Altcoin is entering another winter, what should we do?

Since the beginning of this year, the biggest feature of the crypto world has been the lackluster sustainability of the increase, not only reflected in exchangeAltCoin, but also facing a significant decline even in on-chain currencies that performed well in 2024 Q4.

The following is the AI Agent's main cryptocurrency price changes in 2025:

• Virtual：-79.2%
• Ai16z: -85.5%
• AIXBT：-68%
• Griffain：-80.3%
• Buzz：-72.4%
• Fartcoin: -67.5%
• ARC: -62%
• Swarms：-45%

It can be observed that within less than three months, the head projects of the red-hot narrative have fallen by 80%, and although it is not possible to directly determine whether this track is fake, the loss of attention is an objective fact and cannot be regained in a short period of time.

Let's take a look at the narrative of celebrity coins. Trump fired the first shot, and then other celebrities, and even countries, followed suit.

The following are the main celebrity coins, the situation of falling from the high point:

• Trump: -77.1%
• Melania：-91%
• Vine：-92.7%
• jailstool：-93.5%
• Jellyjelly：-98%
• CAR: -98.5%
• Libra: -94.3%

In the crypto world, there is a saying called "chaoxin bu chaojiu", which means that funds are willing to choose relatively new narratives for speculation, but compared to AI Agent, the celebrity coin track is obviously more bloody and cruel. What are the current issues with these two tracks? Is there still a breakthrough in the lack of new narratives in the crypto world?

Reference: dexscreener

Current narrative dilemma: speculative trading culture of pure concepts prevails

In terms of the AI Agent track, many projects are still in the stage of "concept demonstration" and "future blueprint", and there is a lack of products that can be actually used and can be promoted on a large scale. Even if there are a number of operational services on the market, there are still problems such as complex interfaces and poor user experience, which make it impossible for ordinary investors to be truly sticky. What's worse is that in order to cater to investors' expectations for "AI + blockchain", the project team often first raises the price through exaggerated narratives, but the actual application repeatedly skips the ticket. Over time, the funds lose patience and their attention begins to shift, causing the price of the underlying token to fall sharply.

In the part of alts, although Trump is a topic of great interest, in the contemporary crypto world, the "celebrity ending effect" is also quite obvious: there is probably no public figure in the world who can surpass Trump in terms of topics and influence. Subsequent national leaders, internet celebrities, and stars have tried to follow suit, but they have failed to replicate the initial funding enthusiasm and market sentiment. As market follow-up weakens, the altcoin track also presents a "flash in the pan" phenomenon, with investor confidence rapidly eroding and prices naturally plummeting.

However, the reason why these tracks fall into large fluctuations is that many projects are stuck at the level of 'speculation', lacking a real and sustainable revenue model. Whether it's AI Agent or celebrity coins, their core narrative relies on capital and heat quickly entering the market, but lacks incentives to keep users engaged in the long term. When the heat fades, the price is difficult to support, and it cannot attract new funds to enter again.

Find real income projects

To stand out in the current narrative-fatigued market, the key is to find products with 'real earnings' and be 'willing to share with users.' The so-called 'real earnings' is not just about making gains from the rising bubble when listed on the exchange, but continuously generating feedback through actual business models and trading behaviors, and giving back to token holders or ecosystem participants.

Hyperliquid fits the scale model, similar to centralized exchange in business, with revenue mainly from contract trading fees. However, Hyperliquid will repurchase Hype tokens with 100% of the fees, and the trading fees are determined by the trading volume, thus firmly linking the coin price with the product.

According to DefiLlama's data, Hyperliquid processes approximately 45% of the total 24-hour trading volume of all Perps DEX, currently at $3.78B per day, with daily revenue of around 1 million USD. Despite the current market downturn, it still maintains high activity, which is why the price of Hype remains strong even during the recent AltCoin winter.

No matter how hot the narrative is, it will pass, and it will still be a project with PMF, high user stickiness and real income that can remain in the crypto market for a long time.