The 2024 Crypto Market Moves Towards Mainstream: PANews Annual Selection Revealed

In 2024, the crypto market experienced multiple milestone events, marking the industry's formal entry into the mainstream spotlight. Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs were approved for listing, opening the doors to traditional finance; Bitcoin underwent a halving, leading to a significant price increase; mainstream media's attention on the crypto field markedly increased; the liquidity of stablecoins continued to grow, with on-chain activities heating up; phenomenon-level meme coins rapidly emerged; the integration of AI and encryption technology became a new hotspot. This series of developments laid the foundation for a new bull market cycle.

Against this backdrop, PANews held its fifth annual selection event with the theme "Becoming Mainstream". After more than a month of collection and review, 141 projects/companies and 10 individuals were finally selected, and 22 authoritative awards were presented.

Annual Outstanding Contribution Award

The selection criteria cover multiple dimensions including technological innovation, ecological development, market influence, and community building, ultimately awarding 3 Annual Outstanding Contribution Awards: Bitcoin, Base, and Solana.

Annual Innovation Award

From technical mechanisms to economic models, and then to business models, investment models, and asset issuance methods, these innovations have driven the optimization of the trading environment and asset diversification. The 10 annual innovation awards were awarded to: ai16z, Ethena, Fractal Bitcoin, GMGNAi, GOAT, Hyperliquid, Mind Network, Polymarket, Pump.fun, and Virtuals Protocol.

Annual Application Award

The Annual Application Awards cover 7 categories, with a total of 45 outstanding applications selected:

• Best DeFi of the Year: Aave, Ethena, Hyperliquid, Jito, Jupiter, Pendle, Raydium, Sky, THENA, and Uniswap
• Best Web3 Games of the Year: Big Time, Blocklords, Illuvium, Off the Grid, and Shrapnel
• Best Web3 Social of the Year: Farcaster, Lens Protocol, Mask Network, Telegram, and UXLINK
• Annual Best RWA: MANTRA, Ondo Finance, Plume Network, Propy, and Usual
• Best DePIN of the Year: DBunker, Grass, io.net, Privasea, and Pundi X
• Best AI + Web3 Integration of the Year: ai16z, DIN, Virtuals Protocol, MEET48, and Pundi AI
• Most Popular NFTs of the Year: Azuki, Bitcoin Puppets, Doodles, Milady Maker, and Pudgy Penguins

Best Infrastructure of the Year

The continuous upgrade of infrastructure is the core engine driving industry development. Here are the 20 best infrastructure projects of the year:

• Best L1 of the Year: BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Sui, and Tron
• Best L2 of the Year: Arbitrum, Base, Mint Blockchain, Optimism, and zkSync
• Best Tools of the Year: BlockPI, CoinGlass, CryptoHunt, DeGame, GMGNAi, Kaito AI, Masbate, OKX Wallet, RootData, and ZAN CLOUD

Most Promising Projects

Selected 25 of the most promising projects in the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and TON ecosystems:

• Bitcoin Ecosystem: Babylon, Bitlayer, Fractal Bitcoin, Merlin Chain and Nervos
• Ethereum ecosystem: Arbitrum, EigenLayer, Ethena, Farcaster, Polymarket, Pudgy Penguins, Sky, Uniswap, Wormhole, and zkSync
• TON Ecosystem: Catizen, DOGS, Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, and Tomo Wallet
• Solana Ecosystem: Jupiter, Meteora, Pump.fun, Pyth Network, and Raydium

Most Popular MEME of the Year

MEME coins, as a symbol of the attention economy, have become one of the hottest crypto narratives of 2024. The top 10 most popular MEME of the year are: AIXBT, BOME, CHILLGUY, DOGE, GOAT, MOODENG, Neiro, PEPE, PNUT, and PUPS.

Most Influential KOL of the Year

KOLs play an important role in leading industry trends and driving innovation. The 10 most influential KOLs of the year are: Ansem, Biteye, dingaling, LaserCat397.eth, Murad, Phyrex, 0xSun, 0xWizard, Sha Po Lang WolfyXBT, and Yu Jin.

Most Influential Web3 Conference of the Year

Web3 conferences play an important role in promoting industry development and knowledge dissemination. Here are the 5 most influential Web3 conferences of the year: Bitcoin2024, BREAK POINT 2024, Devcon 2024, Hong Kong Web3 Festival, and TOKEN 2049.

Best Investment Institutions of the Year

Outstanding investment institutions can drive industry innovation and transformation. The top 10 investment institutions of the year are: a16z, Alliance, a certain trading platform's laboratory fund, Dragonfly, Hack VC, HTX Ventures, a certain trading platform's venture capital, Pantera Capital, Paradigm, and SevenX Ventures.

Best Exchange of the Year

Exchanges are the core hub of the encryption ecosystem, significantly impacting market liquidity and stability. The top 8 exchanges of the year are: a certain trading platform, Bitget, Bybit, Gate, HashKey Exchange, HTX, another trading platform, and Upbit.

PANews Best Column

Select 10 of the best PANews columns: Arthur Hayes, NingNing, 0xGreythorn, Mint Ventures, On-Chain View, Biteye, Sleeping in the Rain, Yue Xiaoyu, WOO, and Vitalik Buterin. These columnists analyze industry dynamics from unique perspectives, providing readers with valuable insights.

2024 is a critical turning point in the encryption field, with multiple factors driving profound changes in the market structure. With the inclusion of Wall Street giants, Bitcoin halving, a clearer regulatory framework, and traditional institutions opening up to encryption asset allocation, cryptocurrencies are expected to gain broader recognition in the global financial system by 2025. This selection aims to showcase emerging trends and development potential in the industry, encouraging more innovators to participate in the long-term construction of the encryption ecosystem.