Meme Cash and AI Publish Destructive Returns Regardless of Main Crypto Narratives in 2025

Meme cash, AI, DeFi, and DEX narratives all fell sharply, whereas RWA emerged because the standout winner this yr.

Meme cash and synthetic intelligence (AI) have been dominating crypto mindshare in 2025, amid huge investor curiosity the world over. However a brand new report means that their reputation did not translate into efficiency.

This might imply that the frenzy for purely speculative crypto could also be subsidizing, particularly as buyers develop cautious amid a uneven This fall.

Weak Efficiency Throughout Meme Coin and AI

In line with CoinGecko’s newest report, regardless of rating as probably the most adopted narratives this yr, meme cash and AI tokens delivered common year-to-date losses of -31.6% and -50.2%, respectively. Many of the largest meme cash declined between 44.6% and 82.5% YTD, with Ribbita by Virtuals standing out because the lone exception.

An identical sample performed out throughout AI crypto as nicely, the place solely Alchemist AI and Kite prevented steep drawdowns, whereas the remainder of the sector fell between 49.8% and 84.3%.

Past meme cash and AI, different extensively adopted narratives additionally struggled, which was indicative of how uneven 2025 has been throughout the market. DeFi posted common losses of -34.8%, and roughly matched meme coin efficiency. In the meantime, decentralized change (DEX) tokens declined 55.5% and carefully mirrored the AI ​​narrative’s downturn.

Layer 2s continued to disappoint for a second straight yr, after recording common losses of -40.6% YTD, regardless of their long-term position in scaling Ethereum and different networks.

RWA and Layer 1 Outperform

In distinction to those laggards, real-world belongings (RWA) emerged as probably the most worthwhile crypto narrative of 2025. This cohort delivered common positive factors of 185.8% YTD throughout its largest tokens, and this outperformance was pushed primarily by Keeta Community’s explosive 1,794.9% rally, alongside sturdy positive factors from Zebec Community and Maple Finance.

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Nonetheless, total returns have been nonetheless far under final yr’s 819.5% surge.

Layer 1s ranked because the second-best-performing narrative with common positive factors of 80.3%, and have been supported by outsized rallies in privacy-focused chains Zcash and Monero, in addition to resilience from Bitcoin Money, BNB, and Tron. Notably, RWA and layer 1 have been the one narratives to put up a second consecutive worthwhile yr.

In the meantime, the “Made in USA” narrative remained modestly optimistic at 30.6% YTD, largely as a consequence of Zcash offsetting losses elsewhere. On the reverse finish of the spectrum, Gaming and DePIN recorded the steepest drawdowns of 75.2% and 76.7% YTD, whereas the Solana ecosystem fell 64.2% regardless of main in mindshare.