2025: The Great Historical Shift of Web3

Author: K,Researcher at Web3Caff Research

Cover: Photo by Motion Lady on Unsplash

In 2025, the entire industry has finally crossed a watershed moment that no one can pretend not to see: from a decade dominated by infrastructure to a decade driven by applications. You can understand this as the "end of adolescence" for Web3—the era of rapid growth, rebellion, competing forcomputing power, competing for TPS, competing for cross-chain, and competing for ZK has passed; the products that can truly make ordinary users willing to pay, stay, and participate are just beginning.

This shift is not just rhetoric; the underlying conditions have truly matured for the first time. a16z made this clear in "State of Crypto 2025": the processing capacity of mainstream chains has increased from "a few TPS" a few years ago to 3400+ TPS today, with fees dropping from twenty dollars to a few cents or even less than a penny. [1] In other words, the chain is no longer the bottleneck, technology no longer a barrier for entrepreneurs, and it no longer blocks users. In other words, the infrastructure of the public chain era is sufficiently mature, and the next decade is truly worth investing in application implementation, public goods, open source tools, and structured financing.

One of the important backgrounds supporting the industry's gradual entry into the application exploration phase is the relative clarity of the policy environment at a certain stage. For example, as the United States and Hong Kong, China, gradually form clearer policy paths on key issues such as crypto asset regulation, stablecoin frameworks, and compliant custody, institutions, developers, and infrastructure providers have begun to reassess the long-term feasibility of blockchain applications. This clarity does not come from a single policy shift but is reflected in a series of institutional discussions, regulatory practices, and legislative processes, reaching a stage of consensus on "the space for innovation under compliant conditions." In such an environment, capital allocation rhythms have begun to warm up, and basic modules such as compliant stablecoins, payment rails, custody, and clearing are gradually meeting the conditions for large-scale implementation, also providing realistic soil for richer application forms.

The author specifically reminds: Stablecoins are virtual currencies (Tokens), and please be aware that issuing and participating in the investment of Tokens has different and often stringent regulatory requirements and restrictions in different countries and regions. Especially in Mainland China, issuing Tokens may constitute "illegal securities issuance," and providing Token trading matching and other cryptocurrency-related trading activities also fall under "illegal financial activities" (Readers from Mainland China are strongly advised to read "Summary and Key Points of Laws and Regulations Related to Blockchain and Virtual Currency in Mainland China"). Therefore, please do not use this information for related decision-making, and please strictly comply with the laws and regulations of your country and region, and do not participate in any illegal financial activities.

When the policy environment no longer constitutes a major source of uncertainty and the performance constraints of infrastructure continue to decrease, changes within the industry also become apparent, and the real change occurs: revenue begins to shift from the network layer to the application layer. a16z clearly marked this trend with the concept of "Real Economic Value"—measuring the success of a chain no longer depends on its ecosystem story but on whether users are willing to engage in real economic activities on it. [1]

Against this background, we finally see the three core uses of the Web3 industry in 2025 fully blossoming (Editor's note: Blockchain technology has a wide range of applications and can be applied to many real-world fields, with the core being to solve trust, collaboration, and rights confirmation issues, mainly including: finance and payment (cross-border settlement, clearing and settlement), assets and property rights (real estate, equity, intellectual property rights confirmation and transfer), supply chain and manufacturing (traceability, anti-counterfeiting, process transparency), government and public services (electronic certificates, data sharing, voting), healthcare and education (trusted storage of medical records and academic qualifications), content and cultural creation (copyright registration, revenue sharing), and energy and Internet of Things (device collaboration, carbon data and energy trading). Therefore, the purpose of this report is only to analyze representative cases in the Web3 industry under the market changes of 2025 and is not comprehensive.):

• First, as assets. Stablecoins, DAT, RWA, on-chain payments, and other "real asset layers" are becoming the largest entry points for规模化应用 (Adoption). Stablecoins form the world's fastest dollar clearing network, on-chain payments are being reinvented, and RWA introduces traditional yields into the blockchain, making the chain a layer for "distributing real yields";

• Second, as markets. Hyperliquid and Solana now account for 53% of the全网收入性交易量 (revenue-generating transaction volume across the network), indicating that high-frequency trading, contracts, and prediction markets are becoming new economic engines. Price discovery markets are not by-products but core forces driving liquidity, promoting infrastructure optimization, and cultivating user culture;

• Third, as a computation and coordination network. Blockchain is finally beginning to empower AI, rather than waiting for AI to empower Web3. From verifying computations, model ownership, data traceability to decentralized inference networks, on-chain assets are taking shape as an "AI coordination layer." Previously, we discussed "what the chain can do"; now we discuss "what AI can do on the chain."

This also explains why Jiawei Zhu of IOSG said: "The glorious era of infrastructure is over, and we have undoubtedly entered the application era." [2] Peter Pan of 1kx also gave the same judgment: the application layer investment cycle was immature in the past seven years, but the next seven years will be completely different because, against the backdrop of continuously improving technical capabilities and gradually clarifying regulatory environments, the external constraints facing application innovation are significantly easing. [3]

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

The application era of Web3 is not coming; it has already begun.

This content is excerpted from the research report published by Web3Caff Research: "Web3 2025 Annual 40,000-Word Report (Part 1): Facing the Historical Convergence of Finance × Computing × Internet Order, Is the Great Industry Shift About to Begin? A Panoramic Analysis of Its Structural Changes, Value Potential, Risk Boundaries, and Future Prospects"

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

1. Background of Stage Evolution: The internal reasons for the change in industry focus after the completion of infrastructure construction;

2. Key Mechanism Changes: The impact of gradually clearer rule frameworks and on-chain mechanisms on system operation methods;

3. Main Application Directions: Exploration paths围绕 (centered around) payment settlement, real-world scenario mapping, and programmable collaboration;

4. Future Development Directions: Discussing the evolution trend of Web3 in 2026 and beyond.