Crypto Assets Market Turmoil: Concept Hype Fades, Real Value Becomes Key

Since the beginning of 2025, the Crypto Assets market has shown a persistent trend of weakness. This trend is evident not only in the small coins on trading platforms but also in the significant price declines faced by those blockchain native coins that performed well in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Comparative data shows that the decline of major AI-related coins in 2025 is shocking: Virtual down 79.2%, Ai16z down as much as 85.5%, AIXBT down 68%, Griffain down 80.3%, Buzz down 72.4%, Fartcoin down 67.5%, ARC down 62%, while Swarms performed relatively better with a decline of 45%.

These data reflect that, in less than a quarter, the once-prominent leading projects have evaporated about 80% of their market value. Although it cannot yet be determined that this track has failed, the loss of investor attention has become a foregone conclusion, and it is difficult to reverse this situation in the short term.

Another striking phenomenon is the rise and fall of celebrity tokens. This trend began with a well-known political figure and quickly spread to other public figures, with even some countries getting involved. However, the declines of these tokens have been particularly severe: a political figure's related token dropped by 77.1%, while family member tokens fell by as much as 91%. Other celebrity tokens such as Vine, jailstool, Jellyjelly, CAR, and Libra saw declines of over 90%, with the highest reaching as much as 98.5%.

The crypto assets market has always had the saying "speculate on the new, not on the old," meaning that funds tend to chase the latest concepts for speculation. However, compared to AI tokens, the celebrity token market appears to be more unstable and dangerous. So, what are the main issues currently faced by these two areas? In the current market environment lacking new concepts, is there still a possibility for breakthroughs?

Current Market Dilemma: Over-reliance on Concept Speculation

The main issue in the AI token field is that most projects remain in the "concept demonstration" and "future planning" stages, lacking practical and widely applicable products. Even when some operational services are launched, they often suffer from complex interfaces and poor user experiences, making it difficult to attract ordinary investors for long-term participation. Worse still, some project parties exaggerate their promotions to drive up prices in order to cater to the market's expectations for "AI + blockchain," while actual applications are repeatedly delayed. As time goes on, funds lose patience, and investors' attention begins to shift, leading to a significant drop in the prices of related tokens.

In terms of celebrity tokens, although they initially attracted huge attention, they soon encountered the problem of "celebrity effect decay." The subsequent participation of other politicians, internet celebrities, or stars could not replicate the initial funding enthusiasm and market sentiment. As the market's pursuit gradually decreased, the field of celebrity tokens exhibited characteristics of rapid rise and rapid decline, with investors' confidence quickly eroding and prices consequently plummeting.

The deep reasons for the severe fluctuations in these areas lie in the fact that many projects merely remain at the level of "hyped concepts" and lack real and sustainable profit models. Whether it's AI tokens or celebrity tokens, their core appeal relies on the rapid influx of capital and hype, yet they lack the motivation for users to participate in the long term. Once the hype fades, it becomes difficult to maintain prices, let alone attract new capital inflows.

Looking for projects with substantial value

In the current market environment where concepts are lacking, the key to standing out is to find projects that have "real returns" and are "willing to share with users." The term "real returns" refers not only to the short-term price increase at the time of listing but also to the ability to continuously generate profits through actual business models and trading activities, and to return these profits to token holders or ecosystem participants.

A certain decentralized derivatives trading platform is a representative of this model. Its business model is similar to that of centralized exchanges, with the main revenue coming from contract trading fees. However, the platform uses 100% of the fee revenue to repurchase its platform tokens, closely tying the token value to the product usage. This model allows the token price to better reflect the actual business performance of the platform.

According to statistics from a certain data platform, this platform accounts for about 45% of the 24-hour trading volume among all perpetual contract DEX, with an average daily trading volume of 3.78 billion USD and a daily income of about 1 million USD. Even in the current market downturn, this platform remains highly active, and its token price has performed exceptionally well amidst the recent downtrend of altcoins.

No matter how popular a concept is, it will eventually cool down. Those that can exist in the Crypto Assets market for the long term are still the projects that find a product-market fit, have high user stickiness, and generate real profits.