The crypto market enters the mainstream in 2024, PARTY AWARD 2025 announces 22 authoritative awards.

In 2024, the crypto market reached an important milestone. Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs were approved for listing, successfully opening the door to traditional finance. Bitcoin completed a new halving, leading to a significant price increase. Mainstream media's attention to the encryption industry has markedly increased, with encryption practitioners playing a key role in the U.S. elections. The liquidity of stablecoins continues to grow, and on-chain activities are becoming increasingly active. Phenomenal meme coins have rapidly risen, and the MEME super cycle has fully erupted. The combination of AI and encryption has become a new hotspot, with intelligent trading agents becoming the new standard. All signs indicate that 2024 is a landmark year for the crypto market to truly go mainstream, laying a solid foundation for a new cycle.

Against this backdrop, the PARTY AWARD 2025 unfolds under the theme "Becoming Mainstream", aiming to discover and honor Web3 projects, teams, and individuals dedicated to bringing the industry into the mainstream spotlight. After more than a month of registration, voting, and professional evaluation, the fifth annual selection event has officially concluded, with 141 projects/companies and 10 individuals standing out to receive 22 authoritative annual awards.

The robust development of the encryption ecosystem is inseparable from strong technological driving forces, unique market insights, and keen judgment. These factors not only drive industry innovation but also bring significant economic benefits and social impact. Considering multiple dimensions such as technological innovation, ecological development, market influence, and community building, three Annual Outstanding Contribution Awards are ultimately selected: Bitcoin, Base, and Solana.

From innovative technological mechanisms to brand new economic models, as well as new business models, investment methods, and asset issuance forms, these innovative paradigms not only enhance the efficiency and intelligence of the trading environment, achieve asset diversification and value growth, but also provide market participants with richer asset allocation choices. The crypto market is also opening up a new growth cycle in the process of continuously expanding depth and liquidity. A total of 10 annual innovation awards were selected this time: ai16z, Ethena, Fractal Bitcoin, GMGNAi, GOAT, Hyperliquid, Mind Network, Polymarket, Pump.fun, and Virtuals Protocol.

The combination of innovative technologies and new business models often leads to disruptive innovations and drives profound changes in the industry. This integration not only enhances the efficiency of technological applications but also brings new operational methods and broader development space to the market. The annual application list covers seven major categories of awards, including Best DeFi, Best Web3 Game, Best Web3 Social, Best RWA, Best DePIN, Best AI+Web3 Integration, and Most Popular NFT, with a total of 45 annual applications selected.

The best DeFi projects of the year include: Aave, Ethena, Hyperliquid, Jito, Jupiter, Pendle, Raydium, Sky, THENA, and Uniswap.

The best Web3 games of the year include: Big Time, Blocklords, Illuvium, Off the Grid, and Shrapnel.

The best Web3 social projects of the year include: Farcaster, Lens Protocol, Mask Network, Telegram, and UXLINK.

The best RWA projects of the year include: MANTRA, Ondo Finance, Plume Network, Propy, and Usual.

The best DePIN projects of the year include: DBunker, Grass, io.net, Privasea, and Pundi X.

The best annual AI + Web3 integration projects include: ai16z, DIN, Virtuals Protocol, MEET48, and Pundi AI.

The most popular NFTs of the year include: Azuki, Bitcoin Puppets, Doodles, Milady Maker, and Pudgy Penguins.

As the crypto market moves towards a large-scale application era, distinctive infrastructures undoubtedly become the core engine driving growth and also represent a highly potential long-term narrative in the encryption field. Especially the continuous iteration and upgrading of various infrastructures can effectively release more liquidity and inject new vitality into the entire market. This selection has identified 20 annual best infrastructures.

The best L1 of the year includes: BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Sui, and Tron.

The best L2s of the year include: Arbitrum, Base, Mint Blockchain, Optimism, and zkSync.

The best tools of the year include: BlockPI, CoinGlass, CryptoHunt, DeGame, GMGNAi, Kaito AI, Masbate, a well-known wallet, RootData, and ZAN CLOUD.

As the encryption field gradually enters the application era, especially against the backdrop of increasingly mature technology and continuously improving infrastructure, those encryption projects with development potential often break through the liquidity barriers outside the circle, becoming key factors in driving large-scale adoption, thus accelerating the mainstream process of the crypto market. This selection has identified 25 of the most promising projects in the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and TON ecosystems.

The most promising projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem include: Babylon, Bitlayer, Fractal Bitcoin, Merlin Chain, and Nervos.

The most promising projects in the Ethereum ecosystem include: Arbitrum, EigenLayer, Ethena, Farcaster, Polymarket, Pudgy Penguins, Sky, a certain DEX, Wormhole, and zkSync.

The most promising projects in the Ton ecosystem include: Catizen, DOGS, Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, and Tomo Wallet.

The most promising projects in the Solana ecosystem include: Jupiter, Meteora, Pump.fun, Pyth Network, and Raydium.

MEME is the forefront of the collision between culture and capital. As a new representative of the attention economy, MEME coin has become one of the most popular and fastest-growing crypto narratives of 2024, thanks to its strong dissemination power, deep cultural heritage, and loyal community support. At the same time, as a barometer of on-chain liquidity, MEME coin can accurately reflect market dynamics and emotional fluctuations. This selection has identified 10 annual most popular MEMEs: AIXBT, BOME, CHILLGUY, DOGE, GOAT, MOODENG, Neiro, PEPE, PNUT, and PUPS.

KOLs are not only disseminators of information but also leaders of trends and promoters of innovation. In the rapidly changing era of encryption, they always stand at the forefront of industry development with their outstanding professionalism, unique vision, and precise insights. This selection has identified 10 of the most influential KOLs of the year: Ansem, Biteye, dingaling, LaserCat397.eth, Murad, Phyrex, 0xSun, 0xWizard, ShaPoLang WolfyXBT, and YuJin.

Conference marketing is not only a powerful tool for brand communication but also a melting pot for ideas, containing profound value information and cutting-edge industry insights. In the Web3 domain, the holding of conferences not only accelerates the popularization of the crypto world, helping more users outside the circle understand this emerging field, but also inspires industry builders to continuously explore and be bold in innovation, promoting the forward development of the entire industry. After multiple screenings, this selection finally identified 5 of the most influential Web3 conferences of the year: Bitcoin2024, BREAK POINT 2024, Devcon 2024, Hong Kong Web3 Festival, and TOKEN 2049.

Outstanding investment institutions typically possess profound market insights, unique strategic vision, exceptional decision-making abilities, outstanding resource integration capabilities, and robust risk control skills, enabling them to accurately grasp the pulse of the era in a rapidly changing market. They are not only providers of capital but also builders of the industry's future, capable of driving innovation and transformation in complex and variable environments. This year's selection has identified 10 annual best investment institutions: a16z, Alliance, a well-known exchange lab, Dragonfly, Hack VC, HTX Ventures, a well-known exchange venture capital, Pantera Capital, Paradigm, and SevenX Ventures.

Crypto exchanges are the core hub of the encryption ecosystem, profoundly affecting the liquidity and stability of the entire crypto market. They are not only important platforms for users to conduct transactions and manage assets, but also key forces driving innovation and development in the industry. Diversification