Unfortunately, the AI sector was unable to avoid the carnage this week and suffered one of its worst seven-day declines on record.
TL;DR:
- BTC slides to $81K as Fear & Greed hits record 10.
- AI sector down 14.7%, erasing nearly two years of gains.
- Headline AI news: Cardano exploit, Numerai raise, Bezos’ Project Prometheus.
In the last seven days, Bitcoin (BTC) slid to $81K, the CMC Fear and Greed Index hit an all-time low of 10, and most altcoins suffered heavy losses as bear market fears amplified.
Unfortunately, the AI sector was unable to avoid the carnage this week and suffered one of its worst seven-day declines on record.
Here’s what unfolded 👇
AI Market Recap
It was another punishing week for the AI sector. The sector shed a further $3.6 billion from its market capitalization (mcap) following a 14.7% drawdown.
In line with this, the vast majority of AI tokens are heavily in the red on the seven-day chart, with the 10 largest assets suffering some of their worst weekly declines in 2025 so far.
Among the top 10, Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) held up best, losing just 2.3% week-on-week (WoW) in a rare display of strength.
Currently, just 12% of the 100 largest AI tokens are in the green, demonstrating the broad nature of this week’s crash.
The tokens that best resisted decline include:
- Intuition (TRUST): +62.1% (Biconomy trading competition)
- Grass (GRASS): +24.3% (Speculative bid ahead of the first Token Holder Call)
- LimeWire (LMWR): +19.8% (Unclear catalyst)
- Kite (KITE): +18.6% (Biconomy trading competition)
This week’s trending list is largely composed of tokens in the ~$30 million mcap range, suggesting increased interest among small caps.
Source: Top AI Tokens Page
On the flip side, this week’s worst performers include:
- Nillion (NIL): -59.6%
- ChainOpera AI (COAI): -33.5%
- DeAgentAI (AIA): -33.3%
- Quack AI (Q): -33%
Overall, the sector has now retraced almost two years of growth, with its mcap falling back to levels not seen since December 2023.
But this decline isn’t unique to the AI sector.
Per data from Artemis, almost all digital asset categories are in the red on the weekly timeframe, with the AI sector actually holding up slightly better than most during this historic drawdown when ranked by decline in their weighted average fully diluted valuations.
Source: Artemis
What to Do Now
Here’s how to survive and thrive during periods of market turbulence.
- Identify asymmetric opportunities: There are excellent R/R opportunities everywhere. Consider identifying trends among this week’s gainer list.
- De-risk if overexposed: If being wrong would significantly compromise your financial status, consider de-risking or taking some profits off the table.
- Reconsider your thesis: Does your thesis still fit today’s market environment? If not, consider revising it using up-to-date data and without bias.
AI News Roundup
Below, we’ve provided a recap of this week’s most significant updates, ensuring you don’t miss a beat.
Cardano Hit by ‘Vibe Coded’ AI Exploit Narrative: Cardano suffered a temporary chainsplit after a user tested an old node bug using AI-guided “vibe coded” instructions, sparking debate on AI-written exploits; Hoskinson called it a personal attack and says the FBI is involved.
https://twitter.com/KpunToN00b/status/1991937269910139194
Numerai Secures $30M To Scale AI-Powered Hedge Fund: AI-driven hedge fund Numerai raised $30M in a Series C led by top university endowments at a $500M valuation, aiming to expand its AI engineering team, data-science tournament, and institutional product suite as it races toward ~$1B in AUM.
https://twitter.com/numerai/status/1991541261187313709
Bezos Launches $6.2B AI Startup Project Prometheus: Jeff Bezos returns as co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a $6.2B AI startup aiming to build “physical world” models for engineering and manufacturing, co-led with ex-Google X scientist Vik Bajaj and staffed by talent from OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta.
https://twitter.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1990449341471814111
>> That’s a wrap for this update. Check in next week to keep your finger on the AI market pulse.
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