Original Author: Anil Lulla, Founding Partner and CEO of Delphi Digital

Original Translation: Luffy, Foresight News

People often say that crypto projects lack PMF (Product-Market Fit), but in my view, this only indicates their cynicism and a failure to take the time to explore the applications that global developers are continuously launching.

I want to highlight some of my favorite crypto applications that I've used this year, hoping to inspire some of you to try out some of these apps. These teams are working hard to create useful products, and we can at least take the time to test the results of their efforts.

Before diving in, there are a few disclaimers and disclosures. I have exposure to some of these tokens, whether through investments from Delphi Ventures, angel investments, or simply personal purchases, which I will mark with *. The content of this article is not financial advice; it is merely my thoughts on projects I like this year.

HyperLiquid

HyperLiquid is fantastic. You may have read over 1,000 tweets about it in the past month, so I’ll keep my thoughts brief. Anyone who regularly uses HyperLiquid loves it; I rarely hear complaints, which is quite different from most applications.

I usually avoid using leverage, so I’m not the target user for HyperLiquid. In fact, when it launched, I used the app for the first time to buy HYPE*. Soon, I saw what its fans had been raving about for a year. Not only is the UI/UX very similar to CEX (I know it currently has only four validators), but it’s also encouraging to see how quickly the team responds to criticisms, concerns, and feedback from users in their Discord.

Since its establishment in 2023, HyperLiquid has built a cult-like community with over 200,000 users and a cumulative trading volume approaching $450 billion. The platform currently has over $2.5 billion in open contracts. It is very successful, currently accounting for over 60% of all USDC trading volume on Arbitrum. The hype surrounding HYPE since its launch is not just due to its clean UI/UX as a perpetual contract exchange. It promises to launch its own L1, and although it is still in the early stages, an undeniable ecosystem has already formed around it.

Polymarket

Since entering the cryptocurrency space in 2017, prediction markets have been a use case that excites me, and I believe it will be the first to truly take off. Clearly, that hasn’t been the case. This process has taken nearly seven years, but with Polymarket's success, 2024 is officially set to be the year prediction markets enter the mainstream. It performed perfectly on election night and predicted the winner of what I believe is the most important election of our generation. In this context, Polymarket handled $3.6 billion in election bets and announced Trump’s victory six hours before the AP.

Polymarket has created a new form of media and provided the world with a valuable data source for predicting future events. Many thought Polymarket would gradually fade after the elections, but in reality, it has performed quite well, pulling back from its November highs but still above mid-October levels. I still visit it frequently to see which markets are active, and it seems the sports markets have gained a decent share.

Additionally, Fun.xyz has built a great Checkout product for Polymarket, allowing users to deposit using tokens from any chain or CEX (like Binance, Coinbase, etc.). Friends of mine outside the industry have even used it without any complaints. The cryptocurrency user experience isn’t as bad as everyone says!

Farcaster

To be honest, while I was using Warpcast daily in the first half of this year, I now check it only once or twice a week at most. One thing I want to do in 2025 is change that.

Earlier this year, I attended FarCon in Los Angeles, where most of the people I spoke with were builders of Farcaster. This is a very optimistic sign. Although it’s still early, many builders are focused on creating some cool/niche things that could impress the focused and adventurous community around Farcaster. I expect to see many quirky toys built around this social graph in 2025.

I also believe that Dan Romero and the Farcaster team will continue to innovate rapidly. They are focused on purposeful features that help enhance core users and enable them to expand their social graph and reputation, which will provide a great sandbox for developers to create new experiences. Features like channels, frameworks, and DEGEN tips have already explored new ways to coordinate social interactions. Games like Clankermon and Stokefire have shown me some interesting and unique early signs. Although they have dropped about 50% from their peak, they are still doing well overall in retaining users.

Ethena*

Delphi has high expectations for Ethena, but it has still exceeded our expectations. Ethena's synthetic dollar, USDe, has grown to nearly $6 billion over the past year, making it the third-largest stablecoin after Tether and USDC.

I am particularly impressed by Ethena's recent collaboration with BlackRock to launch USDtb, a new dollar stablecoin supported by BlackRock's BUIDL fund. Like USDC, USDtb is backed by cash and cash-equivalent reserve assets. In the short term, due to funding rate reasons, the yield on USDe may remain high. However, Ethena can now flexibly redirect treasury yields as a supplement. This effectively sets an APY "floor" around treasury bill rates, allowing Ethena to scale further.

Like most people, I am optimistic about the growth of stablecoins in 2025. The current value of stablecoins is about $200 billion, and I believe it will surpass $300 billion, with a strong chance of exceeding $400 billion next year. I think that with Ethena's clever products and continued focus on product integration, it will play a significant role in attracting a large amount of on-chain capital. We have already seen other decentralized stablecoins or synthetic dollars integrate into DeFi in various ways, and Ethena's USDe seems to be the first to make progress through CEX and TradFi integration. This has helped them establish a strong moat early on.

Gunzilla*

Delphi's enthusiasm for the crypto gaming space is well-known. Through early collaborations and investments with teams like Axie Infinity, Yield Guild, and Immutable, we have been seeking to bring games to market and expose the masses to cryptocurrency. Gunzilla Games has achieved this, and users do not encounter any friction due to its crypto components.

Off the Grid is a cyberpunk-themed battle royale game and the first crypto game launched on PlayStation and Xbox, attracting over 12 million wallets and 230 million transactions. Players have streamed over 4 million hours of gameplay on platforms like Twitch, and the game has ranked among the top three live games twice. It utilizes Avalanche to implement its own game mechanics, putting into practice the widely discussed benefits of cryptocurrency for gaming: digital ownership enhances player engagement.

I highly recommend listening to a conversation between Piers Kicks and the founders of Gunzilla on the Delphi Podcast from last month. The team's unparalleled attention to detail and commitment to delivering what players truly want is evident. They are currently conducting internal testing on their product and are dedicated to becoming the infrastructure for more mainstream AAA games. I am genuinely excited to see how Gunzilla continues to evolve and shape the future of crypto gaming.

Lighthouse.One

Over the years, Delphi has invested in several portfolio trackers (Zapper, Debank) and wallet observers, which we believe have the potential to become the front page of the crypto space. They, along with Nansen, have become my primary tools for managing wallets and monitoring others. That said, I still manually track my portfolio using spreadsheets and other applications… until a few weeks ago.

Will Price casually mentioned Lighthouse.One during our conversation, and I became hooked. It is by far the best complete portfolio tracker I have used. EVM, Solana, Cosmos, Aptos, Sui, CEXs, Hyperliquid, dYdX; it does it all. Within days of trying the app, I spoke with the Lighthouse.One team, and their focus on privacy is second to none.

Among the applications I mentioned in this article, I guess many people are hearing about it for the first time. I am impressed by it, and it is effortless to try. I have been looking for a product like this for years, and I’m glad I finally found it. While I have urged the team to let me invest, I currently have no financial ties with Lighthouse. I am just a very happy user of their product.

Pump.Fun*

This year, Pump.Fun successfully converted attention into liquidity. I believe this mechanism hasn’t received enough praise; it is a simple yet necessary solution with strong and immediate PMF. It lowers the barrier to entry while promoting a fairer distribution, and its bonding mechanism alleviates rug pulls.

In a year, Pump.Fun has generated over $300 million in fee revenue and helped issue over 5 million tokens. While everyone hopes the team will vertically expand by launching a DEX, they have chosen to pursue horizontal growth by exploring new ways to attract attention. In my view, the live streaming feature seems like an unexpected direction. It ultimately got out of hand, but mainly because it was so successful. It’s really cool, and I genuinely think this feature needs better moderation.

Like it or not, everything that can be financialized will inevitably be financialized. Pump.Fun has the potential to build a preferred social application around investment institutions, so it cannot be ignored. By the way, I made an angel investment in Pump.Fun, not through Delphi Ventures. Betting on the founders was an easy decision, and I am still amazed by their performance this year.

Truth Terminal and GOAT*

One of the most exciting moments for me in the crypto space this year might be the emergence of a sandbox to experiment with in the Crypto x AI realm: Twitter and wallets. The Delphi team has been vocal about our excitement and curiosity regarding this crossover field. We are currently engaged in Crypto x AI research, during which GOAT launched and captured the attention of the entire crypto community.

Watching the Turing Test unfold live was an incredible experience, as crypto Twitter (CT) users questioned which bots were AI and which were human. Although it is still in its early stages, I believe GOAT is one of the most significant developments this year, as it provides a tangible way to think about how the important intersection of Crypto x AI interacts. Since then, we have witnessed a surge in AI agents, with teams continuously innovating to stand out and attract attention. The coolest aspect is the interoperability of these upgrades, where each developer's efforts can be maximized by applying them to others' agents. While some of these bots can be annoying, I believe the influx of these agents will bring truly interesting and quirky internet spaces next year.

VIRTUAL

I won’t write too much about Virtuals now, as it is one of the new projects I have been researching. I just find it interesting as a "pick and shovel" for AI agents. So far, over 12,000 agents have been launched on Virtual. Don’t get me wrong; most of these agents are still quite poor and sometimes at best just annoying responders. However, I expect significant improvements in the coming months.

aixbt* is a particularly noteworthy account to follow. The data doesn’t lie; it captures the attention of the cryptocurrency community by simply posting alpha tweets, but it is backed by years of work from rxbt, who have taken the time to compile a vast amount of crypto data and curate a smart CT social graph that gives aixbt "personality." While many crypto KOLs often discuss the same projects in the CT echo chamber, aixbt consistently showcases fresh alpha and highlights it in my feed. This is a project I want to keep a closer eye on.

MetaDAO and MetaLeX*

Few people know that Delphi was one of the first companies to be rewarded by a DAO (Synthetix) in 2019. Since then, we have been active in dozens of governance processes and even helped design governance systems and projects in the crypto space, such as Gitcoin. Initially, DAOs were one of the most exciting aspects of this field for me. However, as we dealt with the complexities of working with them, my enthusiasm gradually waned. Most DAOs were established to achieve some ambitious vision but then spent all their time figuring out how to "DAO." This year, two projects stood out for their practical approaches to addressing these challenges: MetaDAO and MetaLeX (despite both being called Meta, these two projects are unrelated).

MetaDAO sparked many interesting discussions at Delphi (largely thanks to META enthusiast mrink0). While some criticize Solana for a lack of innovation, MetaDAO is the world’s first project to implement futurism. I have to mention it here because it is one of the coolest on-chain experiments I have seen this year.

MetaDAO does not use traditional voting but instead employs markets to predict and determine the best outcomes for the DAO. It’s interesting to see different protocols integrating it into their decision-making processes. For example, Drift utilizes MetaDAO for market-based token listings on its exchange. As we move toward 2025, I am closely watching MetaDAO, hoping it can enhance voter engagement and increase voter diversity in the cryptocurrency space.

On the other hand, MetaLeX is a concept that lex_node and Delphi Labs have been refining for years. This year, it finally launched, moving toward a future where DAOs can focus on their missions without getting bogged down by governance challenges. Through BORG, MetaLeX enables DAOs to connect with the real world while maintaining crypto nativity.

This is the culmination of Gabe's years of experience in traditional law and crypto law. He has been the General Counsel of Delphi Labs for years, and to be honest, I have a lot of respect for him. Delphi Labs has been unhesitating in helping to realize this goal, as no one else in the world can build it the right way. MetaLeX fills the gaps in law with code and vice versa. Their BORG can execute mutual, multilateral trusted commitments and reduce trust assumptions across all counterparties.

MetaLeX has already helped teams like Lido, Curve, and ZKSync transition to BORG. They have been developing a comprehensive set of tools to achieve trust-minimized governance. I believe that by 2025, we will start to see their work impact DAOs that integrate these tools.

Sandwich

This is a product launched by a friend of mine. Sandwich is a private trading tool for CEX order execution (and HyperLiquid). It gives you access to institutional-level algorithms that help save on fees and slippage, allowing you to access multiple tools and exchanges from a unified UI.

Given that I primarily buy and hold assets and do not often use leverage, I am not the target user for this product. That said, every trader friend who has seen it has become a power user. The Mac application is coming soon, so if you have a desktop, you might want to give it a try.

9dcc

I believe gmoney is working on one of the coolest things in the crypto space: 9dcc. He has successfully combined passion and carved out his own path, providing cryptocurrency with another outlet into the mainstream.

Essentially, cryptocurrency is a very powerful coordination tool. Gamifying universal concepts like fashion and face-to-face interactions using it is a stroke of genius, and it’s surprising that this remains an underexplored avenue. gmoney is still deeply immersed in it, allowing him to connect cutting-edge on-chain ideas that are happening and translate them into the real world.

So far, my personal favorite piece is the bird poop hat (IYKYK), but I have already seen the early forms of what’s coming next. I have no doubt that 9dcc will gain some recognition outside the crypto world in 2025.

DeBridge

I have tried many cross-chain bridges over the years, but DeBridge is the one I have used the most this year. Not only is the experience seamless, but its team has consistently been one of the fastest to integrate new chains. No matter where your assets are or where you want them to go, you can use DeBridge.

They leverage cross-chain intent to connect DeFi in real-time, making the cross-chain experience almost completely hidden. DeBridge co-founder deAlex stated that they have handled over 4 million intents, with a trading volume exceeding $6 billion. This is the first cross-chain bridge I can recommend to ordinary friends without any issues. Just this alone is impressive, and I am grateful for the team's work.

Echo and Legion*

2024 is the year of the ICO comeback. I really like the approach that Cobie’s Echo has taken. It seems to have a perfect product-market fit with the crypto Twitter audience. Being able to support people you trust and have them curate and bring interesting trading flows directly to you is a win-win. Echo has already helped facilitate over 150 transactions, raising more than $55 million for projects from nearly 6,000 users.

On the other hand, Legion has taken a bottom-up approach, putting project tokens into the hands of more consistent community members. They have developed the Legion Score, which currently considers scores based on three aspects: (1) on-chain activity, (2) social influence, and (3) development experience. This score will evolve over time, allowing projects to better understand who they are letting into their equity structure.

Legion is a project incubated by Delphi Labs, and we have been working on it for over a year, with the first transaction just going live on its platform a month ago. The data speaks for itself: over $5 million raised, and nearly 100,000 users have registered for the Legion Score.

I believe we will see more projects utilizing such platforms to help issue tokens in 2025. The timing for a new government to take office couldn’t be better. Both of these platforms are ones I strongly recommend everyone sign up for and check weekly. These platforms may have many attractive opportunities as they strive to curate high-quality projects for their members.

Kaito

Kaito has quickly become a powerful tool favored by crypto users this year. To some extent, Kaito and Delphi Research aim to solve similar problems: helping users filter out the noise in the market to find alpha and valuable insights. Our research team does this by spending hundreds of hours researching and then condensing all necessary and relevant information into about 30 minutes of reading. In the process, our analysts take the time to think through and sift through most of the noise to simply analyze and summarize what is important to understand for any specific protocol or industry.

What’s great about Kaito is that it uses clever algorithms to help unearth treasures from all the noise on crypto Twitter. When I search for specific projects or stock tickers, it helps me skip over a lot of noise, which impresses me.

I understand how useful and essential it is for all traders. However, I also use it to scout for talent. Typically, some of the most articulate people in any specific field become potential candidates for our hiring. In fact, we just sent an offer to someone I found through Kaito, who will be joining our team in January. I believe Kaito has the potential to serve many different user groups with a single product.

Grass*

Grass allows users to earn rewards by sharing excess internet bandwidth with other parts of the network. It’s a simple plugin that I have been running in the background for most of this year. Our Ventures team has invested in a number of Crypto x AI projects, but Grass might be the one I am personally most excited about (at least among the deals I can publicly discuss right now).

Data is the next frontier in model development. We have seen AI labs trying to strike deals with platforms like Reddit or StackOverflow to gain API key access to their data. Grass provides API keys for the entire internet. It can do this efficiently and at scale. They already have 2.5 million nodes on the supply side, providing uncensored data for training and AI responses. New ways to join the network will also emerge in the future, such as people being able to order and connect mobile and hardware plugins to their WiFi routers.

Grass co-founder Andrej stated that the inbound demand for the network has already reached nine figures. Grass is a project that has helped traditional AI personnel take the Crypto x AI crossover seriously, and I am confident about their prospects in 2025.

Ostium

Since our team worked with kain and SNX in 2019, we have been looking forward to enabling the on-chain world to access traditional assets. Ostium seems to be delivering on this promise.

Ostium's kaledora has made it clear that she is passionate about building Ostium into a universal market. Currently, they offer users long or short perpetual contracts for forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and stock indices. To date, their trading volume has exceeded $166 million. The trading volume for certain currency pairs has surged, which is cool. For example, since its inception, the trading volume for USD/JPY has reached $21 million—most of which occurred around the time of the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision (if you remember that 72-hour bear market).

They have launched some sleek structured products on Polymarket. For instance, once Polymarket predicts that the probability of Trump winning reaches a certain percentage on election night, you can let Ostium go long on BTC with 10x leverage. You can set it up and go to sleep while waiting for what’s about to happen elsewhere in the world, waking up without missing out on profit opportunities. With the new government no longer opposing cryptocurrencies, I have a feeling this will allow Ostium to launch some things on-chain that we couldn't have imagined over the past four years.

Moonwalk Fitness*

Moonwalk Fitness leverages the coordination capabilities of cryptocurrency to create a powerful accountability tool for fitness.

Currently, the first version of Moonwalk focuses on incentivizing daily step counts. You can create a group, set a daily step goal, and deposit USDC/SOL/BONK. As long as you meet the set goal, you can at least get your money back. If others in the competition do not meet their goals, their money will be distributed to the winners. This is a simple yet powerful tool for incentivizing good behavior, and I am excited to see its next iteration. The application of this concept goes far beyond running; it can also include: weightlifting goals, daily sleep time, water intake, and more.

Although it is still in the early stages, they already have nearly 100,000 users registered. They will soon launch a mobile app, which could be the first crypto app my parents can use weekly.

Summary

This is my list. These are just products I like, and I want to thank their teams for their hard work. Unfortunately, I clearly cannot list all the teams I think have done great work this year. Other projects that quickly come to mind include Morpho, Jito, Cowswap, Jupiter, Pendle, and wallets like Phantom/Rabby.

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