Top 5 DeFi Crypto That Could RALLY in 2025: Insider Picks
🎯 Summary
Comprehensive Summary: Top 5 DeFi Crypto That Could RALLY in 2025: Insider Picks
This Coin Bureau podcast episode focuses on identifying and analyzing the top five Decentralized Finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency projects that the host believes are poised for significant rallies by 2025, catalyzed by evolving regulatory clarity and ongoing technological advancements within the sector.
1. Focus Area
The primary focus is DeFi Cryptocurrencies, specifically examining the underlying technology, recent developments, governance structures, and potential price targets for five leading protocols across the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.
2. Key Technical Insights
- Automated Market Makers (AMMs) Evolution: UniSwap’s progression from V1 (ETH/ERC20) to V3 (Concentrated Liquidity) and the recent V4 highlights the drive for capital efficiency in DEXs.
- Unified Liquidity Pools: Aave V4 is set to introduce a unified liquidity pool structure to enhance capital efficiency and flexibility for users managing assets.
- Liquid Staking & MEV Capture: Jito on Solana combines liquid staking (JitoSOL) with sophisticated Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) capture tools, balancing profits among validators and operators while improving price discovery.
3. Market/Investment Angle
- Regulatory Tailwinds: The discussion opens with news of potential SEC policy exemptions for DeFi protocols, suggesting a more favorable regulatory environment could unlock significant institutional capital and drive token rallies.
- Conservative vs. Aggressive Targets: For each pick, the host provides both a conservative target (retesting previous cycle highs) and an aggressive target (based on sustained ecosystem growth and market dominance), offering a range of potential upside (e.g., UNI potentially reaching $100).
- TVL Growth Validation: Aave’s Total Value Locked (TVL) growth was noted as being driven by new user deposits rather than just asset price appreciation, signaling genuine protocol adoption.
4. Notable Companies/People
- UniSwap (UNI): Founded by Hayden Adams, inspired by Vitalik Buterin’s AMM concept. Key developments include the launch of UniChain (L2) and the revival of the fee switch proposal.
- Aave (AAVE): Founded by Stani Kulechov. Known for pioneering features like flash loans and maintaining high TVL, currently preparing for Aave V4 and deeper integration of its stablecoin, GHO.
- Maker (MKR/USDS): Founded by Rune Christensen. Currently executing a major five-phase overhaul to decentralize into independent “Stars” (subDAOs) and transitioning its stablecoin from DAI to USDS.
- Jito (JTO): A key Solana protocol co-founded by Lucas Bruder and Yitaek Hwang, leading in liquid staking and MEV solutions on SOL.
- Raydium (RAY): A Solana AMM DEX that has transitioned away from sharing liquidity with the defunct Serum/OpenBook ecosystem, relying solely on its own Hybrid AMM V4.
5. Regulatory/Policy Discussion
The episode is framed by the report that SEC Chairman Paul Atkins is working on policies to exempt certain DeFi protocols from existing regulatory barriers. This potential regulatory clarity is presented as a major catalyst for the projected 2025 rallies. Furthermore, the discussion notes that the imminent passing of stablecoin regulations could bring Maker’s USDS (formerly DAI) into greater focus for mainstream investors.
6. Future Implications
The conversation suggests a future where DeFi protocols become more sophisticated, capital-efficient, and potentially more integrated with traditional finance structures (as hinted by regulatory movement). The trend is toward decentralization via modularity (Maker’s Stars/subDAOs) and ecosystem specialization (Jito focusing on MEV infrastructure on Solana). The success of these five projects hinges on Ethereum maintaining dominance and Solana continuing its rapid DeFi expansion.
7. Target Audience
This content is highly valuable for experienced cryptocurrency investors and DeFi professionals who understand core concepts like AMMs, TVL, governance tokens, and MEV, and are looking for actionable, long-term investment theses within the DeFi sector.
Detailed Narrative Arc and Key Themes
The podcast establishes its premise by citing positive regulatory signals concerning DeFi, suggesting that the sector is moving past its most uncertain phase. The host, Nick, then introduces five carefully selected DeFi tokens positioned for substantial growth by 2025.
The analysis for each token follows a consistent structure: historical context, core technical innovation (e.g., UniSwap’s AMM mechanism, Aave’s flash loans), recent major upgrades (V4s, L2s, rebrands), and detailed price speculation based on previous all-time highs and potential market cap expansion.
UniSwap (UNI) is highlighted as the dominant DEX, whose potential rally is tied to the success of its new Layer 2, UniChain, and the activation of the fee switch benefiting token holders. Aave is presented as the leader in decentralized lending, whose upcoming V4 promises significant capital efficiency gains. MakerDAO’s narrative centers on its ambitious five-phase overhaul, aiming for extreme decentralization through subDAOs (“Stars”) and the transition to the USDS stablecoin, which could benefit from anticipated stablecoin regulation.
The focus then shifts to the Solana ecosystem. Jito (JTO) is praised for its first-mover advantage in combining liquid staking with transparent MEV capture tools, positioning it as a critical infrastructure layer. Finally, Raydium (RAY),
🏢 Companies Mentioned
đź’¬ Key Insights
"That's because AMM V4 once shared liquidity with a DEX called Serum, which became defunct following the collapse of FTX, and then switched to sharing liquidity with a community-led fork of Serum called OpenBook..."
"The long-term plan is to create a unified MEV ecosystem on SOL that is transparent, auditable, and accessible to all stakeholders, moving away from a zero-sum competitive environment toward one that fosters growth through collaboration."
"Going forward, Jito's CEO has said that the project is actively open-sourcing its core infrastructure in order to increase transparency and foster community participation."
"The other core part of Jito's architecture is its maximal extractable value, or MEV, tools. Basically, Jito uses special bots that will target and act on arbitrage opportunities to take additional profits, and these profits are then split between validators, bot operators, and other participants."
"The reason for the rebrand was to illustrate Maker's endgame, which is to further decentralize the Maker protocol into independent subDAOs, which are now called Stars, each with their own governance token but utilizing Maker's framework."
"By May this year, Aave reached more than $40 billion in total value locked, the highest ever for any DeFi protocol. Notably, this growth came from new user deposits and not just from asset price increase, which often drives most of TVL growth."