Introduction: Farewell to the Wild Grass


If the DeFi Summer of 2020 is likened to the 'adolescence' of Web3, filled with restlessness, rebellion, and contempt for the old order; then in 2025, Web3 finally welcomes its 'coming of age ceremony.'


This year, two parallel lines collide violently: one is the regulatory red line - the world's first case of DAO (Ooki DAO) completely shatters the illusion of 'decentralization equals immunity.' The other is the commercial golden line - Nasdaq steps on the gas, trying to tokenize trillions of dollars in U.S. stock assets, turning blockchain into Wall Street's backyard.


At this moment, 'Code is Law' officially gives way to the dual-track new order of 'Code + Law.'



Chapter One: Disillusionment—The Death Notice of 'Naked Running' DAO


The turning point of everything started with the Ooki DAO case. It was like a scalpel, cutting through the legal fog of 'decentralization' and establishing a brutal survival baseline.


1. Legal Dimension's Fatal Blow: Infinite Joint Liability Once, DAO was considered a no-man's land. But regulators have categorized it as **'General Partnership'**. This means extremely terrifying consequences: voting implies responsibility. Without a legal entity as a firewall, any debts or fines of the DAO can be directly pursued by creditors to the personal assets of every token holder participating in the vote. No rational investor is willing to risk losing everything for meager governance returns.


2. The Deadlock of Business Dimensions Besides legal risks, 'de-subjectivization' has also locked the business ceiling. Without a physical entity, intellectual property (IP) cannot be protected, top talents cannot be hired, and access to the banking system is impossible.


Conclusion: By 2025, any financial DAO still claiming 'complete anonymity, no headquarters, anti-censorship' will no longer be seen as innovative in the eyes of regulators but as illegal financial institutions waiting to be enforced.



Chapter Two: Evolution—Uniswap's 'Shield Bearer' Survival Rule


Faced with regulatory siege, the native giants of Web3 did not sit idly by but evolved into an extremely clever survival form. Uniswap is a textbook in this regard, proving that 'entities' are not betrayals but shields.


1. Ingenious 'Cutting Technique' Uniswap is not purely a ghost; it has built a sophisticated 'Trinity' architecture:



  • Uniswap Labs (Entity Shield): A legitimate technology company registered in the United States. It is responsible for writing code, operating the front-end website, financing (taking VC money), collecting protection fees (front-end interface fees), and hiring the most expensive lawyers to deal with SEC lawsuits.


  • Uniswap Protocol (Anti-Censorship Heart): Automated code deployed on-chain. Even if the company closes, the protocol continues to run.


  • Uniswap DAO (Risk Isolation): Responsible for voting, but legally separated from Labs.


2. The Significance of Physical Existence The existence of Uniswap Labs has effectively become the **'Red Hat' model** of Web3. It uses a centralized entity to handle centralized troubles (law, copyright, financing), thereby protecting the decentralized protocol spark. Without this entity shielding it from fire, Uniswap would have been torn apart in copyright and regulatory battles.



Chapter Three: Change—Nasdaq's 'Dimensional Strike'


While Web3 projects are busy building compliance moats, real barbarians have come from outside—Nasdaq. Unlike DeFi, which attempts to rebuild the financial system, Nasdaq chooses to directly **'devour'**.


1. From 'Sipping Soup' to 'Eating Meat' In the past, Nasdaq only earned matching fees (sipping soup), and the lucrative capital was eaten by brokers. Now, Nasdaq reconstructs the interest chain through **'tokenization'**:



  • Hybrid Architecture: The front-end experience remains unchanged, while the back-end mints tokens in real-time on-chain through DTC, achieving T+0 settlement.


  • Ambition: It intends to capture the full industry chain profits of issuance, trading, settlement, and custody.


2. The Scrubbing of RWA Protocols Nasdaq's entry has left middleware protocols like Ondo Finance gasping for breath.



  • Genuine Goods vs. Grey Market: If Nasdaq directly issues the most credible 'tokenized Apple stocks', why would investors buy Ondo's packaged 'second-hand tokens'?


  • Trend: In the upstream 'asset issuance' stage, regular troops will complete monopolization based on licenses and credit advantages.



Chapter Four: Endgame—2025 Web3 Survival Map


Combining legal cases, movements of giants, and Vitalik's philosophy, the Web3 world of 2025 will differentiate into three species that do not infringe upon each other:


1. Infrastructure Layer: 'Public Utilities' with Shields



  • Representatives: Uniswap (Labs + Protocol), Aave


  • Survival Rule: Entity Development + Open Source Protocol. They have strong corporate entities serving as legal and business 'shields', handling compliance and financing upfront; while maintaining an immutable public protocol behind. This is the technological foundation of Web3.


2. Upstream Asset Layer: Compliant 'On-Chain Companies'



  • Representatives: Nasdaq, MakerDAO (Sky), Ondo


  • Survival Rule: Full Compliance + License Moat. They are essentially Fintech companies operating on the blockchain. Whether it's MakerDAO's U.S. Treasury trust or Nasdaq's tokenized stocks, the core competitiveness is **'the legal pipeline connecting real assets'**. They are responsible for producing the highest quality RWA assets (flour).


3. Downstream Application Layer: Innovative 'DeFi Lego'



  • Representatives: Hyperliquid, On-Chain Derivatives Protocol


  • Survival Rule: Ultimate Experience + Combinability. Since 'creating assets' cannot match Nasdaq, let's 'play with assets'. Based on tokenized stocks issued by Nasdaq, build permissionless lending, options, and automated strategies. This is the most vibrant blue ocean of Web3.