The Web3 industry is undergoing a fundamental shift in 2025, moving beyond a decade dominated by infrastructure development into a new phase of structural, application-driven adoption. This transition is marked by the convergence of three critical elements: clearer regulatory frameworks, mature and low-cost infrastructure, and capital refocusing on real-world economic value. Key regulatory developments in the United States, such as the passage of the GENIUS Act establishing a federal framework for stablecoins and the advancement of the CLARITY Act clarifying digital asset classifications, are providing much-needed legal certainty. Concurrently, jurisdictions like Hong Kong are progressing from policy formulation to the implementation of executable rules, particularly in stablecoin legislation and Real-World Asset (RWA) pilot programs. Technologically, major public chains have achieved transaction costs of mere cents and significantly higher throughput, removing previous bottlenecks that hindered product innovation. This maturity allows the industry to shift focus from proving a chain’s technical capability to demonstrating its utility and worth for end-users. The report identifies three core value propositions for Web3 in this new era: 1. **As an Asset Layer:** Stablecoins, RWAs, Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), and on-chain payments are forming a complete financial flywheel. Stablecoins act as the global settlement layer and value intermediary. RWAs, particularly non-equity assets like private credit and tokenized treasuries, are bringing real-world yield on-chain. DATs are emerging as a key capital structure for institutions to manage crypto holdings, while payment networks are evolving from technology-driven experiments to region-specific, scenario-driven solutions. 2. **As a Market Layer:** Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and prediction markets are becoming core economic engines. Platforms like Hyperliquid demonstrate how on-chain order books can capture significant market share, driven by a shift in trader preference post-centralized exchange trust issues. Prediction markets, exemplified by Polymarket, are evolving into information engines (“InfoFi”), creating new mechanisms for price discovery and hedging. 3. **As a Computation and Coordination Network:** Blockchain is increasingly positioned as foundational infrastructure for the AI economy. New protocols are emerging to facilitate machine-to-machine (A2A) micropayments, verifiable computation, and decentralized AI agent coordination, signaling a shift from “what can blockchain do” to “what can AI do on blockchain.” This confluence of factors indicates that the Web3 application era is not imminent but has already begun. The industry’s value is being redefined not by speculative narratives but by tangible economic activity, user adoption, and the integration of blockchain technology into broader financial, technological, and governance systems.