2025: A Major Historical Turning Point for Web3

Original author: K, Researcher at Web3Caff Research

In 2025, the entire industry finally crossed a watershed moment that no one could pretend not to see: from a decade dominated by infrastructure to a decade driven by applications. You can think of it as the end of Web3's adolescence—the days of rapid growth, rebellion, competing on computing power, TPS, cross-chain technology, and ZooKeeper are over; products that can truly motivate ordinary users to spend money, stay engaged, and participate are just beginning.

This shift is not rhetoric, but rather the first time that the underlying conditions have truly matured. a16z explained this clearly in "State of Crypto 2025": the processing power of mainstream chains has increased from "a few TPS" a few years ago to 3400+ TPS today, and the cost has dropped from twenty dollars to a few cents or even less than a penny. [1] In other words, the chain is no longer a bottleneck, technology is no longer difficult for entrepreneurs, and it no longer keeps users out. In other words, the infrastructure of the public chain era is already perfect enough, and the real investment worthwhile in the next decade is in application implementation, public goods, open source tools, and structured financing.

One of the key factors supporting the industry's gradual entry into the application exploration phase is the relative clarity of the policy environment at a phased level. For example, as the United States and Hong Kong gradually develop clearer policy paths on key issues such as crypto-asset regulation, stablecoin frameworks, and compliant custody, institutions, developers, and infrastructure providers have begun to reassess the long-term feasibility of blockchain applications. This clarity does not stem from a single policy shift, but rather from a phased consensus reached on "innovation space under compliant conditions" through a series of institutional discussions, regulatory practices, and legislative processes. In this environment, capital allocation has begun to recover, and basic modules such as compliant stablecoins, payment systems, custody, and clearing are gradually becoming ready for large-scale implementation, providing fertile ground for richer application forms.

The author would like to specifically remind you that stablecoins are virtual currencies (Tokens), and please be aware that the issuance and participation in token investment are subject to varying degrees of regulatory requirements and restrictions in different countries and regions. In particular, issuing tokens in mainland China is suspected of constituting "illegal issuance of securities," and providing token trading matching and other cryptocurrency trading-related activities are also considered "illegal financial activities" (readers in mainland China are strongly advised to read "A Summary and Key Points of Laws and Regulations Related to Blockchain and Virtual Currencies in Mainland China"). Therefore, please do not make any decisions based on this information, and please strictly abide by the laws and regulations of your country or region and not participate in any illegal financial activities.

When the policy environment no longer constitutes an important source of uncertainty and the performance constraints of infrastructure continue to decline, changes within the industry also emerge, and then the real change occurs: revenue begins to shift from the network layer to the application layer. a16z marks this trend particularly clearly with the concept of "Real Economic Value"—the success of a chain is no longer measured by its ecosystem story, but by whether users are willing to engage in real economic activities on it. [1]

Against this backdrop, we finally see the full bloom of the three core applications of the Web3 industry in 2025 (Editor's note: Blockchain technology has extremely wide applications in multiple real-world fields. Its core is solving issues of trust, collaboration, and rights confirmation, mainly including: finance and payment (cross-border settlement, clearing and reconciliation), assets and property rights (real estate, equity, intellectual property rights confirmation and transfer), supply chain and manufacturing (traceability, anti-counterfeiting, process transparency), government and public services (electronic certificates, data sharing, voting), healthcare and education (credible storage of medical records and academic qualifications), content and cultural and creative industries (copyright registration, revenue sharing), and energy and the Internet of Things (device collaboration, carbon data, and energy trading). Therefore, this report aims only to analyze representative cases of the Web3 industry under market changes in 2025 and is not comprehensive.):

• First, as assets. Stablecoins, DAT, RWA, on-chain payments, and other "real asset layers" are becoming the largest entry point for large-scale adoption. Stablecoins form the world's fastest USD clearing network, on-chain payments are being reinvented, and RWA introduces traditional yield rates to the blockchain, making the chain the layer for "distributing real returns."
• Second, as a market. Hyperliquid and Solana now account for 53% of total revenue-generating trading volume across the network, indicating that high-frequency trading, contracts, and prediction markets are becoming new economic engines. Price discovery markets are not a byproduct, but a core force driving liquidity, promoting infrastructure optimization, and fostering user culture.
• Third, as a computing and coordination network. Blockchain is finally starting to empower AI, instead of waiting for AI to empower Web3. From verifying computation, model ownership, and data traceability to decentralized inference networks, on-chain assets are taking shape as an "AI coordination layer." Previously, we discussed "what the blockchain can do"; now we are discussing "what AI can do on the blockchain."

This also explains why Jiawei Zhu of IOSG said: "The golden age of infrastructure is over, and we have undoubtedly entered the application era." [2] Peter Pan of 1kx also gave the same judgment: the application layer investment cycle in the past seven years was immature, but the next seven years will be completely different, because with the continuous improvement of technical capabilities and the gradual clarification of the regulatory environment, the external constraints on application innovation are being significantly reduced. [3]

Therefore, the key in 2025 is not "whether applications will come," but "applications finally have fertile ground to grow." The blockchain is fast enough, the fees are low enough, regulations have been relaxed, and user attention has returned. The past decade has been preparation for today; the next decade will be the era when various real business models truly run on the blockchain. Infrastructure will not disappear, but it will no longer be the center of the narrative; from now on, everything must return to the value of the product itself.

The era of Web3 applications is not coming soon, it has already begun.

This content is excerpted from a research report published by Web3Caff Research: " Web3 2025 Annual Report (40,000 words, Part 1): Facing the Historical Convergence of Finance × Computing × Internet Order, Is a Major Industry Shift Imminent? A Panoramic Analysis of its Structural Changes, Value Potential, Risk Boundaries, and Future Outlook "

This research report (available for free reading) was written by K, a researcher at Web3Caff Research. It systematically analyzes the core logic behind the changing stages of Web3 development by 2025, focusing on why application exploration and system collaboration are gradually becoming new areas of focus amidst the continuous evolution of underlying and regulatory capabilities. Key points include:

1. Background of the stage evolution: The underlying reasons for the change in industry focus after the completion of infrastructure construction;
2. Key mechanism changes: The rule framework and on-chain mechanisms are gradually becoming clearer, and their impact on the way the system operates;
3. Main application areas: Exploration paths focusing on payment settlement, real-world scenario mapping, and programmable collaboration;
4. Future development direction: Explore the evolution of Web3 in 2026 and beyond.