In 2025, the cryptocurrency landscape is transitioning from hype to practical applications. Stablecoin structures are emerging, tokenized assets are gaining traction in mainstream markets, and artificial intelligence is starting to interact on-chain.
Central to these developments, layer-1 blockchains are evolving beyond mere experiments, serving as the foundational infrastructure for real-world adoption.
“Layer-1s remain the backbone of the industry,” stated Marc Vanlerberghe, chief strategy and marketing officer at the Algorand Foundation, during this week’s episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph.
“Everything else builds on top of them. You can innovate endlessly at the edges, but without a secure and scalable base, none of it holds.”
Adoption hurdles
Despite advancements, onboarding and user retention are significant challenges. Vanlerberghe elaborated:
“It is an impossible challenge today. You have to be really, really, really motivated to jump through the hoops and confront the complexity that crypto is.”
This difficulty has deterred many new users from continuing with blockchain applications after their initial attempts. To counter this, various projects in the ecosystem are trialing gamified initiatives and more intuitive wallet designs to reduce friction.
“We want people to experience the benefits of using Algorand, not just through discussions of instant finality, but by allowing them to experience it firsthand,” Vanlerberghe remarked.
Related: BitGo secures license to launch regulated crypto trading in Europe
The road ahead
As new initiatives emerge within the ecosystem to attract and maintain users, he highlighted the critical nature of resilience and vision.
“You just have to keep… you have to really understand what your North Star is. And that’s where you’re aiming for. And through highs and lows, you just continue to make progress.”
According to Vanlerberghe, Algorand’s North Star encompasses both retail adoption and enterprise applications including tokenization and payments.
As tokenized finance develops and blockchain initiatives align with the demands of real-world scalability, layer-1s are positioning themselves not only for survival but also for sustained relevance.
Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the entire interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to explore Cointelegraph’s extensive range of other shows!
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