New Trends in the Crypto Assets Market After Token2049: Structural Shift in Mainstream Narratives

After the Token2049 event, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and practitioners from around the world gradually left Singapore. After intensive communication and discussion, I have gained some new insights into the narrative of the new market cycle.

The overall structure of the Crypto Assets industry has been further improved this year:

1. Omnichain remains the hottest narrative of Layer 0

A certain cross-chain protocol not only defines the full-chain interoperability of ultra-light node mode but also proposes a new standard for Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT). OFT provides a more user-friendly and efficient solution for cross-chain transfers, including two versions: v1 and v2, where v2 supports non-EVM chains. Additionally, there is a standard supporting Omnichain NFT.

Currently, multiple projects have adopted the OFT standard, such as a certain Layer2 project, a certain stablecoin project, and a certain CDP protocol.

2. Layer1 is no longer the first-tier narrative

There are differences regarding Layer 1 projects in this cycle. The Move-based new public chain has garnered some attention, but other new public chains focused on DeFi or NFTs, as well as public chains supporting multiple programming languages, seem to have not gained widespread consensus.

Many people no longer believe that a new public chain can emerge that surpasses Ethereum. Although they think that Ethereum may not be the endgame, they are also unwilling to make heavy bets on new Layer 1 directions. Of course, there are still some institutions investing in new Layer 1 projects.

3. The Layer2 landscape is basically determined, and the middleware is ready.

Optimistic Rollup mainly consists of two major projects. The first tier ZK Rollup/zkEVM includes several well-known projects.

Middleware for ZK Rollup/zkVM is also in place, mainly including:

• Sequencer: There is a widespread call in the industry for a decentralized Sequencer network, with multiple leading projects.
• Prover: There are already multiple projects focusing on different ZK Proof directions.
• Hardware Accelerator: A hardware acceleration project aimed at improving the generation speed of zkp.

4. There are plenty of cash cow projects in middleware.

After ETH 2.0, the LSD track has become the second "cash cow" direction following Bitcoin PoW mining. Under the Ethereum PoS mechanism, the annual output value of Staking is approximately 680,000 ETH.

The MEV track has begun to rehearse the future benefit distribution mechanism before the implementation of Danksharding. Currently, a more reasonable existence method is to feed back the MEV profits to users' wallets, DEXs, or other dapps.

5. "Risk-free returns" create opportunities for LSDFi and RWA applications

ETH Staking returns have become the "national bond yield" in the Crypto Assets industry, and LSDFi further enhances the yield for ETH holders. Currently, the annualized yield for Ethereum PoS is about 3.6%, which is equivalent to the industry "national bond".

LSDFi has derived more applications, such as certain stablecoin projects, interest rate swap agreements, etc. These projects provide ETH long-term holders with more opportunities to capture yields.

At the same time, the high yields of U.S. Treasury bonds have driven the development of RWA projects, allowing Crypto Assets users to also enjoy the high returns of traditional finance.

6. Lowering the user experience threshold has become a fundamental requirement

The user service layer in this cycle has many innovations, with the common goal of lowering the threshold and achieving large-scale adoption.

Intent Centric ( has become a hot topic, with multiple projects approaching it from different angles to solve the issues of protocol usability and maximizing user benefits.

TGBot, as one of the practical applications of Web3+AI, has also received significant attention. Through simple commands, users can complete various on-chain operations within Telegram, greatly reducing the usage threshold.

7. The Increase of AI and Crypto Assets Integration Projects

In this Token2049 event, there are many entrepreneurial projects that combine AI and Crypto Assets, mainly including:

• On-chain interaction automation: such as TGBots and so on.
• To Earn empowers AI business: such as projects focused on medical annotation.
• Web3 version of ChatGPT: a natural language search engine for on-chain data.
• ZKML: Zero-knowledge proof of the inference steps of ML models.

As an important hub connecting the East and West in the Web3 industry, the Token2049 event in Singapore attracted over 10,000 attendees. Most major projects participated, with service-oriented projects setting up booths in the main venue, while narrative projects mostly held peripheral activities.

Although the market is still exploring, industry participants still need to continue focusing on building and innovating.

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