Grayscale Adds AI Launchpads, Solana DeFi Apps To Q1 2025 Top Tokens
Grayscale has added several artificial intelligence platforms and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to its list of top 20 tokens to watch in the first quarter of 2025, the asset manager said in a Dec. 30 research note.
The Q1 2025 watch list, which Grayscale updates quarterly, now includes HyperLiquid (HYPE), Athena (ENA), Virtuals (VIRTUAL), Jupiter (JUP), Gito (JETO) and GRASS (GRASS).
Each new addition will benefit from one of three industry trends: a friendlier U.S. regulatory environment, decentralized AI breakthroughs, or growth in the Solana ecosystem, Grayscale said.
Virtual and Grass are AI platforms, HyperLiquid is a high-performance layer-1 (L1) network, and Etna, Jupiter, and Gito are DeFi applications. Jupiter and Jito are natives of Solana.
Source: Grayscale
“In addition to the new themes […] We continue to be excited about themes from previous episodes, such as Ethereum scale solutions, tokenization and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN),” Grayscale said.
Those themes are represented by Grayscale's continued optimism, including Chainlink and Helium, respectively, he said.
Smart contract platforms such as Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche and Sui – “may be a very competitive market segment in the digital assets industry,” Grayscale said.
The proliferation of alternative L1 blockchain networks is partly why ETH has less successful peers in 2024, Grayscale added.
Source: Grayscale
Related: Bitcoin production opportunities are growing – here's what to watch
Industry trends
Cryptocurrencies have seen a big boost since Donald Trump's election win, with many of the wins benefiting the industry, according to a Cointelegraph survey.
Trump has promised to appoint industry-friendly leaders to key regulatory agencies and make the US the “crypto capital of the world.”
DeFi will benefit, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and agency AI catalyze adoption, industry executives told Cointelegraph in December.
“In America from [President-elect Donald] Trump's victory, I am very worried that the US will become the global leader in space by the end of the year,” said Raj Brahmbhatt, CEO of Web3 settlement company Zebu.
This is especially true for DeFi apps on Solana, which saw around $1.5 billion in January worth around $8.5 billion (TVL) in January, according to data from DeFilama.
Gito, Solana's staking pool, monthly income from advance payments and over $100 million in tips in November and December.
Meanwhile, “AI agents are expected to play a more significant role in decentralized societies,” JD Serafin, CEO of Web3 AI developer Rainmaker, told Cointelegraph.
Crypto staking and onchain trading are emerging as early AI use cases, the executives said.
Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by a centrally stable coin.
