I didn’t leave #ETHCC2025 with a list of “top tokens to watch.” I left with something better: A quiet sense that crypto is finally growing up. 🧵 Some thoughts from the week in Nice…

The energy was different this year. No flashy launches. No buzzword battles. Just builders. OGs were there. So were new faces. But no one was trying to win the hype war. People showed up to build, even when no one’s watching.

There wasn’t one “breakout project” like in years past but maybe that’s a good thing. It felt like the space was maturing. Fewer moonshots. More deep work.

Agentic payments were a standout theme for me. Smart wallets that automate payments, follow rules, and operate 24/7? There’s something exciting about B2B rails powered by AI agents. Especially when you add in smart compliance tools.

#RWA and #stablecoins still dominated headlines but conversations were expanding: → What comes next? → What happens after regulatory clarity? → Can we build better systems, not just better assets?

The crowd was global, but not evenly so. Lots of folks from Europe and the US. Fewer from Asia and the Middle East this time due to flight cancellations and travel issues. Still, the diversity of ideas was strong.