Crypto Carnivals and AI Follies: The Laughable Q1 2025 Saga đŸŽ­đŸ€–

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Ah, the cryptocurrency circus rolls on—parading the same old acts like a persistent encore nobody asked for. As we pirouette into the first quarter of 2025, the market’s greatest hits remain AI tokens and memecoins, the unshakable divas of investor chatter.

According to the sharp-eyed sages at CoinGecko, these two stars commanded a jaw-dropping 62.8% of all investor interest—yes, nearly two-thirds! With AI tokens sashaying ahead at 35.7%, they gracefully nudged the ever-playful memecoins down to a still respectable 27.1%. Between them, they’ve turned the crypto ball into a rather exclusive tango.

Of the top 20 crypto narratives, six were memecoin-themed frolics and five AI-related extravaganzas. Quite the soirĂ©e, wouldn’t you agree?

Crypto circus

As Bobby Ong, CoinGecko’s co-founder and COO, lamented with all the zest of a man tired of reruns (April 17, via X): “Seems like we have yet to see another new narrative emerge and we are still following past quarters’ trends. I guess we are all tired from the same old trends repeating themselves.” One suspects he is sipping something stronger than tea.

Memecoins romped with renewed vigor just before President Donald Trump’s grand entrance on January 20, flaunting their new stars—the Official Trump (TRUMP) and Official Melania (MELANIA) tokens—and lighting up Solana’s stage like fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

Yet, as every tragicomedy requires a twist, the memecoin mania has been accused of robbing utility tokens like Solana (SOL) of their thunder, leaving SOL’s price to wobble like a teetering soufflĂ©, down about 48% since Trump’s debut. TradingView data confirms that the magic was, alas, mostly smoke and mirrors.

SOL price chart

When Memecoins Took a Nosy Dive Post-Libra Debacle đŸȘ‚

Oh, dear. The crypto carnival’s not without its collapses. Case in point: the Libra token fiasco. This memecoin, gallantly backed by Argentine President Javier Milei, plummeted like a lead balloon, obliterating $4 billion in market value faster than you can say “pump and dump.” Insiders allegedly squeezed out $107 million in liquidity, turning the price into a tragic 94% nosedive.

Libra token crash

Following this calamity, memecoins “fell off a cliff,” with new tokens on Solana’s Pump.fun platform dropping a hefty 56.3% from January’s dizzying peak to a mere 31,000 deployments by quarter’s end. Graduated token rates dipped to a meek 0.7%, a stark contrast to January’s slightly more hopeful 1.4%.

“Daily tokens deployed has fallen by over 56.3% from its peak in January to 31K at the end of 2025 Q1. The percentage of ‘graduated’ tokens also fell drastically to 0.7%, compared to 1.4% in 2025 January.”

Token deployment decline

Yet, as any good show must go on, the “politicam meme” trend may have expired, but the most cunning traders are still chasing that speculative memecoin folly with gleeful abandon. Nicolai Sondergaard of Nansen put it succinctly to CryptoMoon: memecoins might merely be a delightful “fun play”—after all, how else to stay sane when the usual Bitcoin and Ether dramas loom large?

Oh, and the piĂšce de rĂ©sistance: a sharp-witted trader turned a modest $2,000 into a staggering $43 million with Pepe (PEPE) memecoin, though not before missing the very peak and settling for a tidy $10 million profit despite a 70% drop thereafter. Bravo! đŸ„‚

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2025-04-17 12:59