Crypto Market Stuck in a Loop as Memecoins, AI Tokens Dominate Q1 2025

According to CoinGecko’s Q1 2025 report , AI tokens and memecoins captured 62.8% of investor interest combined. AI tokens led the pack, drawing 35.7% of the attention, while memecoins followed with 27.1%. Among the top 20 crypto narratives this quarter, six were memecoin categories, and five were related to artificial intelligence—highlighting the recycling of old trends with little innovation.

“Seems like we have yet to see another new narrative emerge and we are still following past quarters’ trends,”

CoinGecko COO Bobby Ong commented in an April 17 post on X.

“I guess we are all tired from the same old trends repeating themselves.”

Some analysts warn that memecoins are siphoning capital away from utility tokens like Solana (SOL), whose value has plunged roughly 48% since peaking above $270 in January. SOL now trades at around $133, according to TradingView data .

The sector faced a major blow with the dramatic collapse of the LIBRA token, a politically charged memecoin associated with Argentine President Javier Milei. The token’s value plummeted by 94% within hours after insiders reportedly withdrew over $107 million in liquidity, wiping out $4 billion in market value. The incident triggered a rapid decline in new token launches on platforms like Pump.fun, where daily deployments dropped over 56% from January highs to just 31,000 by the end of Q1.

Meanwhile, according to new data from Pitchbook , artificial intelligence startups drew the bulk of global venture capital investments in the first quarter of 2025, marking a sharp pivot from last year. The report revealed that a staggering 57.9% of all global VC funding in Q1 went to AI and machine learning startups, more than double the 28% recorded in the same quarter of 2024.

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