Mainstream cryptocurrencies like ETH are still being traded, but the real opportunities have long shifted elsewhere. Recently, I studied the flow changes in crypto financing for 2025 and found two major tracks that are quite interesting.

**The Once-Favored Projects Gradually Cooling Down**

The combination of AI and Web3 was once a hot topic, but recent three-month financing data tell the story—only two AI projects have raised over $10 million, totaling less than $23 million. In comparison, a single payment company's $25 million funding stands out clearly. Over the course of a year, from widespread buzz to almost no attention, the heat of this track has indeed faded.

**Prediction Markets: The Dark Horse That Suddenly Surged**

The truly lucrative and explosive track is prediction markets. Companies like Polymarket and Kalshi have attracted over $3.15 billion in investments!

Let's start with Polymarket—during the 2024 US elections, its trading volume exceeded $33 billion, with prediction accuracy far surpassing traditional polls. This year, it secured a massive $2 billion investment, pushing its valuation directly into the $9 billion range.

Kalshi is equally aggressive, raising $1 billion in Series E and $300 million in Series D, with top-tier firms like Sequoia, a16z, and Paradigm all involved.

**The "Super Cycle" of Payments and Stablecoins Begins**

Where has the financing enthusiasm shifted from public chains? Payments and banking sectors have become the new money magnets.

The total financing scale in this track has approached $1.3 billion, covering everything from underlying infrastructure to end-user applications. More importantly, stablecoins are experiencing an explosion—circulating supply surged by $300 billion this year, and monthly trading volume has broken the $1 trillion mark. To put it plainly: this scale is now comparable to Visa.

Ripple Labs and Rapyd each raised $500 million, maintaining their leading positions. Global digital banks are also jumping in, with Singapore's Pave Bank, France's Deblock, and others receiving over $20 million in investments.

Looking back at 2019, VC investments in the entire stablecoin track were less than $50 million. Now, a single project's funding is ten times that amount, marking a market shift at an unprecedented speed.

Based on this trajectory, where will the next hotspot emerge? It’s worth continuous observation.