{"id":881618,"date":"2025-12-30T01:11:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T07:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/meme-coins-drop-31-6-ai-crypto-falls-50-2-despite-dominating-2025-narratives\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T01:11:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T07:11:33","slug":"meme-coins-drop-31-6-ai-crypto-falls-50-2-despite-dominating-2025-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/meme-coins-drop-31-6-ai-crypto-falls-50-2-despite-dominating-2025-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Meme Coins Drop 31.6%, AI Crypto Falls 50.2% Despite Dominating 2025 Narratives"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-148736\">\n<div>\n<h2><span id=\"TLDR\"><\/span><b>TLDR:<\/b><span><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Meme coins averaged negative 31.6% returns while AI tokens fell 50.2% despite leading investor interest<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Real World Assets emerged as top performer with 185.8% gains led by Keeta Network\u2019s 1,794.9% surge<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Only three narratives achieved profitability in 2025: RWA, Layer 1, and Made in USA with 30.6% gains<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Gaming and DePIN recorded the steepest losses at negative 75.2% and 76.7% across major tokens<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><span>Popular crypto narratives meme coins and artificial intelligence recorded substantial losses in 2025 despite maintaining the highest investor interest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Meme tokens<a href=\"https:\/\/moneycheck.com\/meme-coin-traders-flip-shib-and-pepe-gains-into-ozak-ai-for-bigger-roi\/\"> averaged negative<\/a> 31.6% returns while AI crypto fell 50.2% year-to-date. The underperformance stands in stark contrast to Real World Assets and Layer 1 blockchains, which posted gains of 185.8% and 80.3% respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The disconnect between popularity and profitability highlights shifting market dynamics across crypto sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Investor_Favorites_Deliver_Heavy_Losses\"><\/span><b>Investor Favorites Deliver Heavy Losses<\/b><span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Meme coins <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/research\/publications\/most-profitable-crypto-narratives\"><span>ranked among the most discussed<\/span><\/a><span> crypto narratives throughout 2025 but failed to translate attention into positive returns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The sector posted average losses of 31.6% across major tokens. Individual meme coins declined between 44.6% and 82.5% during the year, with Ribbita by Virtuals standing as the sole exception to the downward trend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Artificial intelligence tokens experienced even steeper declines despite substantial hype surrounding AI technology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The narrative recorded average losses of 50.2% year-to-date. Most large AI crypto tokens fell between 49.8% and 84.3%, with only Alchemist AI and Kite avoiding significant drawdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The poor performance extended beyond these two sectors. DeFi matched meme coin losses at negative 34.8% while DEX tokens declined 55.5%, mirroring AI sector weakness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Layer 2 solutions continued their struggles with negative 40.6% returns, marking a second straight unprofitable year. Gaming and DePIN narratives performed worst overall, plunging 75.2% and 76.7% respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Profitable_Sectors_Show_Divergent_Results\"><\/span><b>Profitable Sectors Show Divergent Results<\/b><span><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span>Real World Assets <a href=\"https:\/\/blockonomi.com\/hackers-are-now-targeting-real-world-assets-certik-flags-14-6m-in-2025-losses\/\">emerged as<\/a> 2025\u2019s strongest performer with 185.8% average gains across leading tokens. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Keeta Network drove returns with a 1,794.9% surge, while Zebec Network added 217.3% and Maple Finance gained 123.0%. Nevertheless, RWA\u2019s performance represented only one-quarter of the previous year\u2019s 819.5% returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Layer 1 blockchains secured the second position with 80.3% average gains. Privacy-focused chains dominated the category as Zcash rallied 691.3% and Monero climbed 143.6%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/bitcoin-cash\"><span>Bitcoin Cash<\/span><\/a><span>,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/bnb\"><span> BNB<\/span><\/a><span>, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/tron\"><span>Tron<\/span><\/a><span> contributed additional gains, helping Layer 1 achieve its second consecutive profitable year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Made in USA completed the list of profitable narratives with 30.6% returns. Zcash\u2019s exceptional performance single-handedly drove the category into positive territory, offsetting moderate losses from remaining tokens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Solana <a href=\"https:\/\/parameter.io\/skr-token-set-to-power-solana-mobile-ecosystem-in-january-2026\/\">ecosystem narrative<\/a> declined 64.2% despite maintaining the highest mindshare among blockchain ecosystems. Jupiter\u2019s JLP posted marginal gains while other major Solana tokens fell between 33.5% and 83.1% during the period.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blockonomi.com\/out\/bcbot\" alt=\"BC.Game Casino\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/blockonomi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/bc-wide.gif\"><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blockonomi.com\/meme-coins-drop-31-6-ai-crypto-falls-50-2-despite-dominating-2025-narratives\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Brenda Mary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TLDR: Meme coins averaged negative 31.6% returns while AI tokens fell 50.2% despite leading investor interest Real World Assets emerged as top performer with 185.8% gains led by Keeta Network\u2019s 1,794.9% surge Only three narratives achieved profitability in 2025: RWA, Layer 1, and Made in USA with 30.6% gains Gaming and DePIN recorded the steepest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":881619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32482,22791],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-881618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coins","8":"category-crypto"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}