Ever since the turbulent events of 2022, the DeFi landscape – and with it, the protocol go-to-market (GTM) playbook – has been constantly evolving. We’ve seen protocols rise to prominence and maintain their positions, while others have lost their early momentum just as quickly as they gained it. This research takes a retrospective look at some of the most notable and ambitious DeFi GTM strategies – analyzing which approaches succeeded, which fell short, and why. By identifying common patterns across these launches, we aim to distill key lessons and actionable insights that today’s protocols can apply to design more resilient and effective GTM strategies.

Last year, we shared our predictions about what could shape the year ahead. This time, we’re taking a different route. Rather than claiming to know what the future holds, we want to share what we hope to see: a 10-point wishlist of ideas, problems, and products we’d love founders to take on in 2026. By anchoring these reflections, we gain a nuanced understanding of where the next set of meaningful opportunities may emerge across Infrastructure, DeFi, and Consumer – and in how evolving regulation will shape the ground beneath them.

Crypto is still a young breed. It grows new limbs almost every day. Our most critical and demanding job as fund managers is to assess which of these verticals could one day develop into leading narratives and significant market opportunities. Our predictions for 2025 represent verticals across the Infrastructure, DeFi and Consumer stack to which we generally attribute large and disruptive market potential.

We are excited to announce our investment in CoW Protocol, the leading intent-based DEX in DeFi. The investment has been made using the TWAP feature from CoW Swap.