Pantera Capital Predicts Bitcoin-Native Finance and NFTs Will Drive Innovation in 2025

Californian venture capital giant Pantera Capital is expecting Bitcoin-native finance and NFTs to drive innovation in 2025, as real-world assets expand and fintech platforms embrace crypto.

With President-elect Trump hinting at pro-crypto policies, the industry is gearing up for a game-changing year packed with new ideas. Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital, has shared his take on what’s next for crypto in 2025 in an email newsletter shared with crypto.news.

Pulling insights from the Pantera team, he’s spotlighted eight key trends — some already gaining traction, others just starting to emerge. Here’s a simple glimpse of what might take off this year.

Real-world assets are surging on-chain

RWAs like private credit, T-bills, and commodities are gaining traction. In 2024, RWAs grew over 60%, reaching $13.7 billion in value. Veradittakit predicts RWAs will make up 30% of the on-chain total value locked in 2025, up from 15% as of January.

“There are specialized companies that manage wallets, minting mechanisms, Sybil sensing, crypto neo-banks, and more, meaning it may finally be possible and feasible to introduce stocks, ETFs, bonds, and other more complex financial products on-chain.”

Paul Veradittakit

Private credit is leading the charge, with platforms like Figure adding $4 billion in assets last year. T-bills, too, are increasingly attractive since they generate yield. According to Veradittakit, there’s also potential for more complex financial products like stocks and bonds to join the on-chain space.

Bitcoin-Fi finds momentum

Bitcoin (BTC) has long held its ground as a layer-1 core network, standing apart from competitors like Ethereum, which moved toward decentralizing its architecture with layer-2 solutions to address scalability issues. But 2025 could mark a shift, with protocols like Babylon potentially driving 1% of all BTC into “Bitcoin-Fi,” Veradittakit says.

“This year, pushed by Bitcoin-native finance protocols that do not require bridging (like Babylon), high returns, high bitcoin prices, and increased appetite for more BTC assets (runes, Ordinals, BRC20), 1% of Bitcoins will participate in Bitcoin-Fi,” Veradittakit notes.

Gateways

Apps like PayPal, Venmo, WhatsApp, and TON — the latter of which is financially supported by Pantera Capital — are quickly becoming key entry points for crypto users, according to Veradittakit. He points out that these platforms make it easier for users to access crypto without locking them into specific protocols.

For instance, WhatsApp users can now send money via stablecoins, thanks to services like Felix, while Venmo has integrated crypto purchases through MetaMask. Veradittakit suggests that given current trends, fintech could soon rival smaller crypto exchanges in the near future:

“Whether intentionally or because of their ability to support third-party apps, every fintech will become a crypto gateway. Fintechs will grow in prevalence and may perhaps rival smaller centralized exchanges in crypto holdings.”

Paul Veradittakit

Unichain to lead l2 transactions

Uniswap‘s influence in the layer-2 ecosystem could make its upcoming network, Unichain, the leader by transaction volume.

The platform currently accounts for a significant share of activity on existing l2s like Arbitrum — also backed by Pantera Capital — and Base. Veradittakit suggests that if Unichain manages to capture “just half of Uniswap’s volume, it would easily surpass the largest l2s to become the leading l2 by transaction volume.”

NFTs will make a comeback

Non-fungible tokens are evolving beyond collectables. Per Veradittakit, they’re now being used in gaming, artificial intelligence, identity verification, and consumer apps. Examples include Blackbird’s restaurant rewards app and Sofamon’s web3 bitmojis.

Veradittakit notes that NFTs can be used not just as ID transactions, transfers, ownership, and memberships but can also be used to represent and value assets, leading to monetary, possibly speculative growth. “This flexibility is what brings NFTs power,” he added.

Restaking protocols to debut mainnets

Restaking protocols like EigenLayer and Karak are set to launch their mainnets in 2025, potentially expanding the value and use cases of staking across multiple networks.

Restaking allows investors to earn from additional networks, creating value as protocols continue to evolve. Veradittakit admits that while attention on restaking has waned recently, the industry still remains “a multi-billion dollar market.”

Bringing web2 data on blockchain

A new cryptographic approach is emerging that allows websites to validate and share their data on-chain,