A Comparison of New and Old AI Meme Coins: Chasing the Rising Sun Once More Before the Sunset
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A Comparison of New and Old AI Meme Coins: Chasing the Rising Sun Once More Before the Sunset
Current Status of New and Old AI-Related Cryptocurrencies: AI Agent Tokens Gain Popularity, While General AI Tokens Cool Down.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Wenser, Odaily Planet News
At CES2025 on January 7, Jensen Huang, founder of NVIDIA and a leading figure in the AI industry, boldly declared: “AI Agents have the potential to become the next robotics industry, with an industrial scale reaching several trillion dollars.” Although the audience at the event reacted rather indifferently to this grand statement, the crypto industry has already bought into it—tokens related to AI Agents such as VIRTUAL, ai16z, and swarms have recently become rare focal points of market attention, with price performances significantly outperforming the broader market. In contrast, established AI concept projects like FET, WLD, and ARKM have appeared somewhat lackluster lately, with prices substantially down from their peaks.
Odaily Planet News will conduct a comparative analysis of old and new AI concept tokens in this article to gain insight into current market trends.
Current State of New and Old AI Concept Tokens: AI Agent Tokens Gain Popularity While Traditional AI Tokens Cool Off
From a market perspective, AI Agent tokens represented by VIRTUAL, ai16z, and swarms are undoubtedly the most eye-catching projects right now. Compared to traditional AI concept tokens such as FET, WLD, and ARKM, these newer tokens not only incorporate AI themes but also offer more ambitious narratives, lower entry barriers, and higher return expectations. The reasons behind this trend can be summarized as follows:
Market惯性 of Chasing Novelty Over Legacy: It’s Easier to Board a New Car Than Push an Old One
As a 24/7 fast-moving sector, the cryptocurrency market inherently favors new trends and technologies—a common trait that has led to the established practice of "chasing new launches while ignoring older ones." For retail investors and crypto communities, compared to heavily held, concentrated, and widely trapped "legacy AI coins," newly launched AI Agent-related tokens are naturally more attractive. With lower entry thresholds—both in terms of individual token price and overall market cap—there are far more opportunities to get involved early with AI Agent tokens.
More Compelling Narratives: AI Agents Are Far More Engaging Than Merely 'Riding the AI Wave'
From the standpoint of narrative—the most discussed aspect in crypto circles—launching AI Agents, trading their tokens, posting social media content, and interacting with fans is much more exciting, entertaining, and conversation-worthy than serious attempts by traditional projects to awkwardly attach themselves to the AI theme.
After the emergence of Truth Terminal (GOAT), the crypto industry effectively opened a Pandora's box for AI Agents, unleashing AI capabilities in ways previously unimagined. This development has endowed cryptocurrencies with stronger technological and futuristic attributes, along with richer storytelling potential—In the crypto space, AI Agents go beyond merely assisting humans in content creation; they now hold the possibility of directly participating in socioeconomic activities and financial transactions.
Divergent Project Trajectories: Teams, Technologies, and Development Directions Differ Significantly
In terms of project evolution, today's AI Agent and associated token initiatives differ notably from earlier-generation AI concept projects.
Team-wise, AI Agent and token projects often originate from solo developers. On one hand, AI and AI Agents provide individuals—even non-professionals—with low-cost, low-barrier development paths. On the other hand, independent developers can respond faster to market trends and adjust directions based on real-time feedback, resulting in lower decision-making and iteration costs. Simply put, they better fit the “DIY crew” model. By contrast, legacy AI concept projects typically stem from well-established teams with grand visions, aiming to attract large investments through big-picture storytelling. These projects progress over years and are primarily accountable to institutional investors rather than community-driven. FET (Fetch.ai) exemplifies this model—it raised $5 million in March 2021 and another $40 million in March 2023, and was Binance’s second IEO crowdfunding project, making it a product of top-tier resources.
Technologically, older AI concept projects often treated AI more as a tool or marketing veneer, emphasizing practical use cases and user scenarios, yet actual implementation remained distant from true AI integration, creating a sense of disconnect with end users. In contrast, modern AI Agent and token projects take a simpler, more direct approach—built upon the recent explosion in AI technology, they feature lower understanding thresholds, greater technical extensibility, and allow hands-on user interaction, enabling deeper and more immediate user education around the technology.
In terms of direction, legacy AI concept coin projects mostly focus on using AI to build future digital economies—an idea that sounds more like empty promises ("pie in the sky") and offers limited tangible alignment with market or user interests. Meanwhile, AI Agent and token projects offer concrete visual identities for user interaction, enable straightforward token trading, and satisfy market demands whether through speculation or social engagement.
In summary, AI Agent token projects like VIRTUAL, ai16z, and swarms resemble Meme coins wrapped in AI themes, whereas traditional AI concept coins like FET, WLD, and ARKM align more closely with the concept of “VC coins,” remaining distant from grassroots communities. Their meme appeal pales in comparison to AI Agents, and they struggle to compete in terms of buzz and relevance against the latest wave of AI Agent projects, developers, and associated tokens—gradually drifting further away from value discovery.
Status Update on Legacy AI Concept Coins: Projects Progress Amid Token Burns, Dumps, and Unlock Events
Despite relatively muted market performance, various legacy AI concept projects continue advancing in different ways. Below is a detailed overview:
FET: 5 Million Tokens to Be Burned on January 10
The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI Alliance), the organization behind FET, announced on January 5 plans to conduct its first burn of 5 million FET tokens on January 10, introducing deflationary pressure into its ecosystem. This milestone forms part of the ASI Train model outlined in its roadmap.
Possibly sensing the growing excitement around the AI sector, FET cannot afford to stay idle and must strive hard to capture more market attention for both its token performance and project development.
WLD: Steady Progress, Ongoing Token Movements
Worldcoin previously launched Worldchain and introduced a new World ID Passport Credential in November last year, currently being piloted in select countries including Chile, Colombia, Malaysia, and South Korea. The World ID credential allows individuals to link valid ID documents (starting with NFC-enabled passports) to their World ID without sharing any data with TFH, the World Foundation, or any third party. Additionally, the World Foundation continues distributing WLD tokens to individuals holding valid World ID passport credentials.
According to email notifications sent by Worldcoin to users, the number of community participants has reached 20 million. Regarding token movements, in early December last year, PeckShield monitoring reported that addresses linked to Alameda transferred approximately 5 million WLD (worth about $16 million) to addresses 0xd9C4 and 0xEF90.
ARKM: Platform Updates, Derivatives Exchange Promotion Underway
Arkham, once famous in Chinese-speaking crypto circles for the saying “ignored before, unattainable now,” continues its深耕 in blockchain data analytics. On January 6, according to an official announcement, Arkham launched a new Market Data page, allowing users to track key token metrics across spot, futures, and options products on multiple CEXs.
In November last year, Arkham officially announced the launch of its derivatives exchange, ARKHAM PERPETUALS EXCHANGE, followed by the introduction of an exchange points system (ARKHAM EXCHANGE POINTS) to incentivize user trading. Since then, the team has actively promoted registration via multiple tweets on X, though results so far appear minimal.
For platforms, user acquisition remains the top priority
Market Overview: Historical Declines of Legacy AI Tokens Reach Up to 81%
At the time of writing, the market performance of representative “legacy AI concept tokens” is as follows:
FET trades at $1.35, down 13.11% over 24 hours, with a historical high of $3.48—representing a decline of approximately 61.5%; market cap stands at $3.54 billion;
WLD trades at $2.27, down 13.21% over 24 hours, with a historical high of $11.96—representing a decline of approximately 81%; market cap stands at $1.96 billion;
ARKM trades at $1.40, down 15.98% over 24 hours, with a historical high of $2.70—representing a decline of approximately 48%; market cap stands at $468 million.
In parallel, AI Agent-related token valuations continue rising, having now stabilized at key levels. According to CoinGecko data:
VIRTUAL trades at $3.59, with a market cap of $3.59 billion;
ai16z trades at $1.83, with a market cap of around $2 billion;
swarms trades at $0.35, with a market cap of around $350 million.
In many ways, in terms of market performance and discussion热度, AI Agent-related token projects are now holding their own.
Conclusion: Can Old Trees Bloom Anew? It Depends on How Legacy Projects Respond
In conclusion, we can only make a provisional judgment: legacy AI concept token projects are currently lagging behind the latest AI Agent-focused projects. Whether these older projects can experience a resurgence, find new growth vectors, and reclaim market attention will largely depend on how swiftly and effectively they adapt to new technologies, strategies, and emerging trends.
If they remain passive, all hope may be lost; if they rise to the challenge, different outcomes—and answers—may emerge.
List of token unlock tracking websites:
FET—https://tokenomist.ai/fetch-ai, next major unlock scheduled for January 28, 2025, amounting to 3.34 million tokens;
WLD—https://tokenomist.ai/worldcoin-wld, next major unlock scheduled for June 24, 2026.
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