Meme coins and artificial intelligence tokens have recorded significant losses year-to-date despite ranking as the most followed stories in 2025. Data suggests speculation fever may be cooling as investors become more cautious amid volatile market conditions.
What happened: Market performance
According to the report, despite significant interest from investors around the world, the AI and meme coin sectors suffered average losses of 50.2% and 31.6%, respectively, by the end of the year. CoinGeckoThis is his latest report.
Most major meme coins have fallen between 44.6% and 82.5% since the beginning of the year. Ribbita by Virtuals The only exception has emerged.
AI crypto followed a similar pattern. Alchemist AI and kite avoided a significant drawdown, but the remaining tokens fell between 49.8% and 84.3%.
Also read: TrustWallet launches compensation program after $7 million leaked in Chrome extension hack
Why it matters: sector analysis
DeFi recorded an average loss of 34.8%, roughly matching the performance of meme coins, while decentralized exchange tokens were down 55.5%, closely reflecting the downturn in the AI story. Layer 2 solutions disappointed for second consecutive year with 40.6% loss despite playing a role in scaling Ethereum and other networks.
The real-world asset token emerged as the most profitable story of 2025, with a return of 185.8%. keyta network1,794.9% increase in zebec network and maple financeHowever, the return fell short of last year's 819.5% jump.
Layer 1 blockchain ranked second with an increase of 80.3%; Zcash and Moneropositive resilience bitcoin cash, BNB and tron.
Game and DePIN had the steepest drawdowns of 75.2% and 76.7%, respectively. Solana Despite being number one in mindshare, the ecosystem declined by 64.2%.
Read next: Why JPMorgan is blocking stablecoin neobanks in Latin America despite offering a crypto-friendly message
