As we soon close out 2024, here are my personal Top 3 2025 Predictions for the crypto industry: 1. Bitcoin structured products will hit the market in 2025 with at least $5 billion in assets, driving mainstream adoption within wealth management. The cold, hard truth is that most private wealth managers and institutions remain hesitant about taking on directional Bitcoin exposure. I predict that buffered notes, principal-protection ETFs, and similar instruments will unlock a floodgate of new demand, giving institutions access to Bitcoin’s volatility at the price they deserve, customized to their own preferences. 2. Maple Finance’s TVL (~$535M as of writing) will surpass BlackRock’s BUIDL. I hold an unapologetic view that decentralized markets, which enable novel financial primitives, will see adoption faster than “security tokenization” projects retrofitting to legacy infrastructure. Institutional-grade, crypto-asset-backed decentralized lending like @maplefinance remains the most promising near-term category winner, bolstered by potential regulatory tailwinds. 3. A new decentralized stablecoin will emerge, backed by a decentralized strategic reserve. Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset is now undeniable, spanning corporate balance sheets to nation-states. However, a utopian consensus among crypto-natives is that the ideal reserve must be decentralized free from sovereign whims at all costs in addition to being backed by crypto collaterals. Despite the scars left by LUNA, I predict a more robust effort will rise, built with heightened transparency and leveraging the long-awaited arrival of cryptographic proofs. I have some exemplary candidates in mind that can and will lead the way (cc @samkazemian @LucaProsperi)