The blockchain industry really needs innovation.

Original Title: The blockchain industry really needs innovation.

Original author: Rhythm BlockBeats

Original Source:

Reprint: Mars Finance

Author: likong

On October 29, 2025, NVIDIA became the first company in human history to have a market value exceeding $5 trillion. On the same day, a Dutch auction for a certain cryptocurrency project had just concluded, and the opening price fell below the issuance price, resulting in an average loss of 10% for participants.

This is the most authentic portrayal of 2025. On one side, NVIDIA has surged from 4 trillion to 5 trillion in three months, with a market capitalization exceeding the total of global cryptocurrencies; on the other side, the entire cryptocurrency industry is bleak, with Bitcoin at 120,000 USD being the only highlight, while altcoins have fallen below the levels seen after the FTX collapse three years ago, and trading volume has plummeted by 32% year-on-year.

A friend recently said, “This year, trading cryptocurrencies simply can't compare to my mom trading A-shares in terms of returns.” It sounds like a joke, but this is the most accurate depiction of the cryptocurrency scene in 2025. When A-shares see more than 440 stocks doubling their gains in the first three quarters, Hong Kong stocks average a 38% increase on the first day of IPOs, gold rises over 50%, and U.S. Meme stocks often double, people in the cryptocurrency world are getting beaten black and blue.

The whole world is rising.

2025 is a rare “auspicious year”. Almost all capital markets are rising.

The A-shares are experiencing a once-in-a-decade main upward trend. The stock of Senvion New Materials on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board has surged by 1278% from July 9 to October 24 due to its involvement in AI concepts, becoming the first stock in A-shares to reach a tenfold increase by 2025. In just 16 trading days, Senvion New Materials recorded 11 instances of a 20% limit-up, with its market value skyrocketing from 3 billion to 37.1 billion. Such wealth creation speed is extremely rare in the history of A-shares.

The performance of Hong Kong stocks is also impressive. The Hang Seng Index has risen nearly 29% this year, Alibaba's stock price has doubled, and Tencent has increased by over 50%.

What makes people even more envious is the Hong Kong IPO market. As of July, 52 companies have gone public in Hong Kong in 2025, with an initial day drop rate of only 23% and an average increase of approximately 38% on the first day of listing. Yingen Biotech saw a staggering increase of 116.7% on its first day, Yisou Technology rose by 91.72%, and Mao Ge Ping and Laopu Gold increased by 76.51% and 72.84%, respectively, on their first day. Some say “this year, making money from IPOs is equivalent to others speculating for half a year,” which is not an exaggeration at all.

The increase in gold prices is astonishing. The international gold price rose from 2,590 USD at the beginning of the year to 4,100 USD by the end of October, an increase of over 50%. This could become the year with the largest increase in gold prices since 1979. The S&P Global Gold Miners Index soared by 129%, and Zijin Mining's market value surpassed one trillion.

The US stock market goes without saying. Nvidia, Microsoft, and Meta have all reached historical highs. Even meme stocks can make retail investors money. OpenDoor rose 2000% in three months, and Beyond Meat increased by 1100% in just a few days. These companies, once abandoned by Wall Street, have rejuvenated under the enthusiasm of retail investors.

What about the crypto world?

Bitcoin has indeed set a historical high of 120,000 US dollars, but this figure means nothing to most people. Altcoins have fallen below the levels after the FTX collapse, new projects open at a loss, and meme studios are turning to IPOs in Hong Kong. In Q3 2025, trading volume has decreased by 32% year-on-year.

Is blockchain still a technology industry?

AI is a global theme, and the leader is undoubtedly Nvidia, with a market value of 5 trillion dollars. This figure exceeds the total of the global cryptocurrency market, surpasses the combined stock markets of the UK, France, and Germany, and approaches the total value of the Indian stock market.

Behind this number lies a real technological barrier and commercial value. The global training of large models relies on Nvidia's chips, with customers including OpenAI, Google, and Meta. Autonomous driving, robotics, and AI applications require computational power support at every stage. This is tangible income, a profit in real money. In the third quarter of 2025, Nvidia's revenue reached 35 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 94%, with a net profit margin exceeding 50%.

And what about the crypto space? The crypto space has dabbled in AI, but it has only been a dabble, the so-called Blockchain + AI, but currently, there isn't a single application that truly shows “this is impressive.” The AI tools used in the industry have little to do with Blockchain. Not to mention those fake projects that issue tokens under the banner of AI.

There are even supporting processes in place, such as how much money needs to be raised for valuation, then finding out who can go on which platform, followed by identifying who to raise the KOL round from, and finally determining where to exit, concluding the next one.

The blockchain industry should be part of the technology sector, and Bitcoin is the leader of the technology segment, but now it doesn't look like technology at all, it's all finance.

Looking back, each bull market has been driven by clear technological breakthroughs.

In 2017, the explosion of ICOs and smart contract platforms. Ethereum proved that Blockchain is not just currency, but can also host applications. Although most ICO projects eventually went to zero, this round did indeed promote the development of public chain infrastructure. The concept of smart contracts proposed by Vitalik Buterin allowed countless developers to see the possibilities of Blockchain.

The dual explosion of DeFi and NFTs occurred from 2020 to 2021. Uniswap redefined trading platforms with its automated market maker mechanism, Aave and Compound decentralized lending, and Curve optimized stablecoin trading. The total value locked in these protocols once exceeded $200 billion. NFTs provided a new expression for digital ownership, ranging from artworks to game assets, from domain names to identity verification. Both of these tracks are native innovations in the cryptocurrency space, addressing real problems.

In 2024, the market starts telling stories about AI, and we can still try to build some AI infrastructure, but only for a year.

In 2025, we will start accumulating points.

There are indeed many objective reasons that lead to the superficial issue of insufficient liquidity, but the essence is still a lack of innovation and an inflated market value.

From token financing to DeFi, it took the crypto world three years. Four years have passed since DeFi, but in these four years, there has been no native innovation in the crypto world that can match DeFi.

As traditional capital markets find new growth logic in AI, energy, and manufacturing, Blockchain remains trapped in a self-referential context. Nvidia is developing the next generation of chips, Tesla is advancing autonomous driving, and OpenAI is training more powerful models. Blockchain is just accumulating points.

This is the biggest sadness in the blockchain of 2025.