This year's TOKEN2049 is the most lively one in history. Not only did the number of participants double compared to last year, but many peripheral activities also reached new heights. Professionals, developers, and enthusiasts actively sought future application directions through exchanges and collisions of ideas.
Despite the continuous expansion of the industry, this year's conference has shown an exciting yet anxious atmosphere, reflecting the significant changes facing the cryptocurrency market and providing a window to observe the current and future trends of the industry.
I. Innovation and Challenges: Focus Projects at TOKEN2049
This year's TOKEN2049 witnessed the new direction of industry development. Traditional leaders are facing unprecedented challenges, while emerging forces are rising, showcasing their unique application potential and broad market prospects, redefining the market competition landscape.
1. Ethereum: The Dominant Public Chain Gradually Losing Respect
As the king of public chains, Ethereum has always been a focus of discussion at TOKEN2049. However, Ethereum's performance this year has been subject to many doubts. At the conference, Ethereum's founder, Vitalik, discussed the popularity of cryptocurrencies and unexpectedly attracted the community's attention through a musical performance. This performance has sparked polarized evaluations within the crypto community. Some praised it as a pleasant leisure moment, while others criticized it as untimely, believing that the focus should be on Ethereum's technical development rather than entertainment.
In reality, Ethereum is currently facing unprecedented scrutiny. In this cycle, Ethereum and its ecosystem appear lackluster. The ETH/BTC exchange rate has dropped to a three-year low, and the anticipated vitality of L2 has not been released as expected. The fragmentation of liquidity and user attention has intensified the fragmentation of the Ethereum ecosystem. In addition, the recent large-scale selling behavior of the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik has drawn widespread criticism from the community. The doubts and challenges have even forced the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik to personally explain.
Ethereum has become a very large decentralized commercial entity in the entire cryptocurrency market and even in traditional markets. There has never been such a commercial entity in history, and the test for the entire Ethereum community and Vitalik will become increasingly severe. The biggest problem Ethereum currently faces is that its applications are experiencing a bottleneck, which is also a problem facing the industry.
2. Solana: Highly Cohesive Community
Compared to the FUD faced by Ethereum, Solana's ecosystem has shown more stability and has become the hottest topic at this conference. Solana's peripheral event "Solana Breakpoint" received high praise, with many considering this event to be on par with the main venue of TOKEN2049. Dozens of projects released new products at Breakpoint, attracting a large number of participants, with full attendance at every session, reminiscent of the grandeur of Apple's product launches or the CES consumer electronics show. The community's cohesion and focus on user growth were demonstrated at the conference.
Despite being criticized for excessive centralization, Solana's core infrastructure focusing on mass user needs and user experience has begun to take shape. The term "Solana Killer" in the market not only reflects Solana's rise but also indicates that Ethereum is no longer the absolute dominant force, and the industry landscape is undergoing profound changes.
3. TON: Rising Star
At this year's TOKEN2049, the TON ecosystem also shone brightly and became another major topic of discussion. Every TON event was packed. It is obvious that in this difficult cycle, TON has brought new vitality to the cryptocurrency market. Telegram's Mini Apps have greatly reduced the barriers to entry for developers and users, and the tight integration of this technology with social networks has led to explosive growth in gaming applications. Many games have achieved millions of users through Telegram's billion-user community.
More importantly, some Web2 mass software has begun to prefer TON as the platform for adopting crypto. At the Token 2049 conference, the use of TADA for ride-hailing services and TON encrypted payments became a major highlight, driving crypto payments through high-frequency ride-hailing scenarios, thereby introducing a completely new user base from Web2 to Web3, demonstrating TON's potential and advantages in real-life application landing. TON is becoming a strong competitor in the L1 field and is expected to truly achieve large-scale popular applications.
4. RWA and Depin: Bridges between Traditional and Crypto
RWA and Depin, as excellent gateways connecting the traditional world and the crypto industry, also received attention. During TOKEN2049, some investors compared RWA and Depin, believing that although the progress of these two tracks may be relatively slow, they are expected to achieve large-scale product applications. For example, many are discussing how the development of RWA will enable investors to directly purchase traditional financial products such as Japanese stocks, Hong Kong funds, US bonds, and European real estate through cryptocurrencies, which will create a huge market. The rise of this trend indicates that the crypto industry is gradually moving towards a more mature and practical direction.
5. Rise of Emerging Ecosystems
During TOKEN2049, the surge of Sui also attracted considerable attention. Sui Builder House was one of the hottest events before TOKEN2049. Sui has seen significant development in its ecosystem over the past year, and recently, SUI's TVL has entered the $1 billion club, with only Tron and Solana among non-EVM public chains achieving this. As one of the shining stars in the Move twin stars, the outside world is full of expectations for its future ecosystem development and performance.
At the same time, the rise of BTCFi has also become a hot topic at TOKEN2049. The rise of Layer 2, staking, and DeFi protocols, especially in the Asian market, has attracted a lot of attention. Despite the attention it has received, whether BTCFi can develop into a strong and scalable ecosystem remains a focus of industry debate.
II. Industry Increasingly Focused on Real Applications
Many projects at Token 2049 have demonstrated broad prospects, but this year's Token2049 presents a stark contrast to the atmosphere of the previous year, and the written content of Token2049 also reflects a sense of pessimism. The industry's previous narrative is gradually losing its effectiveness, and a new story has not yet fully formed, causing practitioners and investors to feel generally confused.
Over the past decade, we have been advocating the dream that cryptocurrencies will completely change the world, but reality has fallen far short. New tracks representing the future of the crypto industry, such as NFTs, metaverse games, and AI, have risen and then rapidly declined. Too many tracks and projects have been hyped up and then quickly proven false. The poor performance of meme coins has exacerbated the market's pessimism, and meme coins outperforming so-called "value coins" has made so-called value investment a joke, leaving practitioners even more confused.
The industry's current predicament is not only due to the broader background but also the stage-wise death of underlying logic. The industry's previous logic and exit mechanisms have been terminated under successive shocks.
Against the backdrop of the industry narrative losing its effectiveness, innovation and real application cases have become the focus of industry participants. People are beginning to realize that only projects that truly address user needs and achieve practical application scenarios can stand out in the fierce market competition. More and more projects are focusing on user experience and actual application effects, striving to establish a foothold in the market, bringing faith and seeing the dawn.
III. Rate Reduction Cycle Initiated, Market Welcomes Turning Point
Just as every cycle has its naysayers, the development of the blockchain industry has never been smooth sailing. Every project encounters FUD during its growth, but optimists have always been the driving force behind the industry's progress. Whether it's the financialization of Bitcoin or the innovative attempts of Web3 applications, they have gradually grown amidst countless doubts.
At the TOKEN2049 event, the announcement of the Federal Reserve entering a rate reduction cycle became a hot topic of discussion. The focus of the discussion was on how the rate reduction environment helps to improve market liquidity, enhance confidence, and provide a favorable external environment for the rebound of cryptocurrency asset prices and the expansion of the market. The blessing of the rate reduction cycle undoubtedly added a touch of "right time, right place, and right people" to this grand event.
However, the short-term stimulus brought about by the rate reduction also comes with the potential for increased market volatility. Overall, investors need to flexibly adjust their investment portfolios, diversify risks, and ensure their position in the uncertain market environment. The rise of the cutting-edge platform 4E undoubtedly provides investors with more choices.
As the official partner of the Argentine national team, 4E offers over 600 trading pairs of cryptocurrencies, forex, commodities, stocks, and indices, covering assets of different risk levels. It supports long and short trades with leverage of up to 1000x, and allows entry at any time with USDT, enabling flexible responses to market changes. Additionally, 4E has launched multiple financial products, including a demand deposit product with an annualized yield of 2.5%, which allows withdrawals at any time, and a fixed-term 30-day product with an annualized yield of up to 5.5%.
In the current market environment, the importance of asset allocation is becoming increasingly prominent. 4E has quickly gained widespread attention in the market through its diversified trading products and financial services. At the TOKEN2049 event, 4E appeared as a platinum sponsor, showcasing its technological strength and product charm, attracting numerous participants, and achieving both brand popularity and product downloads. Today, 4E has surpassed 1.2 million users, with business operations covering over 20 countries and regions worldwide, demonstrating strong growth momentum.
The 2024 TOKEN2049 conference has ended, but the industry's contemplation has just begun. From Ethereum's challenges to the rise of Solana and TON, and the exploration of BTCFi, the industry is undergoing profound changes. Although the current narrative failure has left the market feeling confused, every dilemma is an opportunity for the next breakthrough, and new directions are quietly growing. In this industry transformation, 4E will continue to leverage its powerful platform strength to help investors seize every opportunity in the market and witness the arrival of the next industry peak together.
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