After the infrastructure matures, consumer applications become the new focus of the crypto market.

In recent years, the encryption industry has been focused on building underlying technological infrastructure, such as new public chains, scaling solutions, and development tools. However, as these infrastructures become increasingly refined, the industry's focus is shifting towards consumer-level applications aimed at ordinary users.

In this cycle, consumer application projects with actual revenue and product market fit have begun to attract market favor. For example, the perpetual contract platform Hyperliquid has an annual revenue of about $900 million, the meme coin issuance platform Pump.fun has an annual revenue of about $500 million, and the prediction market Polymarket has an annual trading volume of about $12 billion. In contrast, some highly valued infrastructure projects that lack users have performed poorly.

This transformation is mainly driven by the following factors:

1. Improvement of the policy environment. The new U.S. government has a friendly attitude towards encryption, and the regulatory framework for stablecoins has become clearer, bringing confidence to entrepreneurs and investors.

2. The technical infrastructure has become relatively mature. The marginal improvement effect is diminishing, and the market is more focused on how to convert technology into value that ordinary users can perceive.

3. Large-scale entry of Web2 users. These users are more focused on applications that can be used directly, rather than the underlying technical details.

4. The characteristics of attention economy are emerging. With the deep integration of Web3 and traditional internet, user acquisition and viral spread capabilities have become key.

In the coming years, the crypto market may see the following trends:

1. The rise of one-stop financial applications. Integrating functions such as deposits, withdrawals, investments, and trading to provide users with an experience similar to Robinhood.

2. Development of decentralized social entertainment platforms. Utilize on-chain mechanisms to optimize monetization models and user experience, reducing reliance on advertising.

3. The concept of superchains emerges. Activity concentrates on a few consumer-friendly public chains, such as Solana, Hyperliquid, etc.

4. The potential in the fields of AI and gaming is enormous, but it still requires time. AI applications need more secure infrastructure support, while gaming needs to break through the "wool party" dilemma.

For investment institutions, when evaluating consumer application projects, attention should be paid to:

1. Distribution capability and execution ability, rather than mere technological innovation.
2. User experience, speed, liquidity, and other practical effects of use.
3. Evaluate from a business rather than a protocol perspective: real revenue, scalable business model, industry dominance, etc.

Overall, in the next 5 years, consumer-level applications that can transform encryption technology into the daily experience of ordinary users are most likely to bring excess returns to investors.