Meme coins and artificial intelligence tokens recorded steep year-to-date losses despite ranking as the most-followed narratives in 2025. The data suggests speculative fervor may be cooling as investors exercise caution during volatile market conditions.
What Happened: Market Performance
AI and meme coin sectors delivered average losses of 50.2% and 31.6% respectively through year-end despite massive global investor interest, according to CoinGecko's latest report.
Most major meme coins declined between 44.6% and 82.5% year-to-date, with Ribbita by Virtuals emerging as the sole exception.
AI crypto followed a similar pattern, where only Alchemist AI and Kite avoided significant drawdowns while remaining tokens fell between 49.8% and 84.3%.
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Why It Matters: Sector Analysis
DeFi posted average losses of 34.8%, roughly matching meme coin performance, while decentralized exchange tokens declined 55.5% and closely mirrored AI narrative downturns. Layer 2 solutions disappointed for a second consecutive year with 40.6% losses despite their role in scaling Ethereum and other networks.
Real-world asset tokens emerged as 2025's most profitable narrative with 185.8% gains driven primarily by Keeta Network's 1,794.9% rally, alongside strong performance from Zebec Network and Maple Finance, though returns fell short of last year's 819.5% surge.
Layer 1 blockchains ranked second with 80.3% gains, supported by rallies in Zcash and Monero, plus resilience from Bitcoin Cash, BNB and Tron.
Gaming and DePIN recorded the steepest drawdowns at 75.2% and 76.7% respectively, while the Solana ecosystem fell 64.2% despite leading in mindshare.
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