A16z Predict AI Agents, DUNAs, and Tokenization Will Drive Crypto Innovation In 2025

Staffers at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the heavyweight crypto VC firm, believe AI will continue to make waves across the crypto ecosystem in 2025.

AI received significant attention in a Dec. 4 blog post outlining narratives that a16z believes will be at the forefront in web3.

Carra Wu, a partner on a16z’s crypto investment team, believes AI agents will soon be able to custody their own crypto wallets, enabling them to sign keys and autonomously participate in the crypto markets.

“[AI agents] are still unable to participate in markets — exchange value, reveal preferences, coordinate resources — in a verifiably autonomous way,” Wu said.

Wu predicted that we could soon see AIs operating or verifying nodes in the context of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), participating in web3 gaming players, and even operating their own blockchain networks.

A16z’s Dan Boneh, Karma, Daejun Park, and Daren Matsuoka add that AI agents could take the form of decentralized autonomous chatbots (DACs). They posit that DACs could generate content and build a following on decentralized social media and begin generating revenue, opening the door to DACs also managing their assets in crypto.

With AI agents likely to proliferate in 2025, Eddy Lazzarin, the chief technology officer for a16z crypto, calls for greater research into protocols privately verifying proof-of-personhood for human users.

Lazzarin notes that AI reduces the costs associated with generating fake or deceptive content, making it imperative that internet users are able to verify when they are interacting with human beings.

“Now, more than ever, we need methods to digitally link content to people, privately,” Lazzarin said. “The property of privacy-preserving “uniqueness” is the next big idea in building a web we can trust.”

AI agent drama

Many of the themes touched on by a16z were recently brought to the forefront of web3 discourse by the interest surrounding Truth Terminal, an AI agent backed by Marc Andreessen, general partner of a16z.

Users interacting with Truth Terminal on X bombarded the agent with keywords relating to memecoins, resulting in eye-watering gains for assets mentioned by the agent. Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), rose to a more than $1 billion market cap after seeming to garner affection from the agent.

However, the inclusion of seemingly human-like typos in posts published by Truth Terminal ignited fears that a person may be behind the account, triggering a 60% crash in the price of GOAT.

Andy Ayrey, the founder of Truth Terminal, attributed the typos to Truth Terminal’s outputs reflecting the X content it ingested. “Truth Terminal spelling gets worse the longer it reads Twitter as it starts to model what it has seen in a given session,” he said.

A couple of days later, an on-chain address front-running Truth Terminal mentioning the RUSSEL token reignited skepticism surrounding the agent’s autonomy. However, Ayrey attributed the incident to someone deliberating inundating Truth Terminal with the word Russell. “The word Russell was spammed in its mentions and it picked it up,” he said.

Decentralized organization in 2025

A16z’s post also predicted that 2025 will host innovations in decentralized governance.

Miles Jennings, general counsel and head of decentralization at a16z crypto, expects U.S.-based DAOs will increasingly adopt the decentralized unincorporated nonprofit association (DUNA) framework introduced by Wyoming in March.

The DUNA legislation recognizes DAOs as legal entities, enabling greater economic activity, tax and compliance management, and insulating token holders from legal liability — a key issue following a California court ruling last month that found entities participating in Lido governance could be liable for the DAOs actions.

“By incorporating a DUNA into a decentralized legal entity structure, crypto projects and other decentralized communities can empower their DAOs with legal legitimacy,” Jennings said. “The DUNA can unleash the potential of DAOs, and several projects are already working on implementing it.”

Jennings added that he expects other U.S. states will introduce similar structures providing legal recognition to DAOs. “With the U.S. poised to foster and accelerate progress for its crypto ecosystem in 2025, I expect the DUNA will become a standard for U.S. projects,” he said.

Andrew Hall, a consultant to the a16z crypto research team, predicts that the decentralized governance mechanisms pioneered by DAOs will begin to penetrate mainstream electoral systems to foster real-world “liquid democracy.”

“Recent advances in computing and connectivity, as well as blockchains, enable new forms of representative democracy,” Hall said. “We could finally use blockchains to carry out secure, private voting for elections, beginning with low-stakes pilots to limit cybersecurity and auditing concerns… blockchains would also allow us to experiment with ‘liquid democracy’ — a way for people to vote directly on issues, or to delegate their votes — at the local level.”

New frontiers for tokenization

A16z also tips that new asset classes will move on-chain in 2025.

Aaron Schnider, a technical operations specialist at a16z crypto, believes that maturing web3 infrastructure and associated cost reductions will pave the way for tokenization to become mainstream across new sectors.

“Just as fracking unlocked oil reserves once considered unreachable, tokenizing unconventional assets could redefine income generation in the digital age,” Schnider said, citing biometric data as an example. “These types of developments would allow people to capitalize on previously untapped assets in a decentralized manner — as opposed to relying on governments and centralized intermediaries to provision them.”

Brian Quintenz, head of policy for a16z crypto, predicts that nation-states will begin exploring tokenizing government bonds next year.

Quintez noted that the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority recently launched its Digital Securities Sandbox, adding that the U.K. treasury has signaled interest in issuing “digital gifts.” He also anticipates discussion in the U.S. regarding how blockchain and digital assets could improve the efficiency of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “burdensome” and “costly” legacy clearing infrastructure.

“As pro-innovation governments around the world further explore the benefits and efficiencies of public, permissionless, and irrevocable blockchains this year, some countries may trial issuing government bonds on-chain,” Quintenz said. “Putting government bonds on-chain would create a government-backed, interest-bearing, digital asset — without the surveillance concerns of a CBDC.”

Quintenz said tokenized bonds could be used as collateral in the context of DeFi, “adding further integrity and soundness to those ecosystems.”