The Fluctuations of the Crypto Assets Market: From Concept Hype to Substantial Value

Since the beginning of this year, the Crypto Assets market has shown a significant cooling trend. This trend is not only reflected in the small coins on trading platforms; even the on-chain tokens that performed well in the fourth quarter of 2024 have not escaped unscathed, facing a substantial decline.

Taking the major tokens related to AI Agents as an example, the decline since 2025 is astonishing:

• Virtual down 79.2%
• Ai16z dropped 85.5%
• AIXBT dropped 68%
• Griffain dropped by 80.3%
• Buzz dropped 72.4%
• Fartcoin dropped 67.5%
• ARC fell by 62%
• Swarms fell by 45%

In less than three months, these once hot top projects have seen a decline of up to 80%. Although it cannot be concluded that this sector has failed, the rapid loss of investor attention is an undeniable fact, and it is difficult to reverse this situation in the short term.

The celebrity coin sector has also fallen victim to the winter. Since the craze ignited by Trump, various celebrities and even countries have followed suit. However, the decline of these tokens has been even more severe since their peak:

• Trump dropped 77.1%
• Melania dropped 91%
• Vine dropped 92.7%
• jailstool dropped 93.5%
• Jellyjelly dropped by 98%
• CAR dropped 98.5%
• Libra fell by 94.3%

The crypto assets market has a common perception: "Investing in the new rather than the old," meaning that funds always tend to flow into emerging narratives. However, compared to AI Agent, the decline in the celebrity coin sector is even more severe. So, what are the main issues currently facing these two sectors? Is there still potential for breakthroughs in a market environment lacking new narratives?

![Shanzhai enters the cold winter again, what should we do?](https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-3c8682a9be08c3deaf2fd94bb0213195.webp01

Current Narrative Dilemma: Concepts Ahead, Implementation Lagging Behind

The main issue in the AI Agent track is that most projects are still stuck in the concept demonstration and future planning stages, lacking practical and widely applicable products. Even when some available services are launched, they often suffer from complex operations and poor user experience, making it difficult to attract ordinary investors for long-term participation. More critically, some project teams overly exaggerate their promotions to cater to the market's enthusiasm for "AI + blockchain," but the actual implementation keeps being delayed. As time goes by, investors' patience wears thin, and funds start to withdraw, leading to a significant drop in the prices of related tokens.

The celebrity coin track faces the dilemma of "celebrity effect decay." Trump is undoubtedly a highly topical start, but the subsequent followers—whether politicians, internet celebrities, or stars—find it difficult to replicate the initial heat and market sentiment. The continuous decline in market popularity makes celebrity coins exhibit the characteristics of fleeting moments, leading to a rapid loss of investor confidence and a significant drop in prices.

The fundamental reason for the difficulties faced by these sectors is that most projects remain at the level of conceptual hype, lacking substantive and sustainable revenue models. Whether it is AI Agent or celebrity coins, their core narratives overly rely on the rapid influx of short-term funds and popularity, while lacking the motivation to attract long-term user participation. Once the hype fades, it becomes difficult to maintain prices, let alone attract new funds.

Finding Real Value: Taking Hyperliquid as an Example

In the current market environment where narratives are weak, standing out hinges on identifying projects that offer "real returns" and are "willing to share with users." The term "real returns" refers not only to the short-term increase in value when a coin is listed, but also to the ability to continuously generate returns through actual business models and trading behaviors, and to distribute these returns back to token holders or participants in the ecosystem.

Hyperliquid is a typical case. Its business model is similar to centralized trading platforms, with the main revenue coming from contract trading fees. However, Hyperliquid uses 100% of the fee revenue to repurchase Hype tokens, which tightly links the token value to the platform's actual business performance.

According to statistics from data platforms, Hyperliquid accounts for approximately 45% of the 24-hour trading volume among all decentralized perpetual contract trading platforms, with an average daily trading volume of $3.78 billion and daily revenue of about $1 million. Even in the current market downturn, Hyperliquid maintains a very high level of activity. This also explains why, in the recent backdrop of altcoins generally experiencing a winter, the price of Hype tokens continues to perform strongly.

Conclusion

No matter how popular a narrative may be, it will eventually lose its luster. What can truly exist in the Crypto Assets market for the long term are those projects that find their product-market fit, possess high user retention, and generate real returns. When choosing investment targets, investors should pay more attention to the substantive content of the projects and their long-term development potential, rather than short-term market speculation.