Against the backdrop of a rate cut, which narratives will continue to heat up in the next six months?

Original Article Title: 11 Potential Crypto Narratives in the next 6 months
Original Article Author: @PinkBrains_io
Translation: Peggy, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: In the crypto world, narrative is the steering wheel of capital. This article outlines the 11 most noteworthy crypto narratives, providing a comprehensive overview of the latest developments and potential growth paths in the crypto ecosystem.

Faced with a rapidly changing market, rather than chasing every uptrend, it's better to select a few narratives, conduct in-depth research, and position yourself early. Hopefully, this article will provide you with a clear observational perspective and actionable insights.

Below is a breakdown analysis of the 11 crypto narratives worth paying attention to.

AI Infrastructure and AI Agents

Crypto x AI is no longer just "AI tokens rising with Nvidia (NVDA)." The core issue now is: "Who owns the computing power, who owns the data, who owns the agents." This is a battle of ownership.

Two critical sub-narratives:

Decentralized AI Infrastructure / Computing Power / Training Networks
Represented projects include: OpenTensor, Gensyn, Kite, Flock, Fraction, Nous, Prime Intellect, Vana, etc.

On-chain AI Agents: Tradable, Executable, Rewardable
Represented projects include: Mode, OpenServ, PlayAI, NOF1, Allora, etc.

The latest catalysts are ERC-8004 and x402.

ERC-8004: Ethereum developers are standardizing AI agents as tokenizable entities. ERC-8004 allows you to create an AI agent like minting an NFT, attach reputation scores on-chain, and enable delegation.

x402: An open payment channel between intelligent agents built by Coinbase, used for payment processing. This mechanism supports micropayments, API access, and settlement without intermediaries—Gartner estimates that by 2030, the size of such economies could reach $30 trillion.

This new narrative is just one example of an AI agent achieving product-market fit. They have even more practical Personal Finance Management (PFM) applications in the real world, such as transactions, automated research, e-commerce, and more.

Projects worth noting in the AI agent space include: Virtuals, Almanak, Recall, Talus Labs.

In the broader crypto x AI narrative, you can focus on the following directions:

AI Funding Platforms: USDai, Gaib

Decentralized Identity: Worldcoin

AI is still an emerging track in the tech field, and more projects will emerge in the future. It is recommended to follow @Defi0xJeff for the latest updates in the AI space.

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Robotics

Robotics may become another "aha moment" for the crypto field.

Web2 is pouring billions into this track, while the total market cap of the crypto market is only $4.4 billion. Project 1X has just opened pre-orders for the NEO household robot, priced at $499 per month or a one-time payment of $20,000.

Starting next year, people may have humanoid robot companions to assist with various tasks at home (and be very efficient at it).

The bullish logic of crypto x robotics narrative is straightforward: real-world applications require high-quality data, reliable multi-robot systems, and lower hardware costs.

New crypto projects are addressing these challenges:

Peaq: Provides machine IDs and a payment system for autonomous robots. In a "robot farm" in Hong Kong, robots are responsible for planting and selling crops, with the income paid to the NFT-based farm owners. This is a typical case of robot cash flow → token returns.

PrismaX: Building a data marketplace to connect human operators with robots through remote operations.

OVR: Users can use their smartphones or 360° cameras to scan real-world spaces and earn token rewards. With over 150,000 locations and 70 million spatial data images, OVR helps robots recognize and navigate new environments.

Sui Network: Showcased a demonstration of multi-robot collaboration. Sui utilizes the Mysticeti consensus protocol, supporting ultra-low-latency consensus mechanisms and dynamic object management.

OpenMind AGI: Supported by Pantera Capital, is building the "Android system for robots." Its OM1 operating system allows a persona to run across all types of robots.

Edge Network: Building a decentralized AWS for edge computing and robot inference hardware, integrating DePIN infrastructure.

GEODNET: A decentralized RTK network providing centimeter-level positioning data, offering precise layer support for the robot economy.

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Prediction Markets

Prediction markets went mainstream during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, led by Polymarket and Kalshi, with monthly trading volumes reaching billions of dollars.

Despite concerns about post-election lull, by 2025, trading volume had nearly quintupled, approaching historic highs.

Several catalysts drove the crypto prediction market:

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange announced plans to invest up to $20 billion in Polymarket, with a pre-transaction valuation of around $80 billion.

Polymarket acquired CFTC-licensed clearinghouse QCX for $112 million, enabling it to legally resume operations in the U.S.

The NHL (National Hockey League) signed multi-year partnership agreements with Kalshi and Polymarket, granting official data, brand usage rights, and broadcast exposure.

The key projects worth highlighting in this track include: Polymarket, Kalshi, Myriad Markets, Opinion Labs (backed by YZi Labs).

Except for TryLimitless, other platforms have not issued tokens yet, making them worth a try.

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Privacy

With the widespread adoption of Web3, the demand for on-chain privacy is also growing.

The current three main technical paths for achieving on-chain privacy are:

Trusted Execution Environment (TEE): Similar to a hardware safe, used to run sensitive code. Smart contracts or applications can execute logic in a secure chip that external parties cannot inspect. Representative projects include: Oasis Protocol, Secret Network, Phala Network.

Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP): Provers can prove a statement true to verifiers without revealing the underlying data. ZKP is widely used in blockchain, Rollup, decentralized exchanges, cryptographic cards, and tools. Representative projects include: Zcash, Polygon, Starknet, zkSync, Lighter, Hibachi, Payy. ZKP infrastructure projects include: Succinct Labs, Boundless.

a16z also emphasizes that ZKP is key infrastructure for blockchain privacy and scalability.

Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE): Allows direct computation on encrypted data without decryption. It supports running arbitrary logic (such as smart contracts, analytics, etc.) in an encrypted state, making it ideal for "privacy by default" systems. Representative projects include: Zama, Mind Network, Fhenix.

Other privacy-centric computational infrastructure: Such as Nillion, Arcium, focusing on building the foundational capabilities for privacy computing.

Revenue-Generating Protocols

In September alone, DeFi protocols generated approximately $6 billion in fees.

Uniswap: Governance is actively pushing forward the "fee switch" mechanism.

Aave: Has formally introduced a surplus fund into a reserve and buyback mechanism, with governance now focusing on cash flow.

Hyperliquid: Is a typical representative of this category. The protocol's annualized revenue is around $1.2 billion, with revenue of approximately $99 million in the last 30 days, of which about 95% is used to buy back its token $HYPE and reward holders.

GMX: Has already spent over $20 million this year to buy back around 13% of the token's supply, returning value to stakers.

While last year's market was dominated by memes, this year is more focused on fundamentals. The real winners are those projects that can translate real revenue into token value, driving growth through a "buyback-burn flywheel."

You can track project revenue and holder earnings through platforms such as DefiLlama, Dune, and Token Terminal. Projects worth paying attention to in this category include: $HYPE, $AAVE, $ENA, $PUMP, $SKY, $AER0, $JUP.

Stablecoins

Following the passage of the GENIUS Act, stablecoins have officially transitioned from a gray area into the U.S. federal payment system.

It has been reported that post the GENIUS Act, stablecoin transaction volumes have increased by around 70%, as businesses can now securely and efficiently operate a dollar payment system on-chain.

According to an a16z report, stablecoins can further strengthen the global dominance of the U.S. dollar amidst a surge in U.S. national debt and weakening foreign demand for U.S. bonds.

Stablecoins are also merging with Real World Assets (RWA): new "interest-bearing stablecoins" have emerged, backed by tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds and other RWAs. This leads to the next section on the RWA narrative.

The ecosystem of interest-bearing stablecoins is vast, and it is recommended to read relevant threads for a more comprehensive overview.

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RWA / Asset Tokenization

With the stablecoin boom, RWAs have seen strong growth this year, but as the world gradually moves on-chain, the wave of asset tokenization is just beginning.

The tokenization of U.S. Treasuries has surged from $800 million to over $7.3 billion (as of September 2025), led by institutions such as BlackRock's BUIDL, Franklin Templeton, Ondo Finance, Janus Henderson's JTRSY, and others. Institutions park idle funds in tokenized treasury bond funds to achieve instant settlement and yield.

Sky and Spark have built RWA into a flywheel mechanism: Spark channels billions of dollars in on-chain stablecoin liquidity into treasury bonds and credit products, then cycles the returns back into DeFi and its token economy.

The collateral mechanism is a key catalyst for RWAs. Once perpetual contract DEXs, lending markets, and stablecoins start using tokenized treasury bonds and credit assets as underlying collateral, RWAs can become the core infrastructure of DeFi.

Asset tokenization is not limited to Ethereum; other chains like Solana, Avax, and Sui also prioritize asset tokenization as a development focus.

Noteworthy RWA projects include: Maple Finance, Sky, Plume, Clearpool, Midas, Multiplifi, and others.

You can find the latest data on this track at RWA.xyz.

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Neobanks

Stablecoin payments and the crypto adoption by financial giants such as VISA and Mastercard have driven a new narrative in the crypto space — the Crypto Neobank.

The Crypto Neobank is vying to become the "global permissionless Revolut," but with self-custody, stablecoins, crypto assets, and reward mechanisms. It combines the convenience of traditional banking with the control of DeFi, allowing users to manage both fiat and crypto assets on one platform.

The key features of the Neobank include:

Unified account: savings, spending, transfers, earning rewards, all done in one account.

Stablecoin-based: using stablecoins like USDT, USDC, USDe as spendable currencies.

Built-in channels: enabling instant crypto-to-fiat conversion through linked cards, operating on licensed banks and compliant payment networks.

User control: self-custody mechanism ensures funds are owned by the user.

Representative projects include:

Plasma: the first neobank native to stablecoins, offering 4% cashback, 10%+ spending rewards, zero-fee USD₮ transfers, all unified in one app, with instant virtual card on registration.

Tria: a self-custody neobank based on Arbitrum, backed by Wintermute, Ethereum Foundation, providing virtual/physical cards, AI-optimized swaps, gasless cross-chain payments, and built-in yield strategies.

EtherFi: the fastest-growing stablecoin neobank, expanding rehypothecation into a fintech experience, TVL reaching $10.1 billion, market cap of $6.29 billion, FDV of $11 billion, supporting 3% cashback credit cards.

Avici Money: fully on-chain, self-custody internet banking infrastructure, removing reliance on central banks, integrating fiat channels, supporting Visa cards and USD/EUR virtual accounts, enabling seamless fiat-to-crypto conversion via Wise, SEPA, ACH.

UR Global by Mantle: a Swiss-compliant neobank, bridging Asian fiat with DeFi, zero withdrawal fees, free transfers, USDe offering 5% APY, supporting multi-currency accounts and Mastercard global payments.

Frax Finance: Building a stablecoin operating system, frxUSD is the GENIUS-compliant Frax stablecoin, FraxNet is its on-chain account system for minting, redeeming, and earning yield, and Fraxtal is its high-performance Layer 1 blockchain supporting asset issuance, settlement, and real-time yield.

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Perpetual Contract DEXs

By October 2025, decentralized perpetual contract trading volume surpassed $1 trillion.

HyperliquidX led the pack (around $2940 billion), followed by Lighter (around $2570 billion) and Aster (around $2250 billion). The total monthly trading volume in this race track exceeded $1.06 trillion.

Hyperliquid has essentially become a high-performance chain and launched its native stablecoin USDH. HIP3 enhances its financial capabilities, and the HyperEVM ecosystem has tremendous potential.

Lighter is in public testing, utilizing zkRollup + off-chain matching + on-chain settlement model, with a matching speed of less than 5 milliseconds, aiming for institutional-grade latency while still settling on Ethereum, positioning itself as a leader in the "CLOB on zkRollup" race track.

Aster is a privacy-oriented perpetual contract DEX on BNBChain supported by YZi Labs.

Perpetual Contract DEXs are one of the strongest product-market fits (PMFs) in the current crypto space, but the competition is also extremely fierce.

The current bullish thesis revolves around airdrops. It is recommended to keep an eye on emerging tokenless perpetual contract DEXs and the HyperEVM ecosystem.

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ICO and Token Sale Platforms

This is a track that has far less discussion than its potential. 2021-style Launchpads are making a comeback, but with more gamified designs and a stronger focus on KYC compliance.

Some standout ICO platforms include:

KaitoAI Capital Launchpad: Allocating funds in stages through social reputation, the Kaito ecosystem, and community consensus, with each sale being oversubscribed. Represented projects: Limitless, zkPass, Novastro, Hana Network, Theoriq.

Echo: Acquired by Coinbase for around $375 million, having raised over $200 million in over 300 sales. Coinbase is integrating Echo to bring on-chain fundraising directly into its exchange. Represented projects: MegaETH, Plasma.

Legion: Quota scoring based on Clout + Degen + Dev metrics (social, on-chain, development). Recently successful projects include: Yieldbasis, Almanak.

MetaDAO: A governance + fundraising platform on Solana, evolving from "future governance as a service" to an ownership token launch platform. With nearly $18 million raised in total, the last three projects (Avici, Umbra, Omnipair) were all oversubscribed.

Buidlpad: One of the most active ICO platforms with strong social performance. Represented projects include: Momentum, Falcon, Lombard, SaharaAI.

Jupiter Exchange is also set to launch an ICO platform in November.

On the other end of the spectrum of token launch platforms is Meme Launchpad, led by Pump.fun, as the internet capital market expands to multiple platforms.

But the risk is also high, with most new tokens being mere meme coins. A smarter approach is to support the platform rather than blindly chase tokens.

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11. High-performance Blockchains

The scalability narrative has shifted from "cheaper than Ethereum" to "real-time, Wall Street-grade throughput."

The goal of the new generation of high-performance blockchains is to support real-time applications such as real-time perpetual contract order books, AI smart contract clusters, and settlement layers with Web2 speed, all while not compromising on Ethereum-level security and finality.

Monad: Fully EVM-compatible, supports parallel execution, achieves around 10,000 TPS, 1-second block time, 0.8-second finality, and reduces hardware costs through custom architecture.

MegaETH: The first truly real-time blockchain aiming for sub-millisecond latency and 100,000 TPS. It operates with a single ultra-fast sequencer and plans to achieve decentralization through sequencer rotation and fraud/fault proofs in the future. Its $MEGA ICO was oversubscribed by 5.8 times, raising $275 million.

Rise Chain: The fastest Rollup-based chain with a throughput of 100,000 TPS, 10 Ggas/s throughput, and a confirmation time of only 5 milliseconds. Ideal for CLOB perpetual contracts, high-frequency trading, and real-time AI collaboration.

These three chains are currently in the pre-mainnet phase.

On the other hand, some other Layer 1 blockchains (L1) have already validated their performance on the mainnet:

Sei Network: An EVM-compatible L1 utilizing parallel execution and the Twin Turbo consensus mechanism, achieving finality below 400 milliseconds with a goal of over 200,000 TPS.

Aptos Network: Providing over 160,000 TPS and sub-second finality, recently entered into new partnerships with Google Cloud, Flowdesk, and others, and launched the Aptos Connect wallet layer.

Sui Network: Achieving around 130,000 TPS and approximately 480 milliseconds finality, integrated into ecosystems like Aliyun, BytePlus, and Playtron.

Sonic Labs: Refactored from Fantom, aiming for 400,000 TPS and sub-second finality, and launched a $150 million US Capital Markets Plan, supporting RWA and ETF integrations.

In this narrative, the real winners will be those blockchain projects that can support killer applications, retain users, and achieve mass adoption with Web2 integration.

The crypto narrative evolves rapidly. Our advice is: don't try to chase every pump, but rather select a few narratives, conduct in-depth research, and position yourself ahead of time.

[Original Article Link]

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