The development of the blockchain industry is a continuous evolution, constantly deepening its socioeconomic influence. Based on its development trajectory across different historical periods, it can be categorized into four primary evolutionary phases:

This phase marks the theoretical inception and nascent practical application of blockchain technology. Its core characteristics lie in the continuous evolution of distributed ledger technology, enabling decentralized data storage. Simultaneously, the rapid iteration of cryptographic theories and applications laid the groundwork for information security and transaction validation. Decentralized consensus mechanisms gradually materialized during this period, providing a path for constructing trustless networks without traditional intermediaries.

A key breakthrough in this phase was the successful resolution of the persistent "double-spending problem" in the digital currency realm, achieving the first verifiable transfer of digital value and thus laying the foundation for the subsequent birth of cryptocurrencies and broader onchain applications.

With the demonstrative effect of Bitcoin and the rise of Ethereum, the blockchain industry entered a rapid development phase centered around cryptocurrencies. A prominent characteristic of this period was the proliferation of cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin, which greatly diversified digital asset types and application scopes. The expansion of smart contract technology made programmable, self-executing onchain protocols a reality, significantly broadening the blockchain's application frontier. The cryptocurrency economic system began to show its prowess in this phase, revealing its inherent incentive mechanisms and potential for value circulation.

The core breakthroughs of this phase were the widespread adoption of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps), alongside the flourishing development of centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. This maturation of infrastructure significantly enhanced digital asset liquidity and market accessibility. During this period, the role of asymmetric information in the market also gradually became a significant subject of microeconomic research.

The Web3.0 phase represents a profound expansion and paradigm upgrade of the blockchain application ecosystem. The decentralized application ecosystem fully materialized during this period, with Decentralized Finance (DeFi) emerging as a focal point. DeFi enabled traditional financial derivatives such as staking, lending, swapping, options, and perpetual contracts to develop in a decentralized manner onchain. Concepts such as digital ownership, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), and Decentralized Identity (DID) flourished onchain, providing fertile ground for the nascent micro onchain economic ecosystem. The rise of DAOs was particularly significant, as they revolutionized the paradigm of cross-geographical human collaboration and, for the first time in human history, possessed a truly cross-border, autonomous means of production. The significant growth in onchain economic activity during this period heralded the advent of a new wave of globalization.

Currently, blockchain technology is rapidly advancing into the Global Onchain Economy phase, signifying the profound integration of the onchain world with the macroeconomy. A key characteristic of this phase is the deep involvement of traditional financial capital. Stablecoins, recognized as a "killer application," along with mechanisms like Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, have injected substantial traditional financial power into the crypto-economy, fostering a profound symbiotic integration of onchain and offchain worlds. This enables the value from traditional physical economies to be efficiently captured and circulated onchain, providing DeFi and other onchain protocols with a more robust asset foundation and broader application scenarios.

Furthermore, as global onchain adoption rates have significantly increased, global regulatory frameworks across various jurisdictions are gradually forming and materializing, providing the necessary framework for widespread adoption. The core breakthroughs of this phase include the large-scale adoption of onchain solutions by the global economy, the flourishing development of onchain native economies, and the ultimate formation of the onchain and offchain symbiotic integration trend.

More profoundly, the deep integration of Artificial Intelligence Agents (AI Agents) and blockchain is driving the construction of a "Planetary Economy," aiming to achieve homogeneous provision and access to services for any entity, at any time, in any location. This foreshadows humanity's entry into a new era of "Cybereality" transcending the traditional dichotomy of virtual and real.

Additionally, this has catalyzed interdisciplinary research, exemplified by "Onchainomics," which is dedicated to understanding onchain economic activities and their profound impact on the global economy, with a particular focus on the hybrid interactions between onchain and offchain environments.

At @leaponchain and the Onchain Economics Research Institute, we contend that the onchain economy can be regarded as forming the "4th Industry" of the future global economy, alongside sectors such as narrow AI, 3D printing, and new energy. Its objective is to establish a globalized, platform-agnostic, thoroughly abstract, and intangible industry ultimately capable of directly orchestrating the allocation of resources within planetary-scale physical industries, thereby laying a solid foundation in production relations for humanity's advancement towards an interstellar civilization phase.