Authors: Chi Anh & Ryan Yoon
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
Key Takeaways:
Stablecoins have become core infrastructure. Once reliant on narrative-driven strategies, stablecoins now demonstrate clear product-market fit, establishing their position as a core component of the digital economy.
AI expectations exceed actual developments. Although AI was a significant theme at the conference (accounting for 11% of the agenda), many participants pointed out that the gap between industry enthusiasm and actual progress is widening.
The industry is entering a stage of structural maturity. The crypto industry is transitioning from a speculative 'frontier era' to a phase centered on infrastructure development and practical use cases. The demand for validated applications and clear value propositions is gradually exceeding expectations for conceptual innovations.
1. TOKEN2049: A Strategic Barometer for the Direction of the Web3 Market
Source: Token2049
TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 once again solidified its status as the top global crypto industry event, attracting over 15,000 participants from more than 160 countries. The two-day conference covered a range of high-profile speeches and discussions, reflecting the evolution of market dynamics and the rise of emerging trends.
As an important forum for the industry, TOKEN2049 is seen as a barometer for the future direction and narrative shifts in the Web3 market. This report provides a systematic review of the key content from TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025, categorizing core themes and deeply analyzing several important announcements while capturing the overall changes in ecosystem priorities, providing strategic insights to help interpret the future potential directions of the industry.
2. Emerging Trends: What Does the Agenda Reveal?
Source: TOKEN2049, Tiger Research
TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 covered a wide range of blockchain topics, fully showcasing the evolution of industry priorities. Infrastructure-related topics accounted for the largest share (15.7%), followed by AI (11%). Although initial enthusiasm around AI agents has cooled, ongoing efforts to integrate AI with blockchain indicate that this theme remains structurally significant.
Notably, the combined proportions of stablecoins (8.7%) and real-world assets (RWA, 5.5%) have surpassed AI. This reflects a growing market interest in blockchain applications with direct utility. In particular, stablecoins are receiving attention for their practical value in payments and settlements, while RWAs emerge as a leading category for the next generation of blockchain applications.
dYdX founder Antonio discusses hot topics: "Is DeFi devouring CeFi? Slowly yet suddenly."
Source: dYdX
In this year's DeFi discussions, industry perspectives are more mature compared to previous years. Instead of focusing on replacing traditional finance, the discussions have shifted toward how decentralized systems can complement existing institutions. This is also consistent with the overall trend of regulatory engagement and institutional adoption in the industry.
A significant change is the growing focus on the Solana ecosystem. Despite suffering a major blow during the FTX collapse, the Solana ecosystem has successfully rebounded, with its presence on stage and the heat of technical discussions even surpassing Ethereum. This shift in ecological dynamics is worth close attention, as it could become a turning point in the Layer 1 blockchain landscape.
Overall, the main stage of the conference showcased a more grounded and pragmatic mindset. Although eye-catching elements such as meme coins and celebrity appearances still exist, they are merely a secondary part. Core discussions revolved around long-term growth drivers, including regulation, financial integration, infrastructure development, and artificial intelligence.
3. Deep Changes Beyond the Spotlight
As in previous years, the most meaningful progress often occurs offstage. Side events and closed-door meetings reveal deeper industry trends, strategic reshaping, and shifts in foundational directions—factors that often impact the market long before they enter the public narrative.
3.1 Stablecoins Have Become Infrastructure
Stablecoins have now established themselves as the core infrastructure of the digital economy and are seen as a key opportunity in the Web3 domain. Increasingly, perspectives suggest that stablecoin transactions will extend from on-chain activities into the real economy, potentially forming a market worth trillions of dollars. This prospect is attracting more and more participants into the stablecoin space.
With the consolidation of this perspective, the focus of the industry has shifted from simple integration to control over the payment layer. The goal extends beyond the issuance phase to building end-to-end financial infrastructure. Web3 projects and institutions are intensifying efforts to secure leadership in the stablecoin tech stack.
Although still in the early stages, this shift has accelerated ecosystems like Solana, Tron, and TON in establishing themselves as foundational settlement platforms. Their strategies extend beyond stablecoin issuance to include wallet development, payment infrastructure, and institutional adoption.
3.2 AI in Crypto: Exciting but Still Experimental
In the discussions about AI, there is a generally cautious tone. Many participants pointed out that the gap between market enthusiasm and the maturity of current technological developments is widening. In particular, some AI agent projects have been criticized for lacking clear use cases, further deepening the perception that much of the activity in this field remains speculative.
Despite these concerns, there remains long-term confidence in the potential role of Web3 in the AI market. Concepts such as decentralized AI computing and open-source agent frameworks are viewed as areas with real potential. These are seen as long-term opportunities rather than short-term trends, expected to gain attention gradually after the current market frenzy subsides.
While AI continues to attract widespread attention, most participants agree that this field should be approached with a long-term perspective. The current focus remains on foundational experiments rather than immediate large-scale applications.
3.3 Node Sale Frenzy
A notable trend at the conference was the increasing attention on node sales associated with physical devices. By opening node operations to a wider audience—previously limited to a select few—these initiatives are seen as an important step towards greater decentralization and redistributing participation opportunities.
However, some participants are skeptical about this trend. They question whether these sales are merely retail financing strategies packaged as ecosystem participation. Criticism mainly focuses on exaggerated reward structures, unclear token models, and a lack of meaningful network activity to support sales.
Despite these doubts, multiple projects continue to attract substantial capital and attention. However, their long-term viability remains uncertain and will ultimately depend on the actual utility of the networks.
3.4 Technology Is No Longer the Only Chip
The gap between technological advancement and market adoption continues to widen. Even teams with strong technical capabilities acknowledge that sustained research alone is insufficient to attract market interest. Many technically mature protocols fail to gain user attention, while some simple meme coins launched through meme platforms continue to generate stable trading volumes.
In response, industry participants are shifting their focus from research to execution. Increasing efforts are concentrated on developing strategic market entry plans, understanding liquidity flows, building exchange relationships, and designing user-friendly token models. While technical excellence remains important, the ability to create meaningful value will be limited without effective distribution strategies.
Market participants are increasingly concerned that short-term returns and immediate utility are prioritized over long-term innovation. In the current environment, execution capability outweighs potential capability. The market has evolved into a competitive landscape where survival cannot be ensured solely by technology.
4. Key Announcements
Tether – Launches New Compliant US Dollar Stablecoin Initiative
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced plans to launch a new US dollar stablecoin compliant with U.S. regulations, different from the existing USDT, expected to be released in 2025 to 2026. This plan reflects Tether's ongoing efforts in regulatory engagement and includes discussions with U.S. legislators.
OKX – Launches OKX Pay and Institutional Partnership Program
OKX launched OKX Pay, a self-custodied crypto payment application that offers zero-fee transfer functionality and wallet recovery through key splitting technology. Additionally, OKX disclosed several institutional partnerships, including collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai's VARA regulatory sandbox, and previewed integration plans with Mastercard and Stripe.
Zodia Custody – Enters UAE market and strengthens regulatory cooperation
Zodia announces acquisition of Tungsten Custody to establish a regulated business base in the UAE. At the same time, Zodia announced a new custody partnership with Bybit and jointly released a custody framework with Abu Dhabi regulators.
Mesh – Retail Crypto Payment Integration
Mesh showcased its new integration with Apple Pay, allowing users to pay with cryptocurrency while merchants receive stablecoins. This feature is based on Mesh's 'SmartFunding' solution, which is set to launch in the second quarter of 2025, aiming to streamline the crypto payment process in retail environments.
World Liberty Financial and TRON – $2 billion stablecoin investment
Abu Dhabi's MGX Fund completed a $2 billion investment in Binance (Binance) using the stablecoin USD1. After the transaction, USD1 will be natively integrated into the TRON ecosystem.
MEXC Ventures – Launches Ecosystem Development Fund
MEXC Ventures announces the establishment of a $300 million fund focused on investments in modular chains, ZK-rollups, and self-custody solutions. This move reflects a renewed interest in infrastructure investment following the market downturn in 2022.
Lightspark – Bitcoin-based payment infrastructure
Former PayPal executive David Marcus launched Spark, a native protocol based on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. This protocol aims to facilitate fast, low-cost payments, expanding Bitcoin's application scenarios beyond 'value storage.'
These announcements are highly aligned with the theme of TOKEN2049. Stablecoins remain a core topic, and Tether's compliance plans along with the $2 billion investment case based on stablecoins exemplify this. Infrastructure development is also another major focus, with significant efforts from companies like OKX, Zodia, and MEXC in scalability, custody, and modular architecture.
The functional evolution of Bitcoin is also highlighted through Lightspark's Spark protocol, further driving discussions about Bitcoin's broader application potential. Although AI occupies an important position during the speaking segments, it remains relatively inconspicuous among the major announcements. Instead, the focus remains on the practical deployment of payment, compliance, and institutional access, marking the industry's continued transition from experimental phases to large-scale implementation.
5. From Frontier to Urbanization Stage
This year's conference clearly showcased the transformation of the crypto industry—from speculative enthusiasm to a focus on practicality and infrastructure development. Three key thematic directions emerged:
Stablecoins transcend narratives, becoming the infrastructure of the digital economy
Stablecoins are no longer just a concept but have shown tangible product-market fit, gradually establishing their position as the core infrastructure of the digital economy.
AI excitement is high, but market sentiment is cautious
Although artificial intelligence received significant attention at the conference, many participants pointed out that the gap between market enthusiasm and the actual maturity of AI technology development is widening.
Dubai consolidates its status as a Web3 regulatory and capital hub
The UAE continues to play a leading role in the global Web3 expansion, with Dubai becoming an important regulatory and capital hub in this field.
This conference did not introduce a wave of entirely new trends but emphasized the further consolidation of existing narratives, particularly around AI, stablecoins, and real-world assets (RWA). The increase in institutional participation and the continuous improvement of regulatory frameworks indicate that the market is entering a new phase of structural transformation.
The era of idealistic experimentation is giving way to pragmatic execution. Just as the transition from frontier economies to urbanized economies was driven by transportation and distribution revolutions, the Web3 ecosystem has now entered a stage reliant on infrastructure development, system integration, and delivery capabilities.
Although the attention economy remains an important factor, the market is no longer solely buying into conceptual innovations. Stakeholders are now more expectant of practical applications and clear value propositions. This shift marks a broader maturity of the entire ecosystem, paving the way for more stable, long-term development—considered the dawn of the 'urbanization' era of Web3.
