Meme Coins Are Taking a Backseat to AI Projects, and These 5 Have Big Potential for 2025

Since January 2025, significant decreases have been documented in meme coin market activity. Meme-inspired assets experienced their all-time peak market capitalization value of $124 billion in December before declining to $58 billion at the current moment.

Dogecoin (DOGE) is down 10% in only a month since the year began, and Donald Trump’s OFFICIAL TRUMP has crashed from $72 to $11 – just a few examples of meme coins off to a rough start of the year.

On the other hand, Dragonfly Capital reports that since the beginning of 2025, AI agent tokens have been outperforming meme coins, with these relatively new assets showing notably stronger market momentum.

AI and big data tokens have climbed to a $42.1 billion market cap, up 131.4%, thanks to growing buzz and a clearer sense that these tokens might actually go somewhere.

But that momentum isn’t evenly spread, some tokens are starting to pull ahead of the pack, and here are a few worth watching.

1. ANTIX

Through its AIGE technology, Antix drives a digital identity transformation by developing AI-powered, hyper-realistic digital avatars that can replicate human movements and emotional behaviors. Every avatar is paired with an NFT Passport that confirms who owns it and proves it’s authentic, ensuring stronger protection for digital assets and creative rights.

The traditional production of fully realistic digital characters used to involve extensive weeks of development and budgets that easily reached between $100,000 and $500,000. Advanced solutions from Antix have transformed character development so production times dropped to several hours only, with costs decreased by 90%.

The Antix team has already put their skills and creativity to work on big-name projects like Game of Thrones and World of Tanks. Their move into AI and digital humans has even grabbed the attention of major brands like Warner Bros, EA Sports, and HBO.

But it’s not just the entertainment world paying attention – Antix’s tech has potential in customer support, social media, education, and more. And it’s not limited to big industries either; individual users stand to benefit just as much, since Antix democratizes virtual content creation and enhances monetization opportunities in a multi-billion-dollar market.

At its core, the ANTIX token is what makes the Antix platform tick – it fuels every part of the ecosystem and helps boost growth, user experience, and community engagement.

ANTIX token utility:

• Users can choose from five subscription tiers on Antix: Free, Member Standard, Member Premium, Creator Standard, and Creator Premium – all payable with ANTIX tokens.
• Whether it’s avatars, skills, gestures, languages, or accessories, everything can be traded on the Antix marketplace using ANTIX tokens. Since avatars are fully customizable – right down to their traits – they can also be bought, sold or rented out.

• ANTIX tokens can be locked up to earn rewards through staking. This also knocks down platform fees and opens up a few bonus features.
• Holding ANTIX means having a say in how things move forward. When big decisions come up, it’s the token holders who get to weigh in.
• Sellers can push their digital items higher up the marketplace feed by using ANTIX tokens to pay for ads.

Early buyers can grab ANTIX at $0.08 – a 38% discount compared to the $0.14 price set for launch. With over $7.6 million already sold, this early phase offers access to the ecosystem at a lower cost. Tokens are available now through the official sale page using crypto (USDT, USDC, BNB, ETH, and several others) or fiat (Visa and Mastercard purchases are supported).

Of the 1 billion ANTIX tokens, 25.8% is reserved for early buyers at a discount, 24.4% is focused on ecosystem growth, 15.8% supports community efforts, and 8% goes toward liquidity. All in all, it’s a healthy and thoughtful distribution.

2. Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol modernizes the decentralized data economy with Compute-to-Data while protecting privacy through analytical model access without exposing raw data to unauthorized parties.

The protocol has attracted users from the AI sectors, as well as the DeFi and healthcare sectors, and enterprise data-sharing applications.

The traditional control of data monetization lay with centralized authorities that restricted openness and prevented numerous participants from accessing premium-quality information. Through its platform, Ocean Protocol empowers data providers to earn profits from their data resources without surrendering ownership rights, so they need less assistance from middlemen.

OCEAN token utility:

• OCEAN tokens enable the decentralized data marketplace to function by supporting every aspect of data buying and selling operations alongside ownership access procedures.
• Users who stake OCEAN tokens gain rewards as they secure high-quality datasets by monitoring their popularity and actual usage amounts.
• Developers, curators, and community members who help grow the ecosystem can earn OCEAN tokens as rewards for their contributions.
• OCEAN holders can vote on important decisions about how the Ocean Protocol evolves, giving the community a voice in its future direction.

3. Oasis Network

Oasis Network is transforming Web3 and AI through its Sapphire technology – the first and only confidential EVM, enabling developers to build dApps with customizable privacy settings that range from fully private to public. The new feature achieves a necessary security level required to protect data in blockchain systems.

Traditionally, developers faced numerous difficulties when adding privacy capabilities to blockchain applications due to demanding requirements and specialized programming expertise and lengthy development time. Developers benefit from Oasis Sapphire because it provides built-in confidential smart contract features that make privacy integration simple while maintaining light resource requirements.

The ROSE token provides utility to the Oasis Network ecosystem by functioning as its core operational token. The consensus layer depends on ROSE tokens for transaction fee payments and staking processes as well as delegation operations which protects network security and operations.

ROSE token utility:

• Network users pay transaction fees in ROSE so they can operate with efficiency and minimal cost.
• Network consensus participation is possible through ROSE token staking allowing users to gain rewards while maintaining network stability and protection.
• Token holders can choose delegation as a token staking option to share their rights with validators who then participate in network security functions.
• ROSE token holders play an active role in guiding network governance decisions as they can influence what direction Oasis Network will take in its future development.

4. Covalent

Covalent serves as one of the premier blockchain data providers by delivering on-chain information utilizing a simple API.

Covalent functions as a blockchain data solution that merges information from multiple networks using its singular interface so developers, together with analysts and enterprises, can easily access structured blockchain data.

CQT token utility:

• CQT is used to stake and secure the Covalent Network. Validators and delegators stake CQT to help process and verify data requests.
• Projects and developers use CQT to pay for access to Covalent’s rich on-chain data through the API, making it a core part of the data economy.
• CQT holders can vote on proposals and decisions that shape the future of the Covalent protocol – like upgrades, funding, and ecosystem changes.
• Node operators are rewarded in CQT for serving data and maintaining the reliability of the network.
• Token holders who don’t want to run a node can still participate by delegating their CQT to validators and earning a share of the rewards.

Covalent enables general blockchain data access through its simple API solution, which removes the requirement for custom indexing systems. It provides scalability and ease of use, which fits well for creating dApps as well as DeFi platforms and analytics tools.

The project stands ready to establish itself as a core Web3 infrastructure platform because of its rapidly expanding use and its extensive focus on decentralized operations.

5. LayerAI

LayerAI (once known as CryptoGPT) represents a modern infrastructure platform that uses artificial intelligence alongside blockchain technology to develop a decentralized data system.

Users benefit from privacy-preserving AI training through the blockchain because LayerAI integrates decentralized data control, while traditional AI models require centralization.

LAI token utility:

• LAI is the main token used to pay for transactions and activity across the LayerAI network.
• Token holders can stake LAI to earn regular rewards and unlock additional features within the ecosystem. Staking LAI also gives voting rights, allowing holders to have a say in important decisions that shape the platform’s future.
• By staking LAI, users can unlock Data Capsule NFTs, which are required to earn rewards for contributing valuable data.
• Holding or staking LAI can lead to discounts on fees across different parts of the LayerAI platform, especially in the Data Market.

LayerAI operates as an AI model training framework that moves control from corporate giants to people while providing better rewards for data ownership. As a decentralized platform, it demonstrates excellent potential to become a fundamental AI base for Web3 applications because of its privacy protections.

Conclusion

The rapid rise of AI-based crypto marks a big shift in the world of digital assets. Unlike meme coins, which are starting to lose steam, AI tokens are aiming for real-world use – and that’s what’s catching investors’ attention. Getting in early on these AI crypto projects could lead to major long-term gains.

The world is already seeing AI agents show up across nearly every major industry , and that’s a pretty clear sign it’s going to shape the future of tech. Big companies and institutional investors are already on board, which means those who move early stand to benefit the most.