In 2025, the crypto industry moved from hype to utility. Stablecoin frameworks are shaping, tokenized assets enter the main market, and artificial intelligence begins to transact on-chain.
Amidst these changes, layer-1 blockchains have been redefined not as experiments, but as the infrastructure that operates real-world adoption.
“Layer-1 is still the spine of the industry,” said Marc Vanlerberghe, chief strategy and marketing officer at the Algorand Foundation, in this week’s episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph.
“Everything else is forming on top of them. You can change endlessly on the sides, but without a safe and measured base, none of them holds.”
Obstruction of Adoption
Despite technical development, onboarding and maintenance remain sticky points. As Vanlerberghe explained:
“This is an impossible challenge today. You have to be real, really, that -motivation to jump on the hoops and deal with the complexity of crypto.”
That difficulty keeps many new users from clinging to blockchain apps after their first test. To address this, projects throughout the ecosystem are experimenting with gamified campaigns and simplified purse designs aimed at lowering disputes.
“We want people to experience the benefits of using Algorand, not by talking about instant finality, but by having people experience it,” Vanlerberghe said.
Related: SECURES BITGO LICENSED TO LAUGE REGULATED CRYPTO TRADING IN EUROPA
The way ahead
Although new experiments have opened the ecosystem as a way to ride and maintain users, he emphasizes the importance of stability and vision.
“You just have to keep … You really need to understand what your North Star is. And there you go. And through the highs and lows, you just keep moving forward.”
The North Star for Algorand, according to Vanlerberghe, includes both retail adoption and use of cases such as tokenization and payment.
While tokenized finance is expanding and Blockchain experiments meet real-world scale demands, Layer-1 positions themselves not only to survive but to stay important.
Listen to the full stage of Byte-sized view For complete interview with cointelegraph podcasts Page, Apple podcast o Spotify. And don’t forget to check the entire cointelegraph lineup of other shows!
Magazine: Stablecoins in Japan and China, India Mulls Crypto Tax Change: Asia Express
