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).`

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 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.

Target revenue from infrastructure, not just gas fees.

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 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.

A robust Layer 1 blockchain infrastructure.

User-friendly UI/UX in its final product.

Looking ahead, the blockchain space remains a fertile ground for considerable growth opportunities, paving the way for continuous evolution in decentralized applications and products. Quality platforms, driven by innovative solutions to existing problems, will undoubtedly emerge and thrive. Given these conditions, the appearance of another successful application similar to Hyperliquid is entirely plausible, provided it effectively addresses existing shortcomings and harnesses emerging technologies to deliver enhanced value to users.


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

Unlocking HyperLiquid’s Extraordinary Growth: Top Lessons from a Multi-Billion-Dollar Empire

The blockchain space is evolving fast, but one issue continues to haunt Layer-1 designs: the Blockchain Trilemma, the near-impossible task of achieving scalability, decentralization, and security simultaneously. Despite years of innovation, no solution has decisively balanced all three. Enter Quai Network, a fresh Layer-1 contender that brings radical ideas to the table.

Vitalik Buterin, one of Ethereum’s co-founders, introduced the idea of the blockchain trilemma. This concept says blockchains can only truly excel at two out of three things: scalability, decentralization, and security. Take Bitcoin, for example. It’s highly secure and decentralized, but it comes at the cost of being slow and pricey. Conversely, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks tend to sacrifice some decentralization to boost speed and handle more transactions.

The core trade-offs haven't disappeared even with new solutions like Layer-2 rollups and hybrid chains. Ethereum still sees high fees when things get busy. Solana is blazing fast but has raised concerns about how decentralized it is. The trilemma is still one of the major hurdles in blockchain development.

Quai Network's Architecture: Beyond Nakamoto

Quai uses a unique consensus model called Proof-of-Entropy-Minima (PoEM), which gives more “weight” to blocks based on how much entropy, or randomness, is reduced during mining (think of it like counting the number of leading zeros). The block with the most weight wins, which helps the network achieve near-instant finality. The idea is to confirm transactions quickly without giving up on security.

The network is built around a three-layer system:

 Acts as the backbone for global consensus and security, creating a new block every 15 minutes.

 These collect headers from multiple Zones and allow transactions between Zones in the same region, with blocks every 5 minutes.

 These are the fast lanes—EVM-compatible environments that confirm transactions in about 7 to 10 seconds.


Thanks to this setup, Quai can scale horizontally without running into traffic jams. They claim the system can handle up to 50,000 transactions per second. And as demand grows, new Zones or subnetworks can spin up automatically, helping keep things fast and cheap.

Most Proof-of-Work blockchains use a lot of energy and aren’t exactly quick to scale. Quai takes a smarter route with merged mining via ProgPoW, letting miners secure all network layers: Prime, Region, and Zone Chains at once. This means Quai can scale its security much faster by tapping into existing mining infrastructure without needing extra hardware or computing power.

To keep miners engaged, Quai also uses a deflationary token model paired with a dual-token setup:

 is the main account-based token, used for gas fees, smart contracts, and decentralized apps.

 is a UTXO-based, privacy-focused coin designed for simple, cash-like payments using fixed denominations.

Miners can pick whether to earn QI or QUAI, or even lock their rewards to boost returns by up to 25%. The whole system is designed to grow securely, run efficiently, and reward long-term participation.


Quai’s design isn’t just theory; it’s built to solve real problems. Access lists allow the network to run transactions in parallel without risking conflicts. Each transaction lists the accounts and storage slots it will touch, so nodes can safely process unrelated transactions simultaneously. This helps cut down on bottlenecks while keeping the system stable.

In addition, Quai works smoothly with familiar Ethereum tools like Hardhat, Foundry, and OpenZeppelin. That means developers can easily migrate their dApps without much extra effort. With its self-hosted RPC setup, Quai stays flexible while giving developers solid control over how they connect to the network.

At House of Chimera, we see Quai carving out a unique position in a space dominated by PoS chains. It offers a high-throughput, privacy-aware, and energy-efficient Proof-of-Work alternative that stands apart from typical EVM forks. Some of the standout features include:

Stronger economic finality, making chain reorganizations more expensive.

Native on-chain checkpoints through coincident blocks.

A scalable design that expands based on network load.

Still, strong architecture alone won't be enough in a crowded market full of forks and short-term airdrop chasers. For Quai to truly break through, it’ll need real adoption, engaging apps, sticky incentives, and a story that resonates.

To understand Quai's full design philosophy, economic model, and competitive positioning, 

. It offers detailed insights into how Quai aims to redefine what Layer-1 blockchains can be.

Explore how Quai Network tackles the blockchain trilemma with a hierarchical PoW model, fast finality, and innovative scalability.

Quai Network’s Bold Solution to the Blockchain Trilemma

Aethir is a decentralized cloud infrastructure provider that aims to make high-performance computing, particularly GPU resources, more accessible, scalable, and cost-efficient. Unlike traditional cloud providers that rely on centralized data centers, Aethir leverages a distributed network of over 425,000 GPUs 

), including consumer-grade and enterprise-level hardware such as NVIDIA H100s. This model allows underutilized computing resources to be pooled and allocated dynamically based on demand, serving use cases in cloud gaming and AI development.

Aethir’s architecture is built around a three-layer system (Network, Edge, and Application) designed to minimize latency and optimize workload distribution. Its Edge devices act as gateways that manage local clusters and ensure rapid failover and resource reallocation, improving the quality of service for end-users. Additionally, Aethir employs a staking and slashing mechanism using its native ATH token to enforce service reliability and align incentives across the ecosystem.

With over 200 gaming studio partners, a reported capacity to serve 12 million monthly users, and a focus on decentralization, Aethir differentiates itself by offering an alternative to costly and centralized cloud platforms like AWS or Google Cloud.

: Self-reported Q1 2025 revenue reached $20.5 million, the highest among DePIN projects.

: Climbed to $127 million, reflecting a ~90% QoQ increase.

: Averaged ~100 million monthly compute hours, up ~25% QoQ.

: Mirrors broader DePIN momentum as GPU demand intensifies.

: Growth supported by AI adoption and sustained cloud gaming traction.

: 200+ partners and 690 gaming clusters serving ~12 million players.

: Trade tensions and compute scarcity may reinforce decentralized alternatives.

Q1 2025 marked a record quarter for Aethir, with self-reported revenue reaching $20.5 million, positioning it as the top-performing DePIN project in absolute revenue. The ecosystem's Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) rose to $127 million, reflecting a ~90% increase compared to the previous quarter. Aethir also reported an average of 100 million compute hours per month in Q1, representing a ~25% quarter-over-quarter increase in utilization. 

This growth aligns with a sector-wide uptrend observed across other DePIN networks such as Akash, GeodNet, io.net, and Edge, indicating strong momentum in decentralized compute infrastructure. The key driver behind this expansion is the sharp rise in global demand for GPU-based computing, heavily influenced by the acceleration of AI adoption across both Web2 and Web3 markets. This macro trend is reflected in search interest and supported by strong earnings from traditional chip manufacturers such as Nvidia and TSMC. 


Importantly, the broader geopolitical landscape may further reinforce the case for decentralized infrastructure. Trade tensions and semiconductor supply chain disruptions—particularly between the U.S. and China—pose risks for centralized providers but may highlight the resilience of borderless, decentralized alternatives like Aethir. These platforms, which lack centralized control or physical hubs, are inherently more resistant to regulation and tariffs.

As AI models grow in complexity, the scarcity of computing power becomes a critical constraint. Compute demand is expected to rise further as enterprises continue to scale their AI capabilities, evidenced by a ~50% year-over-year increase in enterprise AI usage in Europe. Aethir’s architecture and resource pool position it to meet these demands, particularly its ability to segment GPU types for AI and gaming use cases.

Beyond AI, Aethir maintains a strong footprint in cloud gaming. The platform partners with over 200 gaming companies and operates 690 clusters serving approximately 12 million players. While the growth rate in gaming is expected to be more stable than in AI, it represents a meaningful and recurring revenue stream as cloud gaming becomes a more viable alternative to traditional hardware-based gaming.

Network includes 425,000+ GPU containers with a total of ~23.6 million TFlops in compute capacity.

The average GPU performance (~59 TFlops) is comparable to retail-grade cards like the RTX 4080 Super.

Likely operational split—retail GPUs for gaming, high-end GPUs for AI workloads.

In Q1, the network delivered ~26 million GPU hours weekly, indicating a ~38.5% utilization rate.

GPUs are distributed across 95 countries, and Edge Devices are active in 97 countries.

66,000+ staked Edge Devices, with ~10% QoQ growth, supporting low-latency performance.

Edge Devices are placed close to users to optimize latency, especially for cloud gaming.

The Aethir Network currently comprises over 425,000 GPU containers with an aggregate compute power of 23,631,280 TFlops, theoretically capable of supporting over 209 million concurrent players. Based on the reported figures, the average compute power per GPU stands at approximately 59 TFlops, comparable to consumer-grade hardware such as the RTX 4080 Super. While not an issue for cloud gaming use cases, this hardware profile may not meet the requirements of more intensive AI workloads. As a result, it is expected that Aethir segments its operations, allocating retail-grade GPUs to gaming workloads and reserving enterprise-level GPUs, such as NVIDIA H100s, for AI tasks. This separation allows the network to serve both verticals efficiently without overburdening low-tier resources.

In Q1, the network delivered an estimated 26 million GPU hours weekly. The current GPU count equates to a utilization rate of approximately 38.5%, above the industry average and indicative of strong demand across its user base. While the exact distribution of hardware is unclear, Aethir has confirmed that its infrastructure spans 95 countries, though specific GPU counts per region are not disclosed.

A globally distributed network of Aethir Edge Devices supports this infrastructure, now present in 97 countries. Over 66,000 Aethir Edge Devices are staked and active on the network as of the latest reporting period, with roughly 10% quarter-over-quarter growth. These Edge Devices are critical in managing local clusters, facilitating rapid resource reallocation, and reducing latency, which is especially important for real-time applications like cloud gaming. Their proximity to end-users enables more stable service delivery and minimizes lag, reinforcing Aethir’s infrastructure design, which is focused on responsiveness and decentralization. To learn more about how the Edge Device prevents latency: 

https://www.houseofchimera.com/blog/is-aethir-the-next-giant-in-cloud-gaming

Slight QoQ decline in follower count on X; Smart Money followers down ~1%.

Smart Money mentions remained stable, indicating continued interest from key market participants.

Significant surge in engagement following Binance Alpha listing.

: Recovered later in Q1, but underperformed earlier due to broader altcoin market weakness.

ATH sentiment reached an all-time high toward quarter-end, driven by increased exposure and retail participation.

Metrics reflect broader market conditions, not waning interest in Aethir specifically.

Community engagement remains a key performance indicator within the crypto industry, particularly for projects operating in emerging verticals like DePIN. In Q1 2025, Aethir experienced minor declines across specific social metrics, including a 0.25% quarter-over-quarter drop in its X (formerly Twitter) follower count and a 1% decline in Smart Money followers. Despite this, Smart Money mentions remained stable, indicating that interest from informed market participants was largely unaffected by short-term volatility.

Aethir's social engagement saw a notable increase later in the quarter, primarily triggered by its listing on Binance Alpha. This event sparked a surge in user interaction and platform visibility, indicating a renewed community interest. While social dominance lagged earlier in Q1, due in part to broader altcoin market underperformance and Bitcoin’s outsized narrative share, it recovered toward the end of the quarter.

Notably, sentiment surrounding the ATH token reached an all-time high by the end of Q1. This likely reflects the influx of new users and retail investors introduced to the project through the Binance Alpha listing. The modest declines seen earlier in the quarter are more a function of prevailing market dynamics than project-specific challenges. Overall, Aethir remains well-positioned to build on its renewed momentum in Q2, especially if positive sentiment and engagement trends continue.

: Aethir’s token was listed on Coinbase, enhancing accessibility and legitimacy.

: Launched a $1 million grant program with Xsolla to support early-stage game developers.

: Grant recipients gain access to Aethir’s decentralized GPU resources for cloud-native gaming.

: Rolled out Aethir Forge, a global grassroots engagement program.

: Appointed ForgeMasters to drive adoption via education, events, and user onboarding.

: Established Regional Forges as operational hubs for community and partner activation.

Aethir’s instant‑play streaming tech in the SuperScale case study drove a 43% preference for instant play, +35% CTR and +45% conversion in Phase 1, and in Phase 2 delivered +143% stream selection, +75% D7 ROAS, +93% ARPU, +77% more sessions, +26% longer sessions, +60% D1 retention, and +80% D7 retention

Aethir has executed a series of strategic initiatives to reinforce its infrastructure, grow its community, and enhance its market presence. One of the most notable developments was listing its token on Coinbase. This move significantly improves accessibility for both retail and institutional participants while potentially boosting liquidity across trading platforms.

Aethir partnered with Xsolla to launch a $1 million grant program to support early-stage developers in the gaming vertical. The initiative provides financial backing and access to Aethir’s decentralized GPU network, offering scalable compute power to develop high-performance, cloud-native games. Beyond funding, the program is structured to promote innovation and solidify Aethir’s presence within the broader Web3 and gaming ecosystem.

To support the growth of its decentralized ecosystem, Aethir also introduced Aethir Forge—a community-led expansion framework focused on localized engagement. ForgeMasters, regional ambassadors responsible for hosting events, onboarding users, and fostering education around the Aethir platform, are central to this initiative. These efforts are coordinated through Regional Forges, which act as logistical and operational anchors across key markets. Collectively, these programs reflect Aethir’s approach to scaling its infrastructure and user base through coordinated, on-the-ground efforts.

Aethir is strategically positioned to benefit from several macro and sector-specific trends that are expected to shape the trajectory of decentralized infrastructure networks. The growing global demand for high-performance computing, particularly in AI and cloud gaming, continues to outpace the available supply of GPU resources. This supply-demand imbalance creates a favorable backdrop for Aethir’s decentralized GPU model, which aggregates underutilized computing power to meet dynamic market needs.

The increasing sophistication of AI workloads—such as large language model training, AI inference, and real-time agent-based systems—will likely intensify the demand for enterprise-grade GPUs. While Aethir’s current network comprises consumer-grade and high-performance units, its ability to segment resources between AI and gaming use cases suggests operational flexibility and room for targeted scaling. Expanding its database-grade GPU capacity will be crucial to securing more substantial AI-centric contracts and partnerships.

Geopolitical uncertainty and the potential for prolonged global trade disruptions, particularly in the semiconductor supply chain, could serve as an unintended catalyst for the development of decentralized alternatives. As traditional providers face regulatory and logistical bottlenecks, platforms like Aethir, which operate without centralized

Looking ahead, Aethir’s ability to scale its infrastructure while maintaining service reliability, expand its enterprise-grade GPU inventory, and capitalize on structural shifts in AI and gaming will be key to its long-term competitiveness. If victorious, Aethir could emerge as a core infrastructure layer in the broader decentralized compute stack, potentially rivaling centralized incumbents in specific verticals over the coming cycles.

Aethir has established itself as a notable player in the decentralized cloud infrastructure space, with a focus on GPU-intensive applications in AI and cloud gaming. Its distributed architecture, combined with an extensive network of consumer and enterprise-grade GPUs, enables dynamic resource allocation and cost-efficient compute delivery.

In Q1 2025, Aethir reported the highest revenue among DePIN projects, driven by strong growth in compute hours and network utilization. Strategic initiatives, such as the Xsolla gaming grant and the Aethir Forge community program, support further adoption and ecosystem expansion.

Key challenges remain around data transparency and scaling enterprise-grade infrastructure, particularly for AI workloads. However, Aethir's operational segmentation between gaming and AI, along with favorable market trends in compute demand, positions it to serve as a core infrastructure provider in the decentralized computing stack.

Aethir’s Q1 2025 growth report reveals record-breaking revenue, GPU usage, and adoption in AI and cloud gaming. Explore the full performance breakdown.

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