Original author: K, Web3Caff Research researcher

In 2025, the entire industry finally crossed a watershed moment that no one could pretend to ignore: moving from a decade dominated by infrastructure to a decade driven by applications. You can understand it as the "end of adolescence" for Web3—the wild, rebellious years of competing in computing power, TPS, cross-chain capabilities, and ZK are over; the products that can truly make ordinary users willing to spend money, stay, and participate are just beginning.

This shift is not just rhetoric; it is the first time that the underlying conditions have truly matured. a16z clearly articulated this in the "State of Crypto 2025": the processing capacity of mainstream chains has increased from "a few TPS" a few years ago to over 3400 TPS today, and fees have dropped from twenty dollars to a few cents or even less than a penny. In other words, chains are no longer a bottleneck, technology no longer poses challenges for entrepreneurs, and users are no longer kept at bay. In other words, the infrastructure of the public chain era is now sufficiently developed, and the next decade is truly worth investing in application implementation, public goods, open-source tools, and structured financing.

One of the important backgrounds supporting the industry's gradual entry into the application exploration phase is the relatively clear policy environment at a phased level. For example, as the United States and Hong Kong gradually form clearer policy paths on key issues such as cryptocurrency asset regulation, stablecoin frameworks, and compliant custody, institutions, developers, and infrastructure providers are beginning to reassess the long-term feasibility of blockchain applications. This clarity does not come from a single policy shift but is reflected in a series of institutional discussions, regulatory practices, and legislative processes, achieving a phased consensus on the "innovation space under compliance conditions." In such an environment, the pace of capital allocation begins to warm up, and foundational modules such as compliant stablecoins, payment rails, custody, and clearing gradually meet the conditions for large-scale implementation, providing a realistic foundation for richer application forms.

The author particularly reminds: Stablecoins are virtual currencies (Tokens), and please be aware that the issuance and participation in investing in Tokens are subject to varying degrees of regulatory requirements and restrictions in different countries and regions. In particular, issuing Tokens in mainland China is suspected of "illegal issuance of securities," and providing Token trading matching and other cryptocurrency trading-related activities also fall under "illegal financial activities" (mainland Chinese readers are strongly advised to read "Summary and Key Points of Laws and Regulations Related to Blockchain and Virtual Currency in Mainland China"). Therefore, please do not make related decisions based on this information, and please strictly comply with the laws and regulations of your country and region, refraining from participating in any illegal financial activities.

When the policy environment is no longer a significant source of uncertainty and the performance constraints of infrastructure continue to decline, changes within the industry also become apparent, leading to real change: revenue begins to shift from the network layer to the application layer. a16z marks this trend clearly with the concept of "Real Economic Value"—measuring whether a chain is successful is no longer based on its ecological narrative but on whether users are willing to engage in real economic activities on it.

In this context, we finally see the three core uses of the Web3 industry in 2025 fully blossoming (editor's note: blockchain technology has a wide range of application scenarios and can be applied in multiple real-world fields, primarily solving trust, collaboration, and rights confirmation issues, mainly including: finance and payments (cross-border settlement, clearing and reconciliation), assets and property rights (real estate, equity, intellectual property confirmation and circulation), supply chain and manufacturing (traceability, anti-counterfeiting, process transparency), government affairs and public services (electronic licenses, data sharing, voting), healthcare and education (trustworthy storage of medical records and diplomas), content and cultural creativity (copyright registration, revenue sharing), as well as energy and the Internet of Things (device collaboration, carbon data and energy trading). Therefore, the purpose of this report is only to analyze relevant representative cases of the Web3 industry under the market changes of 2025 and does not have a global perspective.):

• First, as assets. Stablecoins, DAT, RWA, and on-chain payments are becoming the largest entry point for large-scale adoption. Stablecoins have formed the fastest dollar clearing network globally, on-chain payments are being reinvented, and RWA brings traditional yields into blockchain, making the chain a layer for "distributing real yields";
• Second, as markets. Hyperliquid and Solana now account for 53% of the total network revenue-generating trading volume, indicating that high-frequency trading, contracts, and prediction markets are becoming new economic engines. The price discovery market is not a byproduct but the core force driving liquidity, optimizing infrastructure, and cultivating user culture;
• Third, as a computing and coordination network. Blockchain is finally beginning to empower AI, rather than waiting for AI to empower Web3. From verification computing, model ownership, data traceability to decentralized reasoning networks, on-chain assets are taking shape as an "AI coordination layer." Previously, we discussed "what chains can do"; now we discuss "what AI can do on chains."

This also explains why IOSG's Jiawei Zhu said, "The glorious era of infrastructure is in the past; we have undoubtedly entered the application era." 1kx's Peter Pan also provided the same judgment: the application layer investment cycle was immature over the past seven years, but the next seven years will be completely different because, under the backdrop of continuously improving technical capabilities and gradually clarifying regulatory environments, the external constraints faced by application innovation are significantly easing.

Therefore, the key in 2025 is not "will applications come," but "applications finally have the soil to be born." The chain is fast enough, the fees are low enough, the regulations have been relaxed, and users' attention has returned. The past decade was to prepare for today; the next decade will be the era where various real business models truly run on the chain. Infrastructure will not disappear, but it will no longer be the narrative center; from now on, everything must return to the value of the product itself.

The application era of Web3 is not about to arrive; it has already begun.

This content is excerpted from the research report published by Web3Caff Research: "Web3 2025 Annual 40,000-Word Report (Part One): Facing the Historical Intersection of Finance × Computing × Internet Order, Is a Major Industry Shift About to Begin? A Comprehensive Breakdown of Its Structural Changes, Value Potential, Risk Boundaries, and Future Outlook"

This research report (now open for free reading) was written by K, a researcher at Web3Caff Research, systematically organizing the core logic of changes in the development stage of Web3 in 2025, focusing on why application exploration and system collaboration are gradually becoming new focal points against the backdrop of continuous evolution of underlying and regulatory capabilities. Key points include:

1. Background of stage evolution: the internal reasons for the change in industry focus after the completion of infrastructure construction;
2. Key mechanism changes: the gradual clarity of rule frameworks and on-chain mechanisms and their impact on system operation;
3. Main application directions: exploration paths around payment settlement, real-world scenario mapping, and programmable collaboration;
4. Future development directions: exploring the evolution of Web3 in 2026 and beyond.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。