The Web3 economy is driven by use cases, innovation, hype, and trends, and user activity forms the basis of these driving forces and is a key indicator for evaluating the growth potential of crypto projects or sectors. Trends create hot spots in the crypto market and drive price discovery in market cycles.
In the last bull market cycle, we witnessed the outbreak of metaverse and NFT projects. During the peak of the bull market in 2021, mainstream game projects such as Sandbox and Axie Infinity provided investors with returns of up to 160 times. Therefore, keeping up with industry trends is one of the best ways for investors to expand their returns during the bull market cycle. This article will briefly discuss 4 new trends in this market cycle that may replicate the prosperity of P2E or the metaverse.
1.Restaking
Restaking is a derivative behavior of liquidity staking, which can be understood as secondary staking on the basis of liquidity staking. It refers to re-staking tokens (liquidity staking derivatives LSD) to earn secondary returns. Re-staking on the same protocol means continuing to stake tokens and staking rewards in the original protocol to increase future staking returns.
For example, EigenLayer is an Ethereum-based middleware protocol that introduces the concept of re-staking, allowing Ethereum nodes to re-stake their staked ETH or LSD tokens to other protocols or services that require security and trust, thereby obtaining double benefits and governance rights. At the same time, the Ethereum consensus layer utility can also be passed out to various middleware, data availability layers, sidechains and other protocols, allowing them to enjoy Ethereum-level security at a lower cost.
With EigenLayer, Ethereum stakers can help protect the security of multiple services by re-staking their staked ETH, selecting many services at the same time, and providing collective security. This not only reduces the capital cost of staker participation, but also significantly increases the trust guarantee of a single service.
The biggest advantage of Restaking is that it creates a win-win opportunity for cryptocurrency holders and protocols, unlocking additional profit opportunities. Essentially, this means that billions of dollars worth of ETH enter an active market cycle. As more new projects follow the path of EigenLayer, the Restaking track is likely to become one of the main trends in this bull market cycle.
2.Layer3
Since the birth of the blockchain industry, the blockchain trilemma has always been a huge challenge, that is, it is difficult for blockchain to achieve the best state of decentralization, security and scalability at the same time. The emergence of L2 such as Arbitrum and Polygon aims to improve scalability, and they have improved the scalability and overall efficiency of the Ethereum blockchain.
As blockchain moves towards mainstream adoption, blockchain architecture needs to be more flexible, which requires L3 solutions to play their role. L3 is an advanced protocol built on existing L2 solutions, providing interoperability and application-specific functions. L3 is highly customizable and can meet the specific needs of developers, such as providing solutions for privacy issues or supporting large numbers of transactions while still inheriting the security of L1 blockchains.
L3 solutions are designed to facilitate the deployment of dApps by introducing customization and interoperability, taking scalability to a new level, enabling the network to handle a larger number of transactions and support a wider range of complex applications at the same time.
For example, emerging DEXs such as Syndr are developing their own L3 blockchains to facilitate institutional-level derivatives trading with a Web2-like user experience, with the ultimate goal of accelerating its adoption. As L2 projects mature, L3 blockchains are likely to receive more adoption and hype in this cycle, just like L2 blockchains.
3.AI
The underlying architecture of the blockchain is a distributed ledger that can store data in the form of blocks. The data stored on the blockchain cannot be tampered with and is secured by cryptography. Blockchain can ensure data security without a third party. AI is a machine learning algorithm that uses the computing power of computers and the foundation of big data to imitate human problem-solving ability. It simplifies the decision-making process, rationalizes decisions, and takes actions that are most likely to achieve specific results. AI can learn based on the data provided and become smarter over time.
In theory, on the one hand, blockchain can help explain the behavior of AI. Blockchain technology helps obtain immutable records of the data and processes used by AI in the decision-making process, making it easier for humans to understand and audit how AI algorithms make decisions, thereby establishing a deeper level of trust; on the other hand, AI can improve the efficiency of blockchain. In future Web3 application scenarios, data processed by AI algorithms can bring better experience to users.
With the advancement of AI algorithms, the next generation of dApps and NFTs may benefit from their efficacy and become smarter. At present, blockchain projects dedicated to using AI technology include Render Network (distributed GPU rendering and AI computing), Fetch.ai (AI autonomous agent), SingularityNET (artificial intelligence service market), etc.
4. DePin
（Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network）
DePin (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) is an innovative concept that aims to incentivize participation in blockchain networks or contribution of resources to them.DePin is built on the basis of the Internet of Things, and its core concept is to use tokens to incentivize users to deploy hardware devices and perform maintenance and operations. DePin can enable innovators to start projects and provide services by encouraging contributors to run peer-to-peer (P2P) hardware infrastructure networks. Just as SocialFi rewards users for sharing data, DePin will also reward users for sharing their unused hardware to support the network.
DePin can be divided into two types:
The first is the Physical Resource Network (PRN): participants are encouraged to use location-based hardware to provide unique goods and services in the real world, such as WIFI, 5G, VPN, energy information sharing, geospatial data, and the representative project Helium (decentralized wireless network protocol).
The second is the Digital Resource Network (DRN): a real-world physical infrastructure network that encourages participants to use hardware to provide digital resources, such as broadband networks, storage networks, and computing power networks. Representative projects of this type include Meson Network (decentralized bandwidth market), Render Network (decentralized GPU rendering platform), Livepeer (decentralized live video broadcasting platform), etc.
DePIN has great development potential because it can bring together different services, manufacturers, and the entire device ecosystem on a neutral platform, providing new options for the integration process across industries and markets, and helping blockchain projects break through industrial boundaries.
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