After impressive double-digit growth in 2023, followed by a three-digit surge in 2024, AI tokens are back in the red, mirroring a downturn last seen in 2022. Since the start of the year, these tokens have been steadily losing value, resulting in eye-watering losses just a week before the year`s end.
According to data presented by CryptoPresales.com, AI tokens have lost 75% of their value year-over-year, wiping out a staggering $53 billion. Here are the biggest losers among them.
December Alone Brought a $10 Billion Wipeout
AI tokens have seen pretty wild market swings over the past two years. After reaching an all-time high of $44.9 billion early in 2024, their market cap was slashed to $23 billion by mid-August amid the US government’s expanded export restrictions on AI chips to China, geopolitical tensions, and profit-taking. However, renewed investor confidence, rising adoption of AI-powered blockchain solutions, and strong demand for utility-based tokens have driven a remarkable recovery in the next four months, turning 2024 into another successful year. Last year, their combined market cap jumped 157% to $55.5 billion, following an impressive 1,873% gain in 2023. But things changed drastically in 2025, sending AI tokens back on the path they’d seen in 2022.
Once the hype faded, many traders moved away from smaller, riskier tokens. Thinner liquidity and a steady flow of new tokens into the market added to selling pressure, leaving AI and big data tokens especially exposed whenever markets pulled back or economic uncertainty picked up. The result was a multibillion-dollar wipeout, and the CoinMarketCap data show just how severe it was.
The combined market cap of all AI and big data tokens hit an all-time high of $69.9 billion last December, fueled by rising adoption of AI-powered blockchain solutions and strong demand for utility tokens. But sentiment shifted in Q1, with the market losing 63% of its total value, or $44 billion by April. Although Q2 and Q3 brought a modest recovery, the AI token market cap remained around $30 billion, only half of what it was just six months earlier. However, things went from bad to worse in Q4.
The broader crypto market shakedown, driven by fading hype, tighter liquidity, and a broader risk-off mood, pushed AI tokens even deeper into the red, causing their market cap to plunge by $4 billion in November, followed by a staggering $10 billion wipeout in December alone. At the time of writing, the combined market cap of all AI and big data tokens stood at $16.8 billion, roughly four times lower than a year ago.
Eight of the Top 10 AI Tokens Suffered Over 70% Losses
The price movements of the ten largest AI and big data tokens by market cap also show just how severe this market drop has been. Since last December, five of the top ten tokens have lost more than 70% in value, three are down by over 80%, while only two managed to limit losses to around 50%.
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance is the biggest loser among them, shedding 84% of its value over the past year. Render and The Graph aren`t far behind, with 82% losses each. Virtuals Protocol, the biggest winner of 2024 with a massive 3,500% gain, has lost 73% of its value this year, mirroring declines of Injective, Filecoin, Internet Computer, and NEAR Protocol.
