August Crypto Market Review: Sharp Market Decline, AI Narrative Makes a Comeback (With Top-Performing Tokens List)
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August Crypto Market Review: Sharp Market Decline, AI Narrative Makes a Comeback (With Top-Performing Tokens List)
DeFi 1.0 was one of the best-performing categories this month.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Viktor
Translation: TechFlow
Welcome to this month’s recap. I’m Viktor, and you can find me on Twitter and Telegram. Hope you enjoy the read!
Main events in August include:
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The most significant event of August was undoubtedly the sharp market decline on August 5: Bitcoin experienced a steep drop, falling from $60,000 to a low of $49,000. This plunge was primarily attributed to the unwinding of yen carry trades, as Japanese equities also fell over 20% within three days. The sudden crash triggered widespread liquidations across markets, with $ETH dropping to $2,100. This set the tone for the rest of August—cautious trading within ranges while participants waited for signs of recovery. $BTC rebounded above $62,000 on August 8, but that proved only a local peak amid highly volatile conditions.
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On August 23, Jerome Powell spoke at the Jackson Hole symposium, signaling that the Fed might cut rates in September. The long-awaited "pivot" was confirmed, sparking a strong rally in crypto markets, pushing $BTC to $65,000. However, this optimism didn't last—the market corrected by -6% within days due to profit-taking and high open interest.
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Another notable incident was the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France on August 24. This news directly impacted native tokens within the Telegram ecosystem, particularly $TON, which dropped 20%, while $NOT declined 25%. Despite these losses, the memecoin $REDO on the Ton network surged triple after the arrest. Pavel Durov has since been released but must remain in France.
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Ripple's legal battle with the SEC saw new developments when a federal judge imposed a $125 million penalty on Ripple. The market reacted positively, viewing the fine as relatively light given Ripple’s resources. As a result, $XRP rose 30%, though gains faded quickly due to subsequent profit-taking.
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August also saw the launch of a new cat-themed memecoin called $CAT, inspired by the popular Simon’s Cat character. To my knowledge, the team behind $CAT is the same as that behind $FLOKI, enabling $CAT’s market cap to surge rapidly from $80 million to $200 million. The close link to $FLOKI was crucial, as $FLOKI holders were eligible for an airdrop from $CAT’s supply—this drove $FLOKI up 40% during the week leading up to the snapshot on August 29, though it naturally pulled back 20% afterward.
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Besides $CAT, another mid-cap project launched on the Ton network: $DOGS. It currently holds a market cap of about $550 million, having briefly reached $800 million.
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Another launch was $RTR (Restore the Republic), which skyrocketed from a $20 million market cap to $150 million early in August as crypto traders speculated it could be a Donald Trump-backed token. However, after Eric Trump publicly denied any association, the token crashed 99%, plunging to just $8 million within hours.
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Maker announced a rebrand to Sky on August 27, renaming $DAI to $USDS. The announcement sparked a brief 6% rally, but the broader market soon turned downward.
Key Themes in August:
Alt L1s and the “Next SOL” Narrative
With $SOL's fully diluted valuation (FDV) approaching $100 billion, traders began searching for the “next SOL,” with $SUI emerging as a top contender. It rallied over 140% from its lows and was widely seen as a potential successor. $SUI represents traditional L1 plays—a historically popular theme in crypto—and its strong performance captured significant market attention.
Other venture-backed L1s like $ZETA and $SAGA also performed well following the August 5 rebound, but $SUI dominated headlines. APT and SEI also staged strong comebacks.
Some older L1s such as FTM and MATIC showed strength too, rising 50% to 100% from their August 5 lows (before later retracing). Their shared catalysts included rebranding efforts and new branding: $S (Sonic Network) and $POL respectively.
The Tron Boom
A major theme this month was the "Tron boom." Justin Sun began promoting the memecoin $SUNDOG, a clear signal of growing momentum on Tron.
$SUNDOG's market cap surged from $60 million to over $300 million at its peak. In hindsight, it offered a 5x opportunity—one I believe appears at least once per month.
As mentioned, this surge fueled the broader “Tron boom,” driving $TRX up 25% in one week, despite already being one of the best-performing assets over the previous months. $SUN, the main decentralized exchange (DEX) on Tron, launched a competitor called sunfun, which shot up from a $90 million market cap to $400 million in just days.
Other key memecoins on Tron included: $SUNWUKONG (up from $1M to $36M peak), $FOFAR ($1M to $35M), and $SUNCAT ($1M to $23M). All have since pulled back sharply from their highs, suggesting the Tron boom has ended. Only $SUNDOG remains above a $200 million market cap.
AI Theme Makes a Comeback
The AI token sector, largely stagnant since May, showed signs of revival in August. $RENDER led the charge, rising 40% in a week, while $FET (now merged with $OCEAN and $AGIX into ASI) jumped 80%. This resurgence appeared driven by Nvidia’s earnings report, which boosted sentiment around AI. Still, even as NVDA beat expectations, it saw classic "sell-the-news" price action.
$TAO also showed relative strength in August, forming higher lows against BTC since its early July crash.
Additional Notes on Cryptos and Market Trends:
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In terms of relative performance, BTCfi did quite well this month. $STX showed strength against BTC due to the Nakamoto upgrade on August 28 (though this also became a textbook case of “sell the news”). Ordinals-based coins generally act as strong beta to $BTC, especially SATS and RATS, both of which posted massive gains from lows to highs in August—though they carry high risk for long-term holding.
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DeFi 1.0 was among the strongest-performing categories this month, with $AAVE leading the pack, closing the month up 21%, followed closely by $CRV.
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KMNO and DRIFT are two Solana projects that launched at poor timing but still achieved solid FDVs. Both have strong fundamentals and were among the top performers in the Solana ecosystem in August.
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$ZRO was the strongest new VC-backed coin over the past two months, but it dropped in early September. Under current market conditions, relying on extended periods of relative strength is unreliable.
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Among major memecoins, $POPCAT was the best performer in August. Overall, however, the memecoin market remained weak.
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Quietly, $HNT emerged as the best-performing large-cap coin this month.
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$GIGA, a Solana-based memecoin inspired by the GigaChad meme, reached a $300 million market cap in mid-August and still holds above $150 million. This strength can’t be ignored, though I’d prefer to see a major pullback before joining the GIGA bandwagon.
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$FWOG was another notable strong Solana memecoin, nearly reaching $100 million despite weakness in the broader Solana meme space.
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The Neiro narrative continued in August, with the primary $NEIRO on Ethereum hitting a $300 million market cap and listing on Bybit—but it has since collapsed to under $30 million. A second $NEIRO on Ethereum (“NEIRO CTO”) also rose to a $60 million market cap.
Top Performers List:
Best-Performing Large-Cap Coins in August:
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HNT: +45%
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AAVE: +21%
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TRX: +23%
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SUI: +13%
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CRV: +9%
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ALPH: +9%
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XMR: +7%
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FTM: +3%
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APT: +1%
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IMX: -2%
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FET: -2%
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ZRO: -9%
Notable Small-Cap Outperformers in August:
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SUNDOG: +453%
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SUN: +260%
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PORK: +132%
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VIDT: +127%
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RARE: +115%
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SHFL: +33%
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RSC: +22%
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LYXE: +26%
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PEPECOIN: +24%
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OHM: +14%
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SATS: +10%
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RSR: +9%
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SUPER: +8%
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NMR: +7%
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PEOPLE: +3%
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GIGA: +3%
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