2024: A year of transformation and momentum

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As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the events that shaped 2024 and anticipate what 2025 holds. Personally and professionally, this year has been transformative for me, my work, and the blockchain ecosystem at large.

At the start of the year, I faced a personal challenge with a brutal recovery from surgery, and I was afraid it would define my future going forward. 

Update now that I’ve been off the drugs for about 24 hours and back on my feet a little:

I have a serious abdominal hernia issue. They’re genetic, and every man in my family has had to deal with them for generations – although nobody told me about them until I was experiencing… pic.twitter.com/u0mX8Ze4it

— Kurt Wuckert Jr | GorillaPool.com (@kurtwuckertjr) February 3, 2024

Fast forward to now, I’m not only fully healed but also in the best shape of my life, hitting new personal records and pursuing peak health and performance. This journey of recovery and optimization has been a powerful reminder of resilience—something that resonates deeply in the blockchain world.

The year in blockchain

2024 has been a defining year for blockchain, especially in the context of legal battles, technological advancements, and market dynamics:

• COPA v Wright: The year opened with a major decision in the contentious COPA vs. Craig Wright case, where Wright was deemed “not Satoshi.” With his appeal denied in Q4 of this year, the small blocker narrative dominated headlines, even as questions about the legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto persisted.

• BSV Developments: Despite setbacks in the broader blockchain space, BSV continued to evolve progressively. A successful node version update set the stage for Teranode’s alpha testing on mainnet, signalling that the dream of unbounded scalability is closer to becoming a reality. This is a game-changer for the blockchain world.

• Ordinals Nomads: My earlier predictions about Ordinals Nomads have continued to bear fruit. Ordinals are thriving on multiple chains, including BTC, BSV, LTC, and Doge, with protocol activity heating up. Tools like sCrypt have become indispensable as chains like BTC debate features like OP_CAT, highlighting the power of interoperability and iterative innovation.

• BTC ETFs and market dynamics: The launch of the first BTC ETF by BlackRock, followed by others, was a big milestone. Rumored to be coming for years, the debut has lent legitimacy to BTC as an investment asset for the ruling class. This institutional backing, coupled with market momentum, brought BTC over $100,000 each by the end of 2024, underscoring its dominance—even as questions about real adoption versus speculation linger.

• Trump’s victory and blockchain politics: The U.S. election saw Donald Trump claim a decisive victory, largely supported by the perception that he would be the “Bitcoin president.” With backing from Elon Musk, JD Vance’s Silicon Valley allies, and events like Bitcoin Magazine’s BTC 2024 conference, blockchain has entered a new political phase. The incoming administration has now announced Silicon Valley insider David Sacks as the first White House “Crypto Czar” to establish a precedent that such a role will likely be a necessary one moving forward.

Predictions for 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, I anticipate a year of convergence, breakthroughs, and challenges across blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, and global geopolitics.

Bio-tech and biohacking: The year of ‘Make America Healthy Again’

One area I don’t often comment on—but cannot ignore—is the accelerating impact of biotech breakthroughs and biohacking coming into the mainstream. With RFK Jr. expected to take a prominent role in the Trump administration, his focus on combating corporate corruption in Big Pharma and prioritizing innovative health solutions could have monumental implications. RFK’s alignment with cutting-edge therapies like GLP-1 agonists (think Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic) and his open advocacy for peptide therapies (such as BPC-157, TB-500, and HGH secretagogues) suggests a government-backed shift toward health optimization.

Simultaneously, the cultural zeitgeist is primed for this transformation. Influencers like Andrew Huberman, Peter Attia, and billionaires like Brian Johnson have taken longevity and fitness optimization from locker room talk and brought the conversation to Main Street! Companies like Eli Lilly (NASDAQ: LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NASDAQ: NVO) are leading breakthroughs in metabolic health and hormone optimization. With federal and corporate alignment, 2025 could mark a quantum leap in making these therapies accessible to everyday people.

This convergence—government interest, cultural enthusiasm, and corporate innovation—makes me confident that 2025 will be a breakout year for biotech and biohacking. We may finally see advancements in longevity science, fitness optimization, and metabolic health become standard rather than niche.

Blockchain meets AI

2025 could be the year of the first critical AI misstep, likely stemming from poorly verified data. 

In my opinion, too many industries are relying too quickly on AI solutions to various problems. While I am a user and an advocate for the technology, it still has a frequent tendency to misinterpret the data or be fed bad data. There is also the problem of “hallucination” about facts and details that make it unreliable—an unacceptable problem in critical infrastructure. 

I’m positive that somewhere, it is being over-used in critical infrastructure and will cause some kind of catastrophe as it is too rapidly adopted. This will amplify calls for better data integrity, leading to a critical conversation about blockchain-based data integrity solutions. If we’re prepared, this could mark a pivotal moment for scalable public blockchains like BSV to step up as a cornerstone of trustworthy information. 

In short, AI is only as good as the data it processes, and blockchain offers the transparency and immutability necessary to ensure those data sources are reliable. But people won’t likely understand that until a big consequence demands it to be looked at closely.  

Cybersecurity and geopolitical tensions

With the incoming Trump administration’s more antagonistic stance toward China, we can expect an escalation in cyberattacks, both state-sponsored and opportunistic. China’s cyber warfare division is among the largest in the world, with some estimates suggesting that tens of thousands of hackers work directly or indirectly for the Chinese government. These units are believed to focus on penetrating critical infrastructure, stealing intellectual property, and disrupting geopolitical adversaries. According to a 2021 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China has been responsible for more than 40% of global state-sponsored cyberattacks over the past decade, targeting industries as diverse as healthcare, energy, and finance.

In the face of such a sophisticated threat, traditional centralized cybersecurity systems are increasingly proving insufficient. Blockchain-based monitoring and remediation systems offer a critical layer of defense, combining transparency, immutability, and decentralized consensus to detect and mitigate cyber threats in real-time. By storing threat intelligence on-chain, organizations can create tamper-proof logs, enabling immediate identification of breaches and simplifying forensic investigations. Moreover, decentralized networks reduce the risks of single points of failure, a vulnerability often exploited by state-sponsored actors.

As enterprises and governments strive to protect critical infrastructure—from power grids to financial systems—blockchain-enabled cybersecurity solutions will become indispensable.

Blockchain scaling

The long-awaited first blocks mined using Teranode on BSV will finally materialize, proving that Bitcoin can scale to millions of transactions per second without Layer 2 solutions. This achievement will redefine what’s possible for blockchain technology and reignite debates about what Bitcoin was always meant to be: a tool for economic growth and frictionless commerce.

I think Teranode’s launch will quickly see an explosion in real-world asset tokens—likely starting with stablecoins, but then potentially moving the precious metals, derivatives and things like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). 

Beyond that, I think we will see a large influx of people leaving trust/custodial and centralized exchanging altogether as the lessons learned in DeFi to revolutionize traditional finance. Over time, this will look like NYSE and NASDAQ trading on the blockchain due to its lower friction and nearly eliminated fraud models while people take delivery of their tokenized stocks. 

Economic and market outlook

While blockchain and biohacking steal my spotlight looking into 2025, the broader economy remains poised for turbulence. BTC’s continued bull run, spurred by institutional investments, may drive new all-time highs, but it’s critical to scrutinize whether this growth reflects genuine adoption or speculative mania. A rally fueled by artificial scarcity and speculative fervor can only carry an asset so far before cracks in the foundation begin to show.

Moreover, global debt levels have reached unprecedented heights, with government debt in advanced economies surpassing 120% of GDP in many cases and consumer credit debt in the U.S. exceeding $1 trillion for the first time in history. This leaves economies heavily reliant on monetary stimulus and low interest rates, creating a precarious balance. Meanwhile, productivity remains stagnant in key industries, and labor shortages persist, even for entry-level roles, as small businesses struggle to compete against e-commerce giants like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). This consolidation of commerce into fewer, larger corporations reduces competition, stifles innovation, and further shifts wealth and influence into the hands of a select few.

Yet, amidst these challenges, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Technology, when implemented thoughtfully, offers pathways to real solutions. Blockchain, for example, can facilitate greater transparency in government spending, streamlined payment and remittance systems, and secure digital identities that empower individuals in a globalized economy. Similarly, advancements in biohacking and healthcare technology may reduce healthcare costs and improve productivity over time, boosting both individual well-being and the economy at large.

The confluence of innovation, political change, and economic necessity in 2025 could create a rare window of opportunity. By leveraging blockchain for transparency, scalability, and security while integrating advancements in health technology to address productivity gaps, we may finally see the seeds of sustainable growth planted in the face of mounting global pressures. But it will take both vision and execution to turn those seeds into something meaningful. The stakes have never been higher, and the need for transformative action has never been more urgent.

Closing thoughts: A year of reset and opportunity

2025 will likely feel like a reset year—a fresh chapter for technology, governance, and health. While the Biden Administration represented a “business as usual” presidency, the fresh faces in the White House, including RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, Kash Patel, and Vivek Ramaswamy, bring an unprecedented rogue posture to Washington. This convergence of paradigm-shifting leaders, culture, and technology places us on the precipice of truly groundbreaking opportunities to progress the human condition. 

I am cautiously hopeful for this era.

From BSV scalability to data science, cybersecurity, and longevity science, this year holds the potential to redefine how we live, work, and interact. The boundaries of what’s possible are being stretched, and the systems we’ve relied on are being fundamentally questioned and reshaped. The fusion of blockchain’s promises with AI’s ability to accelerate human potential could create an era where inefficiencies are obliterated and innovation is democratized. But it’s not just about the technology—it’s about how we choose to wield it. In the same way that a sound money system like Bitcoin can balance economies or biohacking can optimize individual health, the tools we embrace now will determine the trajectory of our shared future, but we must be worthy—both culturally and individually—of using these new powers wisely.

To that end, a quiet cultural revolution is also beginning to unfold. After decades dominated by cultural Marxism, liberalism, and a left-leaning zeitgeist in the Western hemisphere, we are seeing the stirrings of something different. Across the borderlands between the rural and urban U.S., U.K., and EU, as well as surprising cities like Lisbon and many of the urban centers of Eastern Europe, where the scars of Soviet atheism and Marxism still linger, a return to free markets and traditional religious practice is creating a new foundation of cultural pride and rebuilding. This undercurrent is manifesting as a renewed focus on traditional family values, declining rates of casual sex and divorce for the first time in two generations, and a growing appreciation for the stability of shared cultural roots and traditional family.

This quiet shift toward tradition—toward discipline, faith, and family—may prove just as transformative as the technologies reshaping our lives. While we learned a ton from our experiments in social, political and cultural leftism, the backlack of tradition, stability and rootedness may provide the fertile ground for golden ages of innovation, especially since the synthesis of today’s “modern traditionalism” includes a lot more space for civil liberties than the hard-line conservatism of the past. 

It’s a trend that whispers rather than shouts, but its momentum is unmistakable and shouldn’t be ignored.

As we close the book on 2024, let’s not just embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead—let’s seize them. The future is not a place we will passively arrive at; we must actively build it. Yet, tech alone cannot solve every problem. We must discipline ourselves to be worthy of wielding great power and remain humble enough to prioritize the good of mankind over the demands of Big Tech, Big Banks, and Big Government.

Here’s to building a healthier, more innovative, and interconnected world in 2025—a year where our boldest ideas take flight and reshape what it means to thrive. Perhaps, with faith in our hands and innovation in our hearts, we’ll find the future we’ve been building for all along.

Watch: Building more trustworthy internet of the future with Metanet