At Animoca Brands’ Portfolio Day during Consensus Hong Kong 2025, Lingling Jiang, Partner of DWF Labs, spoke during the panel ‘What To Do As A Founder Now? Surviving & Thriving in 2025’.
The panel featured Filip Wielanier (Co-founder & CEO of Cookie3), Jason Lau (Chief Innovation Officer of OKX), and was moderated by Jonah Lau (Head of Portfolio at Animoca Brands). They shared their perspectives on product-market fit, investment strategies, and the evolving role of AI and stablecoins in the crypto space.
Product vs. Token: Striking the Right Balance
A recurring theme in the discussion was the importance of both product and token strategy — but with distinct roles in a project’s lifecycle.
Lingling Jiang emphasised that a strong product is essential for long-term sustainability. The project should solve real problems and provide lasting value. A well-structured token helps drive early adoption and liquidity, acting as a catalyst for community engagement and growth.
She shared that while tokens can create initial market momentum, projects without a solid product risk fading out once speculative interest declines.
Short-Term Hype vs. Long-Term Value
Jiang also shared about short-term vs. long-term investment strategies in crypto.
She noted that memecoins generate excitement and liquidity, making them attractive for short-term gains and building hype. However, their speculative nature means they often lack sustainability.
In contrast, infrastructure projects — especially those bridging Layer 1s and Layer 2s — offer lasting value and drive industry growth. These projects help improve blockchain scalability, interoperability, and overall efficiency, making them critical for Web3’s evolution.
Jiang highlighted how DWF Labs strategically allocates resources to both types of projects, in order to maximise both immediate and sustained impact as part of our support for the Web3 ecosystem.
Fundraising in 2025: Execution Over Hype
With the rapidly evolving crypto fundraising landscape, Jiang shared key advice for founders looking to raise capital in 2025.
She shared that projects can no longer secure millions of dollars in funding with just whitepapers. Investors today expect traction, a clear business model, and realistic valuations when seeking for projects to invest in.
This shift reflects a maturing crypto venture investment landscape, where a project’s strong execution that solves real problems is key.
DWF Labs’s Focus: AI Agents & Stablecoins
Jiang shared that looking ahead to 2025, DWF Labs is particularly bullish on two major trends: AI Agents and Stablecoins.
Jiang highlighted how AI-driven automation is set to revolutionise how users interact with Web3. AI can enhance trading efficiency, automate transactions, and improve security in decentralised environments. She also shared about our recently launched $20 million AI Agent Fund, as part of our commitment to accelerate innovation in autonomous AI technologies.
Jiang also shared about Falcon, powered by DWF Labs. Built by blockchain and financial engineering experts, Falcon Finance ensures sustainable, competitive, and institutional-grade returns. With regulatory clarity improving in key markets like Hong Kong and the U.S., stablecoins are becoming an increasingly critical part of the global financial landscape.
Building for the Future
Jiang’s insights at Animoca Brands’ Portfolio Day provided a clear roadmap for founders navigating the evolving crypto landscape in 2025. She emphasised balancing product and token strategy, distinguishing between short-term hype and long-term value, and focusing on execution over speculation. Her advice offers practical guidance for Web3 builders looking to thrive in any market condition.
With DWF Labs leading investments in AI automation and stablecoin infrastructure, 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Web3 innovation.
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