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The Next Big Boom?
Mirroring DeFi's Path
Archie Royce
April 04, 2025
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AI Market Heats Up 🔥
Oh look, another market dip. How original. But before you go rage-quitting crypto forever (again), let’s talk about AI agents. You know, the latest and greatest technological marvel that will either make you filthy rich or leave you holding digital garbage. Exciting, right?
Now, if you’ve been around the crypto block, you know every bull run has its star player. Last time, it was DeFi—an industry so revolutionary that it convinced people to take out loans against cartoon monkey pictures. And guess what? AI agents appear to be following the exact same meteoric trajectory. But let’s break it down.
Reason 1 ✋
History repeats itself, and in crypto, it repeats itself faster than a trader refreshing Coin Market Cap. In the last cycle, DeFi went from “What the hell is yield farming?” to “Oh my god, where did all my money go?” in record time. There are similarities but there are also different market factors in play.
Consider the similarities:
Hype-Driven Speculation – Crypto loves a good bandwagon, and AI agents are the hottest new ride. Investors are pouring money in like they’ve never been rug-pulled before.
The Novelty Effect – If it sounds futuristic, people throw cash at it. DeFi had its turn, NFTs had their brief moment of glory, and now AI agents are the shiny new toy everyone wants to play with.
Sure, AI agent valuations just took a hit. But if DeFi’s history is any clue, that’s just the market catching its breath before the next reckless moonshot. Buckle up.
Reason 2 ⚡️
You know what really fuels a tech boom? When it stops being stupidly expensive to use. Enter Deepseek-R1, the latest AI breakthrough that’s making traditional AI models look like overpriced paperweights.
Why does it matter?
23x cheaper than existing AI solutions. Yes, twenty-three. Crypto traders don’t even count that high.
2.4x faster at solving complex tasks like math, logic, and probably convincing your boss to replace you with an AI chatbot.
It’s open-source – Meaning anyone can use it, modify it, and slap a half-baked token on it to launch yet another AI crypto project.
With AI tech getting cheaper and more accessible, expect a flood of new blockchain-based AI projects to pop up overnight—some groundbreaking, most ridiculous. You’ve been warned.
The Takeaway 📣
AI agents are riding the same wave that made DeFi explode. Infrastructure costs are plummeting, developers are flocking in, and investors are getting that all-too-familiar FOMO itch. But let’s be real: not every AI project is going to the moon.
Smart money will go to the projects that actually do something useful—not just the ones with cool whitepapers and vague promises. The projects that thrive will be the ones with real innovation and strong use cases.
For those who position themselves wisely, the rewards could be huge.
Crypto’s Two Worlds 🌎️
Crypto is like the ocean. Not in a poetic, waves-crashing, sun-setting kind of way—more like an unforgiving, unpredictable, hope-destroying force of nature. You’re either clinging to a fishing boat made of duct tape and sheer optimism, or you’re sprawled out on the deck of a luxury yacht, sipping a cocktail while your portfolio magically inflates.
On one side, you have the altcoin founders—scrappy, exhausted, and constantly bailing water out of their sinking dreams. On the other, you have Wall Street’s finest—hedge fund managers who just discovered Bitcoin last week and are already getting invited to exclusive crypto summits.
Same market, same ocean—completely different experiences.
Opposite Perspectives 📂
For the little guys, every market dip feels like a full-blown financial hurricane. But for the luxury yacht crowd? It’s a gentle ripple—a slight inconvenience in between rounds of golf.
A U.S. congressman recently summed it up perfectly at a crypto event: Last year, crypto execs were prepping for lawsuits and jail time. This year, they’re being welcomed into the White House with gift baskets and photo ops.
That’s how fast things change. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that when sentiment shifts, money follows.Chaos? What Chaos? 🚦
To small investors and startup founders, crypto’s ups and downs feel like pure, unrelenting chaos. The kind where one minute you’re a genius, and the next you’re Googling “is it illegal to live in my car?”
But institutions? They don’t see chaos. They see a clearance sale.
Every terrifying dip? A golden opportunity. Every panic-fueled sell-off? A strategic buy-in. Because while retail investors are stress-refreshing charts at 3 AM, hedge funds are quietly scooping up discounted assets like it’s Black Friday.So, What’s the Move? 📈
If you find yourself checking crypto prices every 15 minutes and having minor heart attacks over every dip, take a breath. Zoom out. The tide doesn’t rise in a straight line, but it is rising.
The smart money isn’t running scared. They’re loading up.
COIN SPOTLIGHT 🔍️
DEXs Poised for Growth 📊
Decentralized exchanges (DEXes) are the financial equivalent of farmer’s markets—cutting out the middlemen, offering direct peer-to-peer transactions, and generally existing in defiance of the traditional financial system.
Some of them are also wildly undervalued, at least according to the fee-to-market-cap (fee/Mcap) ratio—a metric that attempts to separate promising platforms from the blockchain equivalent of abandoned strip malls.
Now, does a low fee/Mcap ratio mean these projects are guaranteed to moon? No. But does it suggest they might be trading below their real potential? Maybe. And that “maybe” is what keeps degens and serious investors alike glued to their screens at 2 AM.
With that in mind, here are three DEXes that, on paper, look like solid plays for the next market cycle—but let’s not kid ourselves, this is crypto, so anything can happen.
PancakeSwap (CAKE)
PancakeSwap is basically the Costco of decentralized finance: it’s huge, offers ridiculous variety, and somehow still keeps prices low. Running on the BNB Chain, it provides an easy-to-use interface and cheap transactions, which, if you’ve ever paid Ethereum gas fees, you know is a rare and beautiful thing.
Pros:✔️ Lower transaction fees than Ethereum-based DEXes
✔️ A well-established platform with a large user base✔️ DeFi features galore—staking, farming, lotteries, NFTs…
Cons:❌ Built on BNB Chain, which means it’s at the mercy of Binance’s regulatory drama
❌ CAKE emissions remain high, making long-term value appreciation tricky
❌ Market sentiment towards BNB projects tends to swing wildly
If PancakeSwap were a stock, it’d be one of those solid, mid-cap companies that never quite gets the recognition it deserves—until suddenly, everyone realizes it’s been printing money the whole time.Orca (ORCA)
If PancakeSwap is Costco, Orca is Whole Foods—sleek, easy to navigate, and a little pricier than you’d expect. Built on the Solana blockchain, Orca offers fast, low-fee swaps, which sounds great—assuming Solana itself can avoid another "whoops, the network is down" moment.
Pros:
✔️ Lightning-fast transactions thanks to Solana’s high-speed architecture
✔️ User-friendly design that doesn’t require a PhD in blockchain to navigate
✔️ Strong integrations with Solana’s DeFi ecosystem|
Cons:❌ Solana has had some (read: a lot of) technical hiccups in the past
❌ ORCA’s tokenomics aren’t as well-known as some competitors
❌ Trading volume and adoption still lag behind bigger players
If Solana holds up and continues gaining momentum, Orca could benefit significantly. If not, well… it wouldn’t be the first time a promising DEX got buried under the weight of its blockchain’s problems.Cetus AMM (CETUS)
Cetus operates on Sui and Aptos, two newer blockchains that claim to offer high scalability, low fees, and next-gen liquidity solutions—phrases that sound impressive but usually mean, "We’re hoping enough people use this so we can prove it actually works."
Pros
✔️ Concentrated liquidity model allows for capital-efficient trading
✔️ Operates on Sui and Aptos, which could offer a competitive edge if these chains gain traction
✔️ Innovative approach to liquidity provisioning
Cons:
❌ Sui and Aptos are still relatively untested at scale
❌ Adoption isn’t anywhere near that of Ethereum or BNB Chain
❌ Trading volume is still low—potential upside, but also a huge risk
Cetus is either ahead of its time or just early to a party that never actually happens. If Sui and Aptos grow into major DeFi ecosystems, CETUS holders might be in for a pleasant surprise. If not, well… enjoy your low-volume trading experience.
Set to Soar? 🚀
It’s tempting to look at undervalued DEXes and assume they’ll eventually “catch up” in price. But crypto doesn’t work like that—sometimes, tokens are cheap because they’re actually undervalued, and sometimes, they’re cheap because no one cares.
As always, do your own research, stay skeptical, and never assume that just because something looks like a great deal today, it won’t stay that way forever.
Oh, and if you want exclusive, actually useful insights on the latest crypto trends, Solid Right VIP is launching soon. Because who doesn’t love getting inside info before Twitter influencers start shilling it?
FINAL SPIN 📽️
NOTABLE QUOTES 📚️
“It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”
— Marcus Aurelius
GARAGE LOGIC ☕️
Bedlam, Pending 🌋
You understand, all these lawsuit shenanigans with select federal judges from Woke-crazed districts like Boston, San Francisco, Rhode Island, and the DC Beltway are aimed at provoking a second civil war. The objective is to burden Mr. Trump with so many restrictions on the executive that the country can’t be governed without declaring a national emergency.
READ THE FULL STORY.