TOKEN2049 Dubai: Stablecoins Emerge as Critical Infrastructure, Crypto Industry Shifts From Speculation to Practical Applications

This report, written by Tiger Research , provides an in-depth analysis of the key trends from the TOKEN2049 Dubai Conference, revealing that stablecoins are emerging as critical infrastructure

This report, written by Tiger Research , provides an in-depth analysis of the key trends from the TOKEN2049 Dubai Conference.

According to the research report , TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 once again consolidated its position as the world's top crypto industry event, attracting more than 15,000 participants from more than 160 countries . The two-day conference covered a series of high-level speeches and discussions, reflecting the evolution of market dynamics and the rise of emerging trends.

As an important forum in the industry, TOKEN2049 is regarded as a barometer of the future direction and narrative shift of the Web3 market. This report systematically reviews the main contents of TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025, categorizes and deeply analyzes some important announcements according to core themes, and captures the changes in the overall priorities of the ecosystem, providing strategic insights to help interpret the future potential direction of the industry.

2. Emerging trends: What does the agenda reveal?

TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025 covers a wide range of blockchain topics, fully demonstrating the evolution of industry priorities. Infrastructure-related topics account for the largest proportion (15.7%), followed by AI (11%) . Although the initial enthusiasm around AI agents has cooled, the continued integration efforts of AI and blockchain show that this topic is still structurally important.

It is worth noting that the combined proportion of stablecoins (8.7%) and real assets (RWA, 5.5%) has exceeded AI . This reflects the market's growing interest in blockchain applications with direct practicality. In particular, stablecoins have attracted much attention due to their actual value in payment and settlement, while RWA has become a leading category of next-generation blockchain applications.

In this year's DeFi discussion, the industry's perspective is more mature than in previous years. Instead of focusing on replacing traditional finance, the focus of the discussion has shifted to how decentralized systems can complement existing institutions. This is also consistent with the industry's overall trend towards regulatory involvement and institutional adoption.

One notable change is the growing attention paid to the Solana ecosystem . Despite suffering a major blow during the FTX debacle, the Solana ecosystem has successfully rebounded and is now even more popular on the scene and in technical discussions than Ethereum. This shift in ecosystem dynamics is worth paying close attention to and has the potential to be an inflection point in the Layer 1 blockchain landscape.

Overall, the main stage of the conference showed a more down-to-earth and pragmatic way of thinking . Although eye-catching elements such as meme coins and celebrity appearances still exist, they are only secondary. The core discussions revolve around long-term growth drivers, including regulation, financial integration, infrastructure construction and artificial intelligence.

3. Deep changes beyond the spotlight

As in previous years, the most meaningful developments often occurred off the stage. Side events and closed-door meetings revealed deeper industry dynamics, strategic reshaping, and fundamental shifts in direction—factors that often had a profound impact on the market long before the public narrative.

3.1 Stablecoins have become infrastructure

Stablecoins have now been established as the core infrastructure of the digital economy and are seen as a key opportunity in the Web3 space. There is a growing view that stablecoin transactions will expand from on-chain activities to the real economy, potentially forming a trillion-dollar market. This prospect has attracted more and more participants to enter the stablecoin space.

As this view solidifies, the industry's focus has shifted from simple integration to control of the payment layer. The goal is not just to stop at the issuance stage, but to extend to building end-to-end financial infrastructure. Web3 projects and institutions are stepping up their efforts to take a leading position in the stablecoin technology stack.

Although still in its early stages, this shift has already driven ecosystems such as Solana, Tron, and TON to accelerate their efforts to establish themselves as foundational settlement platforms. Their strategies are not limited to the issuance of stablecoins, but also cover wallet development, payment infrastructure construction, and institutional adoption.

3.2 AI in Crypto: Exciting but Still Experimental

A general tone of caution prevailed in the discussion on AI . Many participants pointed out that the gap between market enthusiasm and the maturity of current technological development is widening. In particular, some AI agent projects have been criticized for lacking clear use cases, further deepening the perception that much of the activity in the field is still speculative.

Despite these concerns, there is long-term confidence in the potential role of Web3 in the AI market. Concepts such as decentralized AI computing and open-source agent frameworks are seen as areas with real potential. These are seen as long-term opportunities rather than short-term trends and are expected to gradually gain traction after the current market noise subsides.

While AI continues to attract widespread attention, most attendees agreed that the field should be