Web3 Venture Capital Sees 18% Q4 2024 Boost From Stablecoins

Laura K. Inamedinova, Chief Ecosystem Officer at Gate.io, shared her insights on the future of Web3 venture capital during the Next Block Expo. She highlighted the factors driving a potential resurgence in Web3 venture capital activity in 2025, including clearer regulations and global capital inflows. Inamedinova noted that the US has dropped major regulations and established a $17 billion crypto reserve, which has already brought results with $861 million in crypto VC deals in Q1 2025. Global capital, particularly from the UAE, is also positioning the region as a new hotspot for Web3 investment.

Inamedinova emphasized that institutional involvement and regulatory advancements are shaping investment strategies. Retail investors have been chasing hype-driven meme coins, while institutions are focusing on stablecoins and tokenized assets. Regulatory clarity, such as MiCA in Europe and new US frameworks, is making yield-bearing stablecoins and risk-adjusted real-world assets (RWAs) more attractive. This shift is reinforcing the trend towards institutional investment in RWA tokenization platforms and stablecoin ecosystems.

Consumer-oriented solutions in Web3 are expected to maintain momentum into 2025. Most projects have been heavily B2B-focused, catering to existing industry players rather than expanding the ecosystem by attracting a fresh audience from Web2. This inward-facing approach has limited mainstream adoption. Projects that shift their focus to consumer-oriented solutions, designing products and experiences that resonate with everyday users, will likely catalyze the beginning of the bull market.

Inamedinova also highlighted the potential in AI, RWA, and payment solutions. AI is expected to transform from an external tool into a fundamental layer of Web3, unlocking new use cases in automated security, AI-driven trading, and on-chain decision-making. RWA tokenization will continue to gain momentum, especially with the integration of AI-powered RWAs. Major institutions are already exploring AI-driven tokenized bonds and money market funds, aligning traditional finance with blockchain.

Stablecoins are seeing increased adoption for cross-border transactions, remittances, and on-chain settlements. Regulatory clarity and improved user experience will accelerate this trend, making stablecoins a core component for the future of global finance. Inamedinova noted that stablecoin projects pulled in $649 million across nine deals in Q4 2024, nearly 18% of all crypto VC funding. Traditional finance players like Fidelity are also testing their own stablecoins, indicating strong signals from traditional finance.

Innovations in DeFi and infrastructure are also expected to drive potential funding in 2025. Projects that merge automation with usability and compliance, such as DeFi Agents AI, are gaining traction. Tools like Griffain and VaderAI are reducing impermanent loss and running on-chain transactions, respectively. Infrastructure projects like CoreWeave, backed by Nvidia and Microsoft, are scaling AI-optimized data centers to support DeFi layers.

Inamedinova attributed the recent shift away from meme coins and AI agents to a growing maturity in the Web3 market. Meme coins lack real utility, making them unsustainable in the long run. AI agents are still in their infancy, suffering from technical limitations and bugs. Investors are becoming more discerning, prioritizing projects with tangible value, strong fundamentals, and real-world applications. This shift suggests a move towards more sustainable narratives, such as payments, RWA tokenization, and infrastructure, signaling that Web3 is evolving beyond hype-driven trends into a phase of real adoption and long-term growth.

Inamedinova outlined the criteria for evaluating projects, including experienced founders, existing investor backing, strong valuation, tokenomics, and burn rate. She also emphasized the importance of real-world adoption and solutions with a clear path to mainstream success.

Inamedinova concluded by noting that the rise of AI agent coins, which hit a $16.6 billion market cap early in 2025, shows that combining a viral narrative with actual user engagement has staying power. Projects like Centrifuge, which tokenizes real-world assets to unlock liquidity for businesses, are solving real inefficiencies in traditional finance using on-chain rails. Early-stage modular blockchain ecosystems are also building quietly but with clear scalability goals.