The beginning of 2025 was not the most rosy for the AI agent sector in crypto. Tokens, which in January pleased investors with impressive growth charts, suddenly collapsed by almost half. What's going on?

Why did everything fall so sharply?

On the surface, there are standard reasons: a change in the macroeconomic situation, political events (for example, Trump's inauguration) and a general decrease in the capitalization of the crypto market. But if you dig deeper, this is not the only thing.

The main blow to the AI token sector was dealt by the release of the Chinese DeepSeek model. It is not just better, it is an order of magnitude more efficient than its Western counterparts, including ChatGPT. And here the market reacted: if there is AI that works faster and cheaper, why pay for tokens of old solutions?

There is also a psychological moment. AI agents are like a trendy gadget: at first everyone is delighted, but after a while the novelty wears off and people start asking: “What is the real value?”

As Haseeb Qureshi from Dragonfly aptly noted, “It’s like seeing an elephant drawing. There is a wow effect, but the thousandth time it happens, it’s no longer impressive.”

There is no need to panic. Yes, the collapse is unpleasant. But this is not the end. The AI agent sector is still promising. Large players like Franklin Templeton and VanEck see potential in it. According to their forecasts, by the end of 2025, up to a million AI agents may appear on the blockchain.

Will developers be able to offer not just “another AI bot”, but truly useful products? If so, the market will experience a second wave of growth, this time on a healthier basis.