David Edwards
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital, predicts that memecoins would be eclipsed by AI agent tokens by 2025, but that their appeal may decline by 2026. According to Qureshi, the “AI agent craze” will continue to be popular until 2025 because of the appeal of these tokens’ capabilities, especially in the social and predictive sectors. However, their novelty can wear off when more sophisticated AI technologies become available.
“Memecoins will continue to lose market share to ‘AI agent’ coins. I consider this a migration from financial nihilism to financial over-optimism,” Qureshi stated in a Jan. 1 post on X.
AI Agent Tokens: Their Ascent and Decline
“This is not the long-term disruption to watch out for from AI, but it will be [crypto Twitter’s] fixation because it is the most social,” he noted.
Chatbots with AI capabilities, such as Aixbt, have become popular in the cryptocurrency industry because they provide market predictions and insights. However, there are several problems with the technology. Qureshi warned that existing AI agents may be influenced to generate inaccurate or harmful results, which could damage their reputation.
The Declining Impact of Memecoins
The changing tides are supported by market statistics. According to CoinMarketCap, trading volumes of memecoins have decreased by 21.5% over the last day, while trading volumes of the leading AI and data tokens have increased by 7.95%.
While memecoins saw a 17.7% drop in market valuation over the last 30 days, the overall market capitalization of the top AI and data tokens is $54.4 billion. AI tokens only had a 1.66% decline during that time, demonstrating their relative stability.
Long-Term Issues with AI Tokens
Although AI tokens are predicted to continue to lead in the near future, it is unclear how relevant they will be in the long run. By 2025, Qureshi predicts that AI models will have improved, but he worries whether people would appreciate or notice little gains.
“By next year and the next generation of agents, maybe Aixbt will hallucinate a little less, go a little deeper, have a little smarter takes. But how much will you even notice? It’ll probably feel the same to most people,” he remarked.
2026: A Reversal?
Qureshi forecasts a “sudden reversal” in sentiment by 2026. He thinks that when AI chatbots become more common, people will become disenchanted with them, which will reduce their allure.
“Crypto takes a while to get bored of the shiny thing. The chatbots will become so ubiquitous that people will get turned off by them. Sentiment will reverse,” Qureshi said.
Theta Network (up 6.11%), Bittensor (up 10.6%), and Virtuals Protocol (up 57.3%) witnessed the biggest gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies last week.
McKenna, a cryptocurrency trader, reiterated the optimistic prediction for AI-driven prospects in 2025 and advised investors to exercise caution. To their 94,700 followers, McKenna wrote, “Pay attention, and you will get paid.”
Hunter Horsley, the CEO of Bitwise, suggested that AI agents might revolutionize financial institutions by drawing a comparison between their emergence and the establishment of corporations in the 19th century.
“I think it perfectly parallels the 19th-century advent of the corporation: able to enter contracts itself, hire humans, own things, and outlive people,” Horsley stated.
