h $200,000. I also believe that the cryptocurrency market will continue to grow, and the total market value will exceed $5 trillion. In addition, I predict that the US government will adopt a more positive attitude towards cryptocurrency, and the SEC will

to reach $200,000. I also predict that we will see a large-scale entry of institutions into the cryptocurrency market, and the total market capitalization will reach $10 trillion.

Tarun:

I predict that the total market capitalization will reach $5 trillion, and there will be a large-scale entry of institutions into the DeFi space. In addition, I expect to see a wave of new public chain innovations.

Tom:

I predict that Bitcoin will reach $120,000, and I am more optimistic about Ethereum, which I expect to reach $5,000. I also predict that we will see a large-scale entry of institutions into the cryptocurrency market, and the total market capitalization will reach $7 trillion.output: Four industry experts, Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi, Dragonfly General Partner Tom Schmidt, Superstate CEO Robert Leshner, and Robot Ventures Managing Partner Tarun Chitra, shared their perspectives on the key moments of the year in a recent podcast episode of Chopping Block. Below is a summary of their discussion, compiled by PANews.

Biggest Winner

Haseeb: I think the biggest winner this year is HyperLiquid. This decentralized perpetual contract trading platform conducted the most successful token airdrop of the season, which can be called the 'Uniswap moment' of this cycle. Although there is still a long way to go in terms of true decentralization, its token distribution method and community response are inspiring. As a VC, we really regret not being able to participate in it - in fact, almost all VCs tried to invest in HyperLiquid, but they were all rejected. This kind of 'perfect birth' project is indeed impressive, especially in terms of product capabilities, execution, and technical delivery.

Robert: From my perspective, the biggest winners this year are all the US-based crypto founders and companies. We have witnessed an important turning point: from the extreme hostility and resistance we faced before, to the positive momentum we see now. As a US-based crypto founder, this transition is exciting. Finally, I don’t have to worry about doing crypto business in the United States anymore.

Tarun: I'm going to go with the entire DeFi space. Remember the 36-month bear market predicted by Degen Spartan? DeFi was once seen as the problem child of the cryptocurrency world, and the valuations of the public chains that hadn't yet landed were often ten times that of DeFi projects. But now, DeFi has made a strong comeback. As someone who works hard in the DeFi space, it's really gratifying to see such developments.

Tom: My choice might be a little surprising - it's Tether (USDT). They have performed very well this year and are arguably one of the most profitable companies in the world. For years, many people have been waiting for Tether to fall or have major problems, but the opposite has happened. It has become more and more successful and more regulated. Tether has not only continued to grow, but has also become an important case in the cryptocurrency industry, especially in terms of stablecoin applications and the global trend of dollarization.

Biggest Loser

Robert: There is no doubt that the anti-crypto camp is the biggest loser this year, including some members of both houses of Congress and some people in the executive branch, especially some members of the SEC and those who promote "Operation Disconnect 2.0". They mistakenly believe that suppressing the cryptocurrency industry can advance their political careers, but it has proven to be a completely failed strategy. I hope this can change the political landscape in the future and make political suppression of cryptocurrencies no longer a viable political means.

Tarun: I would say the biggest losers this year are the many second-tier Layer 2 projects and application chains. At the beginning of 2023, the market generally believed that there would be thousands of L2 projects, and each L2 technology stack would spawn a large number of application chains for specific purposes. But reality has proved that this assumption is completely wrong. Just look at the continued turmoil in the Cosmos ecosystem. People used to think that successful applications like Blur could launch their own application chains or L2s, such as Blast, but the actual effect was not ideal. Instead, we see that users tend to focus on a few top L2 projects.

Haseeb: I think financial nihilism is the biggest loser this year. In the first half of this year, the view that everything in cryptocurrency is a meme coin and all technology is meaningless was once prevalent. But the reality is that the proportion of meme coin trading volume in total trading volume has dropped sharply from 20-30% in the early days to 10% or even lower now. The market has shown more enthusiasm and confidence in real technological innovation and substantive progress. If you think all technology is worthless, then you are indeed a big loser this year.

Tom: