The Rise of Next-Gen Stablecoin Projects: WLFI, Plasma, and Ethena

In recent times, the stablecoin sector in crypto has been attracting much attention because of the emergence of outstanding projects. Notably, there is World Liberty Financial with the backing of the Trump family, and Plasma with the support of Tether. In addition, it is impossible not to mention Ethena, a stablecoin project that has been rising strongly with a TVL of more than 12 billion dollars. In this article, let’s go deeper into these three prominent projects.

: These projects highlight the rapid growth of 

World Liberty Financial is a DeFi project announced by Donald Trump in September 2024, with the participation of his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The platform focuses on developing on-chain products including stablecoins, lending, and borrowing, with the ambition of becoming the DeFi bank for Americans. In addition to the Trump family, the WLFI team also includes finance and real estate figures such as Chase Herro, Zak Folkman, Steven Witkoff, and Zach Witkoff, along with the advisory support of Justin Sun.

The heart of the WLFI ecosystem is USD1. Similar to USDT and USDC, USD1 is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, fully backed by cash and short-term government bonds.

USD1 is used for cross-border payments, DeFi, and has already been integrated on several CEXs such as KuCoin, Coinbase, and Gate.io. In addition, USD1 is integrated with Chainlink CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol). This is a leading interoperability solution in DeFi, which currently secures tens of billions of dollars in assets. CCIP comes with robust security mechanisms and Proof-of-Reserves, providing users and institutions with greater confidence that every USD1 issued is fully backed by real assets. By August 2025, the total supply of USD1 had surpassed 2.4 billion dollars.

If the US dollar is the foundation of payments, then lending and borrowing will be the engine that generates value. WLFI is developing a lending and borrowing protocol built on the infrastructure of AAVE v3, but aimed at providing a more user-friendly experience for both newcomers and institutions. Along with this, the WLFI app allows users to deposit fiat directly and participate in community governance through token voting in a simpler way. This will create a cycle that transforms WLFI into a money market that can serve as an alternative to traditional banks. Although full of potential, WLFI is still in the building stage and is working to complete its product.

The native token of the ecosystem is $WLFI, with a total supply of 100 billion tokens. Of this amount, 35% is allocated to token sale, 32.5% to community growth and incentives, 30% to initial supporter allocation, and 2.5% to the team and advisors. A key point is that the token is designed solely for governance, meaning it only grants voting rights in the protocol and does not represent equity or profit sharing. This helps WLFI avoid legal risks related to securities, but it also means the token’s value depends entirely on community trust and the attractiveness of governance.

WLFI is one of the largest fundraising projects in crypto during 2024–2025, raising at least $590 million across multiple rounds. Details include:

Public sale: Raised $550 million from more than 85,000 investors across two rounds, at different prices of $0.015 and $0.05.

Private & Strategic Investors: The Aqua1 Foundation from the UAE invested $100 million, while Justin Sun contributed around $90 million. DWF Labs also added $25 million and committed to providing liquidity support for WLFI during its listing phase.

ALT5 Sigma Agreement (August 2025): A commitment of $1.5 billion for WLFI’s treasury strategy, along with the purchase of approximately 7.5% of the total WLFI supply to be added to the treasury.

WLFI stands out thanks to the Trump brand, its large fundraising amount, and the rapid rise of its USD1 stablecoin, which quickly entered the top 6 with a supply of more than 2.4 billion. Overall, the project possesses abundant financial resources, a wide partner network ranging from Binance to ALT5 Sigma, and a large community of investors from the United States.

Stablecoins can be considered one of the most important components of crypto. In the path toward mass adoption, stablecoins can be seen as the best RWA product-market fit, with more than 280 billion dollars in circulation and trillions of dollars in transactions every month. Plasma has emerged as an infrastructure project dedicated entirely to stablecoins, with support from Tether, the company behind today’s leading USDT stablecoin.

Plasma is an L1 blockchain, a sidechain of Bitcoin, yet fully compatible with the EVM. It is designed to become a global payment infrastructure for stablecoins. Unlike Ethereum, Tron, or BNB Chain, Plasma brings several key differences, including free USDT transfers, full EVM compatibility, and high-speed transaction processing, while still inheriting the security of the Bitcoin network.

A Hybrid Architecture Between Bitcoin Security and EVM Convenience

The most distinctive feature of Plasma’s architecture is the combination of two elements that may seem contradictory. On one hand, Plasma uses the PlasmaBFT consensus mechanism, which is developed based on HotStuff (an algorithm capable of processing thousands of transactions per second), delivering high throughput, low latency, and fast finality. On the other hand, the execution layer is built on Reth, an EVM client written in Rust, allowing all dApps from Ethereum to be migrated with minimal modifications.

In terms of security, Plasma anchors its chain state directly to Bitcoin, turning it into a trust-minimized settlement layer that reduces reliance on third parties. This means Plasma inherits Bitcoin’s censorship resistance and the security of the UTXO model. The BTC bridge that Plasma is developing also follows a trust-minimized approach, eliminating the need for custodial entities such as wBTC. Before its mainnet launch, Plasma underwent three rounds of audits with Veda, Spearbit, and Zellic to ensure a high level of security for its infrastructure.

Bitcoin has long been considered the most liquid asset in the crypto market, yet the paradox lies in the fact that its surrounding ecosystem remains relatively underdeveloped. Sidechains or Layer 2s such as Stacks, Rootstock, or Liquid have all attempted to build financial infrastructure for BTC (BTCFi). However, the biggest gap continues to be the lack of stablecoin liquidity. This limitation prevents Bitcoin from becoming the center of activities such as swap, lending, or borrowing as efficiently as Ethereum.

In addition, Plasma is also developing a bridge that allows native BTC to be brought into smart contracts without the need for wrapped tokens or centralized custodians like WBTC or cbBTC. It introduces pBTC, an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by real BTC and fully compliant with the OFT standard of LayerZero, enabling cross-chain transfers without liquidity fragmentation.

With this combination, Plasma preserves the security and stability of Bitcoin while delivering a smooth and familiar experience for Ethereum developers. This is why many consider Plasma not simply a sidechain but a hybrid infrastructure layer specifically designed for stablecoins. If successful, Plasma will not only be a chain but will also become the SWIFT of the crypto world, bringing USDT closer to the vision of becoming a global payment currency.

Plasma impresses not only with its technology but also with its fundraising campaign. Previously, the project secured $24 million in investment from Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino (CEO of Tether), and well-known figures in the crypto community such as Cobie.

However, the real breakthrough came from the Public Sale with results beyond expectations: $373 million was committed to purchasing XPL tokens, while the total stablecoins deposited into the Vault system reached $1 billion. This figure is seven times the initial target, making Plasma the fastest blockchain in history to hit the milestone of $1 billion in deposits, surpassing high-profile names like Aptos, Sui, and Sonic.

Regarding the tokenomics, Plasma issued 10 billion XPL at a public sale price of $0.05 per token, equivalent to an FDV of $500 million. This is a moderate valuation compared to the market average, leaving significant room for growth when the token is listed in the current hot stablecoin narrative.

Plasma also has more than 50 partners, focusing on stablecoins and DeFi, with deep integrations to build its ecosystem. These include organizations such as Tether and Binance, as well as leading DeFi projects like AAVE, Fluid, and Pendle. In addition, there is a wide range of notable stablecoin partners, including USDe and USDS.

Ethena is a synthetic dollar stablecoin protocol on Ethereum, providing USDe as a crypto-native monetary solution that does not rely on the traditional banking system, with a delta-hedging mechanism to maintain stability.

Ethena operates on a delta-neutral hedging mechanism to maintain the price of USDe steadily at 1 USD. Users can mint USDe by depositing collateral such as ETH, stETH, BTC, USDT, USDC, or other approved assets. The protocol will automatically open short perpetual futures positions on exchanges such as Bybit and Binance to hedge against the price volatility risk of the collateral.

For example, if a user deposits ETH worth $2,000 and then mints 2,000 USDe, the protocol will open a short ETH perpetual position with a notional value of $2,000. Whether the price goes up or down, the total of the long and short positions remains equal to zero (the initial 1 ETH still holds a value of $2,000), ensuring that the overall value stays stable.

The backing assets are stored on-chain and are maintained in custody by off-exchange providers to reduce counterparty risk.

The yield of USDe is generated from three main sources:

Funding and basis spread from hedging (usually positive due to high leverage demand),

Rewards from liquid stables (such as USDT earning interest on platforms),

And consensus/execution rewards from staked ETH.

Users stake USDe into sUSDe to earn yield, and they can unstake at any time.

The data shows that Ethena is experiencing strong growth, with a TVL of $12.4 billion. USDe supply has reached an all-time high of 12 billion (an increase of more than 100% within one month), demonstrating high adoption from both institutions and retail users. The sUSDe APY of around 9% outperforms traditional fiat interest rates.

From a financial standpoint, the protocol generates revenue from funding spread (mostly positive), rewards from stablecoins, and staked assets. Annual revenue is approximately $307 million, fees are about $914 million, and cumulative gross interest revenue has exceeded $500 million.

In addition, the Reserve Fund is a pool used to cover negative funding, ensuring a stable yield. There are no incentives from token emissions, which helps avoid inflation. Financials are transparent through on-chain dashboards, with revenue distributed primarily to sUSDe holders.

In 2025, Ethena is focusing on the “Convergence” strategy, which is a blockchain initiative aiming to bring DeFi closer to TradFi. The main highlight is iUSDe, which is the institutional version of USDe, and it is designed to integrate yield into the bond market and payment instruments, while also expanding backing assets since BNB, XRP, and HYPE have already been approved.

At the same time, Ethena is launching a Telegram mini-app for payments and savings with sUSDe, and it is also developing additional derivative protocols such as Ethereal (perps) and Derive (options), while expanding into multi-chain. In the long run, Ethena aims to become the “Internet Bond,” which is an asset class that provides higher yield than T-Bills, although major challenges remain because of market volatility and regulatory frameworks.

The greatest strength of Ethena is its ability to generate high yield for stablecoins, which at certain times exceeded 60 percent and is now stabilizing at around 8 to 10 percent. This has allowed USDe to quickly attract capital inflows and rise into the top three stablecoins with more than $12 billion in TVL. With its delta-neutral mechanism, Ethena is both capital-efficient and easily scalable across DeFi as well as CeFi. At the same time, the ENA token is directly tied to revenue when staked, which turns ENA into a cash-flow generating asset and creates a value loop for the entire ecosystem.

However, Ethena also carries risks. In the early stages, most of the yield depended on the funding rate, so when the market corrects, yields could drop to 2 to 4 percent and capital outflows may occur. Relying on CEXs for hedging still exposes the protocol to counterparty risk, while using LSTs as collateral may trigger cascading liquidations if the market becomes highly volatile.

Therefore, Ethena’s backing strategy has undergone a shift. Since the beginning of 2025, the proportion of backing with LSTs compared to the total backing has decreased from 7 percent to 4 percent, while the proportion of backing with stablecoins has increased from 12 percent to 53 percent. This transition shows that Ethena is making a trade-off: instead of relying heavily on LST yield and hedging yield, it is prioritizing stablecoins in order to enhance liquidity and reduce volatility risk. This adjustment also enables USDe to scale more rapidly.

Ethena represents innovation in DeFi stablecoins, with USDe offering high yield and scalability, achieving major milestones such as $12 billion in TVL and $307 million in annual revenue. However, the model remains dependent on the crypto market, with hedging and counterparty risks that need to be closely monitored. The 2025 roadmap promises expansion into TradFi, but success will require both favorable bull market conditions and stronger risk mitigation. Overall, Ethena is suitable for risk-tolerant investors, although diversification is recommended along with careful monitoring of governance updates.

WLFI

Explore next-gen stablecoin projects WLFI, Plasma, and Ethena, Trump-backed, Tether-supported, and $12B TVL growth redefining DeFi finance

The Rise of Next-Gen Stablecoin Projects: WLFI, Plasma & Ethena’s $12B DeFi Disruption

Linea: Everything You Must Know Before Its TGE

“Linea is the Ethereum L2 built to serve one purpose: to strengthen Ethereum.” 

After Ethereum’s strong price growth over the past 2 months and as it approaches a new peak, Linea is the project most eagerly awaited by the community thanks to the upcoming TGE information.

This article will provide information and in-depth analysis related to Linea that you may need to know before the TGE takes place.

 (Joseph Lubin, Ethereum co-founder), backed by $725M funding, leveraging products like 

 for faster, more secure transactions, improving Ethereum’s scalability.

, which is a toolkit that helps projects easily deploy new Layer 2s (L2s).- Over 

 peaked at $1.2B; recovering pre-TGE with strong 

Linea is a L2 born from the strategic vision of ConsenSys, one of the leading companies in the Ethereum ecosystem. The main founder of ConsenSys is Joseph Lubin, who co-founded Ethereum alongside Vitalik Buterin and other pioneers in 2014. With extensive experience from Wall Street (formerly worked at Goldman Sachs) and a key role in building Ethereum, Lubin has led ConsenSys to become the “cradle” of essential products in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Infura and MetaMask, which now have over 30 million monthly users.

Linea was first introduced in 2023, when ConsenSys launched its testnet under the name ConsenSys zkEVM. By July 2023, the project officially launched its mainnet under the name Linea, symbolizing the continuous “flow” of data and value on Ethereum. ConsenSys, the parent company of Linea, has raised $725 million from major investors such as Microsoft, SoftBank, Dragonfly Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. The team behind Linea includes experts from Ethereum’s open-source community, with an Ecosystem Council consisting of ConsenSys, ENS, Status, EigenLabs, and SharpLink, which is the largest ETH-holding company in the world.

The core technology of Linea is zkEVM, which is a version of the EVM that uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) to verify transactions off-chain before submitting them to Ethereum’s base layer.

On Ethereum’s development journey, to stay competitive against the rise of other Layer 1s (L1s) like Solana, Ethereum must solve the scalability problem. Rollups are considered the most optimal solution and the foundation for the current L2 systems. Rollups are divided into two types:

Optimistic rollups are compatible with the EVM, allowing developers to build dApps easily. In contrast, ZK rollups offer superior advantages over optimistic rollups in terms of security and speed but lack full EVM compatibility, making dApp deployment more difficult. Therefore, to solve the problem of ZK rollups not being EVM-compatible, zkEVM was created to allow developers to deploy dApps directly in the EVM environment without needing to change code or rewrite smart contracts.

Rollups work by aggregating multiple L2 transactions into a batch, then submitting that batch to L1 for verification. The key difference is that Optimistic rollups submit fraud proofs to L1, while ZK rollups submit validity proofs (or ZK proofs).

Fraud Proof: Assumes all transactions are valid unless proven otherwise. This process takes 7 days before the transaction is verified and recorded on L1. This is also why withdrawals from L2 to L1 take 7 days.

ZK Proof: Each batch submitted to L1 comes with a cryptographic proof that immediately verifies the validity, offering higher speed and security. Therefore, withdrawals from L2 to L1 with ZK rollups only take a few hours.

According to Vitalik, zkEVM is divided into four main types, each with a different level of compatibility with the EVM.

Type 1 (fully Ethereum-equivalent): Perfect compatibility with Ethereum, but lower scalability.

Type 2 (fully EVM-equivalent): Perfect equivalence at the VM level, improved but relatively lower scalability.

Type 2.5 (EVM-equivalent, except for gas costs): Equivalence at the VM level + better scalability, but not compatible with all dApps & tools (although most).

Type 3 (almost EVM-equivalent): Easier to build + better scalability, but not compatible with all dApps & tools (although most).

Type 4 (high-level-language equivalent): Easiest to build + highest scalability, but less compatibility with dApps & tools.

Linea is a Type 2 zkEVM, meaning it is fully EVM-equivalent but not quite Ethereum-equivalent. That is, it looks exactly like Ethereum “from within”, but has some differences on the outside, particularly in data structures. A Type 2 ZK-EVM is capable of running all existing applications on Ethereum without any code modification. However, it needs to make a few minor infrastructure changes to simplify development and speed up proof generation. Type 2 strikes a better balance between compatibility and performance than Type 3 and Type 4, and it has the potential to evolve toward Type 1.

Linea has undergone a significant upgrade, reducing gas fees with the transition from Alpha V1 to Alpha V2. In V1, transactions on Linea were aggregated into a single batch and submitted to L1 via a ZK proof. Starting from V2, Linea has updated the system to allow multiple batches to be combined into a single aggregator proof, reducing the fixed cost from 1 batch/proof to 30 batches/proof. After this update, gas fees on Linea dropped by 66%, making it the 7th cheapest L2 in terms of transaction fees, thereby significantly improving user experience.

Unlike many L2s following the token-first model, Linea remains loyal to Ethereum. Linea’s Core Features focus on three key pillars:

The Dual-burn mechanism works by using the $ETH collected from user transaction fees to increase the value of the token, where 20% of the fees are burned in $ETH, and 80% are used to buy & burn $LINEA.

At present, daily transaction fees on Linea are around $12k, but recently started to trend upward, reaching approximately $70k on August 13. To create real impact on the price of both $ETH and the future $LINEA token, the key challenge for Linea is to attract and retain users, proving that its model is effective.

On most other L2s, $ETH is only used to pay for transaction fees. However, on Linea, users can also earn native yield by staking within the network. Linea has partnered with Lido, a decentralized staking solution that allows bridged $ETH to be automatically staked on their platform. The yield generated is then redirected back to L2 to support liquidity (DEXs, lending, perps) and fund incentive programs.

Yield from staking not only retains long-term capital on Linea and reduces liquidity providers exiting the protocol after incentives end, but also acts as a direct driver for TVL, trading volume, and transaction fees. When these metrics remain high, the dual-burn mechanism can operate at full effectiveness, putting downward pressure on supply and increasing long-term token value.

These mechanisms can help attract the $ETH holder community and create the potential for a liquidity flywheel within the Linea ecosystem, as seen with Blast. With a similar native yield mechanism, Blast once reached over $2.22B in TVL before rapidly declining due to the absence of major DeFi protocols like Aave and a lack of standout dApps to retain users post-airdrop. However, Aave is already live on Linea, and with notable names like @eigen_labs and @Consensys behind it, Linea may avoid repeating Blast’s mistakes.

Not only does Linea build its own zkEVM L2, but it also introduces Linea Stack, a toolkit that helps projects easily deploy new L2s, similar to OP Stack or Polygon SDK. Notably, Status is the first L2 project built using Linea Stack. This strategy allows Linea to:

Create network effects from multiple chains using the same technology, ensuring that individual blockchains can interoperate and function as a unified system, support each other technically, and attract users, similar to the relationship among projects in Optimism’s Superchain.

Target revenue from infrastructure, not just gas fees.

DeFi on Linea is taking shape. The liquidity backbone centers around DEXs and lending protocols, featuring familiar names like Aave, PancakeSwap, and SushiSwap, along with supporting components such as Stargate (bridge) and Satori (perps). In addition, Linea has over 400 partners across DeFi, infrastructure, NFTs, and AI, covering all the essential pieces for Linea to stay aligned with future narratives.

Linea’s TVL peaked at $1.2 billion following the launch of the Linea Surge program in May 2024, which was a points-based incentive campaign designed to attract TVL and activate the DeFi ecosystem, running until November 2024. The campaign created a strong acquisition effect, driving around 800k daily active addresses (DAA) and rapidly boosting both TVL and user numbers. However, both TVL and DAA dropped significantly after the program ended, highlighting the unsustainable retention, a common problem with large-scale incentive campaigns where the primary user motivation is short-term rewards rather than long-term ecosystem value.

Currently, Linea’s TVL is recovering, partly due to the rising price of $ETH and the pre-TGE momentum, which has drawn increased attention to the ecosystem. In the pre-TGE phase, Linea’s TVL grew by approximately 60%, even without any incentive program. Etherex, a DEX on Linea, surpassed $120M in TVL just two weeks after launch, indicating that capital is starting to flow back into the Linea ecosystem.

Instead of allocating tokens to VCs, Linea’s tokenomics aims to put the ecosystem first, directing the majority of funds toward users, builders, Ethereum public goods, and R&D.

85% Ecosystem (75% development fund + 10% early users)

Fund management is handled by The Linea Consortium, which consists of a group of credible Ethereum organizations that have already contributed significantly to strengthening Ethereum, including @eigen_labs, @ensdomains, @SharpLinkGaming, @ethstatus, and @Consensys.

However, $LINEA currently does not have a specific utility: it is not used for gas and currently has no governance rights. While other Ethereum L2s use token utility primarily for voting governance, in the case of $LINEA, the project has announced: “There is no tokenholder governance in the LINEA system”. This is a deliberate and strategic action for the token to not be used for governance. Instead, strategic decisions regarding token emissions, grants, incentives, and fund allocations are overseen by the Linea Consortium. The main source of revenue comes from ETH transaction fees, so token holders only benefit indirectly through the mechanism that burns 80% of those fees. Additionally, since ConsenSys (the parent company of LINEA) is a traditional company, this may be a way for the project to limit legal risks from the SEC by not assigning any use case to the token until there is a clear regulatory framework.

Financially, Linea did not raise funds directly, but its parent company, ConsenSys, has raised $725M - a large enough amount to support long-term development of the project. In addition, ConsenSys holds core Ethereum products like MetaMask and Infura, which can easily support builders and applications within the Linea ecosystem. Moreover, by launching after other L2s like Arbitrum, ZkSync, and Blast, Linea has the opportunity to learn from and leverage their strengths, while avoiding the weaknesses that led to failures.

According to the roadmap, Linea aims to achieve its primary goal of becoming a Type 1 zkEVM by Q1 2026. Following that, by Q2 2026, performance is expected to reach 0.5 gGas/s (approximately 5,000 TPS), which would fulfill the objective to scale Ethereum, deliver a great user experience, and enable real-time proofs on Ethereum. However, that goal is still a long way off. In the near term, the most important updates from Linea will be the implementation of the dual-burn mechanism and Native Yield. Overall, Linea can be seen as a bold experiment: building a public good L2 with ETH native yield, no VCs, and currently no direct token utility, with a mission of positioning itself as an L2 that brings value back to Ethereum. However, this “no token utility” approach also raises important questions. While it helps reduce regulatory risks and reinforces an Ethereum-first alignment, the lack of inherent utility could affect $LINEA’s long-term value capture and token demand. Whether this model can prove sustainable remains to be seen. Lets wait and see how Linea will strengthen Ethereum.

Deep dive into Linea before itsTGE. Explore its zkEVM tech, Ethereum alignment, tokenomics, dual-burn model, ecosystem growth, and future outlook.

Deep Dive: Linea and What You Need to Know Before TGE

The second half of 2025 is expected to be a breakout period for the crypto market, as many well-invested, high-quality projects are preparing to enter the listing phase. In this article, we will review four notable names: 

What are the highlights and interesting points of these projects? Let’s find out!

, and ecosystem-first tokenomics (no VCs).

There are more and more Layer 2s on Ethereum; however, most recent projects have failed to meet expectations, with only a few leading names built on Optimistic Rollup technology, such as Arbitrum and Optimism, standing out. Starknet and ZkSync, using Zk rollup technology, were once considered strong competitors, but now only see 6-7k daily active users, a disappointing figure after their token launches.

Amid the fierce competition among Layer 2s, Linea zkEVM stands out as a bright spot. Developed by Consensys, a Web3 infrastructure company that has raised up to $725 million at a $7 billion valuation, Linea’s differentiation comes from three main points: Ethereum-aligned, yield native, and network-of-rollups.

Unlike many L2s following the token-first model, Linea remains loyal to Ethereum:

Dual-burn mechanism: 20% of fees are burned in ETH, 80% used to buy & burn LINEA.

Native yield mechanism: staking $ETH on Linea will soon be available (similar to layer 2 Blast).`

Not only does Linea build its own zkEVM Layer 2, but it also introduces Linea Stack, a toolkit that helps projects easily deploy new Layer 2s, similar to OP Stack or Polygon SDK. Notably, Status is the first layer 2 project built using Linea Stack. This strategy allows Linea to:

Create network effects from multiple chains using the same technology.

Fund management by The Linea Consortium consists of a group of credible Ethereum organizations already significantly contributing to strengthening Ethereum, including @eigen_labs, @ensdomains, @SharpLinkGaming, @ethstatus, and @Consensys.

Besides its strengths, Linea also faces several challenges such as competition from established Layer 2s with strong dApp ecosystems like Arbitrum or Base. In addition, the Linea token still lacks clear utility and mainly depends on burning from gas fees.

Linea could be a bold experiment: building a public-good Layer 2 with ETH-native yield, no VCs, and positioning itself as zkInfra-as-a-Service. But to succeed, Linea needs to prove its utility and create a sustainable flywheel for its ecosystem.

Camp Network - A Dedicated Layer 1 for AI and IP

In the era of rapidly advancing AI, data management and creating valuable models from this data are receiving increasing attention. A critical question arises: Who owns the data, and who gets compensated for the value generated from that data?

Camp Network is one of the pioneering projects built to solve this problem-a place where ownership is recorded, protected, and value flows are distributed fairly.

Camp Network is a Layer 1 blockchain designed with a modular architecture, consisting of two main components:

Base Camp: The primary Layer 1 blockchain optimized for IP management.

Side Camp: Application-specific chains that settle back to Base Camp, providing dedicated blockspace for each app.

Example: An AI uses your image to create new art, and revenue from the new art is split according to rules defined in an on-chain smart contract.

Former bankers lead camp Network from CRV, Raine, Goldman Sachs, and Figma, who have experience in media, M&A, and token design. The project has raised $30 million at a ~$400 million valuation. Currently, Camp Network has not yet launched its mainnet and is expected to release its token in 2025.

Camp Network will face competition from two projects focused on IP x AI-Story and Soneium-both of which are backed by major players such as a16z and Sony. However, the blockchain-based IP x AI market is still in its early stages, and Camp Network could secure significant market share as one of the first movers and trendsetters in this field. Evidence of this is that Camp Network attracted 5 million wallets to its testnet within just two months of launch. Camp Network not only protects IP but also enables AI agents to respect it, create new value, and distribute it fairly via smart contracts-a Layer born for an ethical AI economy.

In this cycle, as base-layer blockchain infrastructure has matured in terms of speed, projects are diversifying into new sectors to solve various problems and attract more users from web2. Among these, SocialFi is a notable trend, with Farcaster standing out as the “Web3 version of Twitter.”

Farcaster is a decentralized social infrastructure platform where identity, data, and social applications are on-chain, scalable, and not controlled by any single party.

Initially, Farcaster used a hybrid architecture, combining on-chain and off-chain storage. Identities, keys, and storage fees are kept on-chain, while content like casts, replies, follows, etc., are stored off-chain. Later, Farcaster introduced Snapchain, a blockchain specialized for social data. All previously off-chain data is now stored on Snapchain.

Snapchain uses blocks to order actions like likes, posts, etc., enabling fast access, easy synchronization, support for data pruning, and the ability to rent storage space instead of paying per transaction. This dramatically improves the user experience, making interactions feel more like Web2.

Mini-apps: Turning Every Post Into a New Experience

Mini-apps are arguably Farcaster’s most unique feature. They allow users to integrate mini-apps directly into their posts and interact on-chain through the post itself-such as minting NFTs, voting, or making payments.

Mini-apps turn the news feed into an app layer for social Web3, creating an ecosystem akin to an App Store right inside the timeline.

Currently, Farcaster has about 20,000-30,000 daily active users (more than Layer 2s like zkSync and Starknet), demonstrating real demand for a web3 social network. Additionally, airdrops from projects like Degen and Procoin have helped attract even more users to Farcaster.

Monad - The Most Anticipated Layer 1 of 2025

Monad is currently one of the most anticipated Layer 1s, with an average of about 1 million daily active wallets over the past 90 days. The project has raised $225M, led by Paradigm, a VC firm known for investing in top projects. Monad’s founder, Keone Hon, has prior experience at Jump Trading (a prominent market maker and VC with strong support for Solana).

Monad has two main distinguishing features:

 Monad is an EVM blockchain, compatible with Solidity-the most widely used programming language in crypto. This compatibility makes it easy to attract developers and enables rapid product launches.

 Monad is the first EVM blockchain to apply parallel execution technology, allowing multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously instead of sequentially. This directly addresses scalability issues faced by other EVM chains.

Besides parallel execution, Monad also employs the optimistic execution model (the same technology used by Layer 2s like Arbitrum and Optimism) to achieve high throughput and efficient transaction processing. In theory, Monad claims to scale up to 

-just slightly less than the max TPS achieved by Solana and Sui.

Parallel execution is the technology used by Solana and Sui as well. However, both Solana and Sui are non-EVM chains, meaning developers may face more obstacles since they must use less popular programming languages.

Even in its testnet phase, Monad has attracted many projects across different sectors, from DePIN to high-frequency trading decentralized exchanges, from gaming to liquid staking.

Monad has also excelled at building community culture through NFT collections.

Notable projects in Monad’s ecosystem include:

 Perpl Trade, Kuru Exchange, Drake Exchange, Bean Exchange

 fantasy.top, Let’s Play Sparkball, Meta Leap

Abstract - From NFT Collection to a Layer 2

When naming iconic NFT collections in web3, Pudgy Penguins is impossible to leave out. Under Luca Netz, Pudgy Penguins has become not only a powerhouse in NFTs but also a brand-building operation with valuable IP (Intellectual Property). The brand has signed retail deals to put products on shelves at Walmart (US), Smyths (UK), and Toys “R” Us (Canada). Building on that brand momentum, in January 2025, Igloo Inc., the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, launched the Abstract chain.

Abstract is an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain that uses ZK rollups to address Ethereum’s limitations in transaction speed and cost. Unlike many blockchains that focus mainly on DeFi, the Abstract chain is positioned for consumer dApps to attract users in gaming and social. This positioning is natural given that Abstract can tap into the strong, culture-rich community built by Pudgy Penguins.

A key feature is a UX designed to hide the complexity of the blockchain, featuring a global wallet, gasless interactions, and a portal that works like an app store, so users can interact much like they would on Web2.

Currently, Abstract also lets users earn XP points by trying dApps across the Abstract ecosystem, livestreaming gameplay, or holding certain ecosystem NFTs. These XP points may become a key criterion for an airdrop when Abstract launches a token, which also serves as an incentive to attract and retain users.

: Gigaverse, Proof of Play Arcade, Roach Racing Club, Laser Party, LOL Land

Discover the top 5 crypto listings for Q3–Q4 2025: Linea, Camp Network, Farcaster, Monad & Abstract. See why they could lead the next bull run.

Top 5 Potential Crypto Listings for Q3–Q4 2025 That Could Make Waves

The Grand Flush Out: When Will Altcoin Season Truly Begin?

Crypto has entered an era of hyper-fragmentation, with millions of tokens launched monthly, faster than any industry in tech history. The relentless surge of new tokens is unsustainable, leading to a phenomenon known as the "grand flush out." This theory suggests that when the supply of tokens exceeds demand, a "grand flush out" will occur, weeding out tokens that do not truly provide value. As many investors eagerly ask, "When will the Altcoin Season return?" Understanding the Grand Flush Out is crucial to answering this question. Let’s explore further.

To date, approximately 43 million tokens have been created across popular Layer-1 blockchains like Solana, Base, BNB Chain, and Ethereum. Notably, Solana alone accounts for approximately 29 million tokens, more than all other blockchains combined. Platforms like Pumpfun, with mechanisms that enable anyone to create tokens easily, have generated around 12 million tokens independently. 

According to GeckoTerminal, the total number of cryptocurrency projects has surged dramatically. In 2021, there were 428,383 projects listed; however, by 2025, this number had skyrocketed to nearly 7 million.

Key Factors Driving the Explosion in Token Creation

Improved Blockchain Infrastructure and User Experience (UX)

Unlike the 2020-2021 period, when the focus was primarily on which Layer-1 blockchain offered the fastest transaction speeds, the narrative shifted by 2024-2025. With blockchain infrastructure sufficiently advanced to handle rapid transactions, decentralized applications (DApps) flourished significantly. Enhanced UX allowed DApps to attract more users, illustrated by platforms like Pump.fun. This platform simplified meme coin launches, making them accessible even to mainstream users and driving revenue to over $700 million.

Meme coins have become particularly popular in this cycle, capturing investor interest as the market grew weary of overvalued tech-focused tokens. Factors contributing to meme coins' success include:

Playing on investors' desire for high-risk, high-reward opportunities, triggering FOMO.

Simplicity, requiring less research and analysis compared to technical crypto projects.

Distinct cultural identity, tapping into broader societal trends, making them highly attractive to newcomers. 

However, this meme coin trend has significantly fragmented the market, contributing to token oversupply and subsequent redundancy.

Out of nearly 7 million cryptocurrencies listed on GeckoTerminal since 2021, about 3.7 million have stopped trading and are now considered failures. This clearly signals that crypto’s experimentation phase has outpaced its value delivery, with the majority collapsing throughout 2024 and early 2025. Alarmingly, just in Q1 2025 alone, around 1.8 million tokens vanished from the market.

While Bitcoin has consistently broken new highs since 2024, the market capitalization of altcoins has moved in the opposite direction. Investors holding newly launched tokens since 2024 have faced significant losses. Here’s a quick overview:

However, projects with strong fundamentals and actual product-market fit, such as 

, have maintained robust growth. Nevertheless, the overall market sentiment is not nearly as optimistic as during previous cycles, leaving investors to ponder, "When will the next altcoin season finally come?". Given these widespread losses, it's clear the next Altcoin Season won’t resemble past cycles.



Altcoin Season: A Different Kind of Cycle



The next altcoin season will likely arrive, but differently from previous cycles. Rather than an indiscriminate "everything pumps" scenario like in 2021, the upcoming cycle will be characterized by a "flight to quality". Gone are the days when countless meme coins or “copy-paste” projects would multiply in value overnight. Instead, market differentiation will intensify, and capital will primarily flow into specific categories:

 Projects like Aave, Uniswap, and Lido, which have endured multiple market cycles and have strong fundamentals.

Projects with Real Revenue and Product-Market Fit:

 Like Hyperliquid, these are ventures that deliver genuine value, retain active users, and generate sustainable revenue streams. 

Hyperliquid didn’t just build another perpetual DEX; it created a specialized Layer 1 blockchain optimized specifically for high-performance derivatives trading, directly solving major DeFi pain points: slow transaction speeds, liquidity inefficiencies, and poor UX. This innovation provides users with a seamless, CEX-like trading experience while maintaining full on-chain transparency and decentralization.

Innovative Projects Tapping Emerging Narratives:

 Ventures in AI & Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), Real World Assets (RWAs), or those effectively addressing evolving regulatory requirements.

Moreover, the entire crypto market eagerly anticipates clear regulatory frameworks from the U.S. Once established, projects that comply with regulations and offer tangible utility will become prime candidates for significant investment from traditional finance markets. For instance, Aave has introduced Aave Arc, specifically designed to meet the regulatory requirements of traditional financial institutions, enabling them to participate legally and safely in DeFi. 

Likewise, Coinbase's launch of verified pools using Uniswap v4 could trigger a revolution by facilitating the tokenization of securities, benefiting from blockchain’s transparency and 24/7 trading capabilities while fully complying with regulatory demands.

Financial history repeatedly demonstrates that euphoric market booms inevitably end in harsh corrections. The Dot-com bubble of the late 1990s provides a compelling historical analogy for the current crypto market situation. Back then, companies needed only to add ".com" to their names to raise millions, despite lacking sustainable business models, real products, or genuine revenue streams. Speculation peaked, creating enormous volumes of low-quality technology stocks.

When the bubble burst between 2000 and 2002, a brutal "flush out" ensued, wiping out thousands of companies and erasing over $5 trillion in market value. Companies like Pets.com and Webvan, along with numerous other so-called unicorn startups, vanished entirely.

Yet, from those ashes emerged today’s tech giants. Amazon, once mocked for its ongoing losses, survived and now dominates e-commerce. Google (now Alphabet) revolutionized how we access information. eBay created a lasting peer-to-peer marketplace. Their shared trait? Solving genuine problems, establishing clear business models, and continuously delivering long-term value.

Although painful, the Dot-com crash was essential in eliminating unsustainable entities, revealing companies with real substance and potential. Similarly, the crypto market’s "Grand Flush Out" could serve as a necessary filter, clearing millions of worthless tokens so that intelligent capital can concentrate on genuinely innovative projects with transformative technologies and practical use cases.

Hype

Quai

AVAX

Altcoin Season is set to follow a “Grand Flush Out” that clears millions of low-value tokens, learn why this purge could ignite a quality-driven crypto rally.

From Zero to a Multi-Billion Dollar Empire: What’s Behind Its Extraordinary Success?

In 2016, Arthur Hayes introduced perpetual futures, forever changing crypto markets. Eight years later, Hyperliquid took that same instrument and rewrote the rulebook, driving evolution in decentralized perpetual exchanges (Prep DEX). Hyperliquid’s superior on-chain transparency and seamless, CEX-like trading experience quickly propelled it past competitors like dYdX, even drawing attention from market leader Binance.

What factors have driven Hyperliquid’s rapid success? Let’s dive in.

Hyperliquid is a decentralized perpetual derivatives exchange (Perpetual DEX) built on its proprietary Layer 1 blockchain, launched in 2023 by Harvard alumni Jeff Yan and Iliensinc. A bold vision drove the founders: to develop a DEX that offers the smooth user experience of CEXs while fully preserving blockchain transparency and decentralization.

Instead of adopting the common practice of deploying on existing blockchains, the Hyperliquid team developed their own Layer 1 blockchain optimized specifically for ultra-high trading performance. This laid the groundwork for Hyperliquid to become one of the most groundbreaking DeFi trading platforms in the 2024-2025 period.

When Hyperliquid debuted in 2023, the DeFi market was undergoing a significant shift, triggered by the collapse of FTX in late 2022. This crisis severely eroded trust in CEXs, prompting users to seek decentralized solutions that offered greater control over their assets without relying on intermediaries.

However, DEX faced numerous challenges at the time, including slow transaction speeds, high slippage, complicated user interfaces, and notably poor risk management in derivative products, such as perpetual futures. While platforms like GMX, dYdX, and Perpetual Protocol dominated the market, they were limited by outdated infrastructure and partial order books or AMM models. Against this backdrop, Hyperliquid emerged as a refreshing innovation, seamlessly integrating the performance of CEXs, user-friendly interfaces, and a fully on-chain architecture, setting a new standard for decentralized derivatives trading.

Instead of accepting the technical limitations of existing blockchains, such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Optimism, which are constrained by network latency, high gas fees, and scalability issues, Hyperliquid adopted a bold yet strategic path: building a specialized Layer 1 blockchain. This bespoke infrastructure was meticulously designed solely for trading derivatives, delivering unparalleled speed and an exceptional user experience. Its ambitious goal is to become the "AWS for liquidity," providing robust liquidity infrastructure akin to Amazon Web Services' comprehensive cloud services.

Jeff Yan, Hyperliquid’s founder, identified liquidity inefficiency as one of DeFi's most significant pain points, resulting in high slippage and a poor user experience. To tackle this issue, Jeff envisioned a platform capable of supplying liquidity across the entire DeFi ecosystem, much like how AWS provides foundational infrastructure globally.

HyperBFT, like most modern consensus algorithms, builds on Hotstuff and subsequent improvements. Unlike Ethereum and Tendermint, HyperBFT can sequence transactions continuously without waiting for the current block's hash to finalize. Therefore, consensus doesn’t block execution. The two processes run in parallel.

Moreover, HyperBFT distinguishes itself by not embedding a synchronous timescale within its consensus during normal block production. This means that HyperBFT doesn’t require validators to wait for a specific time window to agree on a block. Blocks are generated as swiftly as validators reach a quorum through effective communication, exhibiting a property known as "optimistic responsiveness". This innovation leads to improved confirmation latency, faster block production with block times limited only by network delay, and better scalability. Both the algorithm and networking layers are custom-optimized to meet the specific demands of the Layer 1 blockchain.


Hyperliquid’s state execution splits into two main components: HyperCore and HyperEVM.

HyperCore focuses entirely on on-chain perpetual futures and spot order books. Every order placement, cancellation, trade, and liquidation occurs transparently, benefiting from one-block finality provided by HyperBFT. Currently, HyperCore supports throughput of 200,000 orders per second, with ongoing improvements to node software continuously boosting performance.
HyperEVM

HyperEVM brings Ethereum's familiar general-purpose smart contract capabilities directly to Hyperliquid’s blockchain. The HyperEVM is not a separate chain, but rather, secured by the same HyperBFT consensus as HyperCore. This enables the HyperEVM to interact directly with parts of HyperCore, such as the spot and perpetual order books. Builders can plug into a mature, liquid, and performant on-chain order book with HyperCore + HyperEVM on Hyperliquid.

Let’s keep it simple:

HyperCore: Exchange (perpetual/spot order books), native staking, vaults, and oracles.

HyperEVM: An EVM-compatible smart contract layer for building and deploying decentralized applications.

Hyperliquid is widely recognized as a leading Perpetual DEX.

To establish this distinctive position, Hyperliquid has several core features:

Hyperliquid utilizes a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB), the exact trading mechanism provided by CEXs such as Coinbase and Binance. This system matches buy and sell orders at the best available price at any given moment, a model also used by traditional stock exchanges, such as the NYSE.

Historically, one issue with CEXs has been that buy and sell orders are off-chain data. This has led to persistent concerns among traders about potential market manipulation, as algorithms could theoretically manipulate these virtual figures without transparency. Hyperliquid resolves this issue by creating a fully on-chain order book system. However, the CLOB model demands low latency to enable market makers to continuously open and close positions effectively. This is why Hyperliquid has developed its independent blockchain, allowing complete algorithm optimization and customized fee adjustments.

The critical question arises: Would you opt for a platform that guarantees transparency and delivers speeds comparable to a CEX, or would you prefer a traditional CEX whose underlying mechanisms remain uncertain?


While AMMs provide a liquidity edge over CLOBs by allowing passive liquidity provision and minimizing the need for active order management, they fall short in supporting advanced order types, accurate price discovery, and high-frequency trading (HFT) capabilities that CLOBs offer. In addition, AMMs face issues such as Impermanent Loss and Slippage.

On CEXs, market makers continuously supply buy and sell orders across multiple price levels using automated algorithms. Hyperliquid’s CLOB mechanism operates in much the same way but with one key difference: all order data is on-chain, and every quoted amount represents real capital. Therefore, for the CLOB mechanism to succeed, beyond the infrastructure aspect, it also requires a good liquidity mechanism to ensure that user buy and sell orders are executed immediately, while preserving the security and integrity of the entire system.



Liquidity Mechanisms – Vaults & Market Making



One of Hyperliquid’s core principles is that liquidity should be democratized, meaning anyone can participate in providing liquidity.

Hyperliquid introduces the Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP), a protocol vault that does market making and liquidations and receives a portion of trading fees.HLP democratizes strategies typically reserved for privileged parties on other exchanges by allowing anyone in the community who can contribute liquidity to the vault and share in its P&L. HLP is fully community-owned. For perpetual trading, HLP can give deep and tight liquidity based on CEX perpetual and spot prices.

Additionally, one cannot overlook HIP-2 (Hyperliquidity), a critical improvement proposal defining a fully decentralized, on-chain liquidity strategy embedded directly into Hyperliquid’s block transition logic. Hyperliquidity actively participates in the native order book by quoting live bids and asks, consistently maintaining a tight 0.3% spread that refreshes every 3 seconds. This mechanism ensures immediate trading capability for HIP-1 tokens, particularly valuable in their early phases of price discovery.

Due to its robust technical features and liquidity mechanisms, Hyperliquid has rapidly achieved remarkable results.

Unlike most large projects, Hyperliquid neither raised funds from VCs nor conducted a pre-sale, and steered clear of short-term marketing campaigns. Jeff Yan’s philosophy is clear: A good product speaks for itself - No VCs, No hype, Just code.

The highly successful airdrop of Hyperliquid speaks volumes about the team's vision, proving it to be correct. The total number of wallet addresses that received the Hyperliquid airdrop was 94,000, and on average, each wallet received 2915.64 HYPE token (over $10,000) at the time of the Token Generation Event (TGE) (each HYPE token was priced at $3.9).

Hyperliquid airdropped up to 31% (equivalent to 310 million tokens) of the total HYPE token supply to users at the time of the TGE, with all tokens fully unlocked and excluding the involvement of VCs, CEXs, and market makers. Despite this, the token price continued to rise steadily after the TGE, reaching approximately $32 per token on December 22, 2024. This demonstrates the quality of the product and strong community support.


The trading volume ratio between Hyperliquid perps and Binance perps has also increased significantly, rising from approximately 2.8% in November 2024 to over 10% at present.

Hyperliquid's revenue has also grown rapidly since December 2024, reaching approximately $340M at present.


However, any product that experiences explosive growth is bound to encounter some issues, and Hyperliquid is no exception.

Any product aiming for mass adoption must undergo tests of its limits - Hyperliquid is no exception. The JELLYJELLY Meme Coin incident serves as a notable example.

The HLP vault on Hyperliquid is responsible for managing liquidity and supporting the system during forced liquidations. The liquidator vault can take over positions that are below 2/3 of the maintenance margin. However, the downside is that the platform can suffer significant losses if it falls prey to a manipulation attack. A whale manipulated the mechanics, resulting in a major stress test of the system, causing a $12M unrealized loss for Hyperliquid.

The situation began when a trader opened a $6 million short position on JELLYJELLY, a low-cap token valued at around $10 million at the time. The trader then deliberately removed margin, forcing Hyperliquid’s liquidity vault (HLP) to inherit and automatically liquidate the massive short position. However, after the HLP vault inherited the position, this trader allegedly purchased large amounts of JELLYJELLY, pumping the token’s price on-chain. As the price surged, HLP suffered a $12 million unrealized loss. If JELLYJELLY continued to rise, the entire $200M+ in the HLP vault could have been liquidated entirely.

In the end, Hyperliquid had to delist JELLYJELLY and invoke their emergency mechanism: they overrode the oracle price (ignoring the inflated market price), reset the liquidation price to $0.0095 - the original short price, and force-closed all positions. This action prevented further losses and even secured a $700K profit for HLP.

The swift and decisive handling of the JELLYJELLY incident highlighted the team's robust crisis management capabilities, further solidifying user trust. However, it also raised critical questions regarding the true decentralization of Hyperliquid's operational governance.

Could Hyperliquid’s Success Be Replicated?

While Hyperliquid has undoubtedly achieved notable success, it also faces significant limitations. The "JELLY" incident exemplifies how large leveraged trades can trigger system-breaking chain reactions due to flawed risk logic. Emerging Prep DEXs such as Vest Exchange may offer solutions to these vulnerabilities.



Vest Exchange employs an Automated Market Maker (AMM) combined with itsproprietary risk-assessment engine, zkRisk, to proactively monitor and adjust trade pricing in real-time, prioritizing risk mitigation over profit maximization. When a trade significantly increases systemic risk, such as opening a significant short position on an illiquid token, zkRisk immediately calculates and applies a corresponding risk premium, accurately reflecting the heightened exposure. 

This proactive, risk-based pricing mechanism effectively discourages manipulative tactics similar to those witnessed during Hyperliquid's JELLYJELLY incident, rendering potential exploits prohibitively costly and impractical.
Overall, Hyperliquid's current success can be attributed to four main factors:

An effective marketing campaign featuring a popular airdrop that garnered strong community support.

plore HyperLiquid growth lessons: see how this Layer 1 perpetual DEX scaled from zero to a multi-billion-dollar empire with cutting-edge tech and liquidity

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