change as one of the defining issues of our century. Putting Mrs. Humanoid on the cover of Time would be an important step in focusing minds, especially those of regulators and policymakers, on how we develop new regulatory frameworks to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities these advanced AI systems present.
5. Traditional search loses ground to AI.
Will 2024 be the last year we “Google” something we didn’t know? With the arrival of Gen AI applications, there are many reasons to think so.
Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity represent the biggest change in search since Google emerged a quarter of a century ago. Harnessing the power of AI not only allows for more accurate results, thanks to its ability to understand semantics, but also changes the dynamics of search.
These new apps pass the Turing Test with flying colors, allowing people to have meaningful conversations about everything from cooking to philosophy. As such, they represent a fundamental shift in our emotional relationship with technology and make “traditional” search—as exemplified by Google’s long, near-total monopoly—seem positively prehistoric.
Just as the rise of the Internet sparked an “SEO arms race” among brands fighting for that all-important first page of Google results, in 2025 we will see companies begin to figure out how to stay relevant in the age of artificial intelligence. look for.
One of the biggest changes we will see is the evolution of websites, which will increasingly serve AI agents instead of humans. In 2025, we will see web domains take on new importance, and the most successful brands will be those that leverage domain chains to safeguard consumer data, integrate AI functionality, and deliver revolutionary online experiences for their audiences.
Whether all, some, or none of these predictions come true, one thing is beyond doubt: as we move into the second half of the 2020s, decentralization is no longer the future; is about to become an unavoidable and inextricable part of everyone’s present.
