Both the crypto and AI sectors faced massive sell-offs; over $4B was wiped from AI tokens, with just one token, GRASS, posting gains.
TL;DR…
- Market meltdown continues: Both the crypto and AI sectors faced massive sell-offs; over $4B was wiped from AI tokens, with just one token, GRASS, posting gains.
- Winners and survivors: GRASS (+10.5%) and FARTCOIN (+24.2%) defied the bloodbath; tokens like NIL, HEART, and QUBIC showed relative strength despite losses.
- New tech breakthroughs: Meta launched Llama 4, Runway debuted Gen-4, and VRAM AI’s testnet rollout sparked community buzz via its Genesis Core mint.
- AI funding keeps flowing: Ambient raised $74M to build an AI-driven blockchain rival to Bitcoin; BitDoctor launched its $AIDD token to revolutionize digital healthcare.
Carnage... that’s probably the best word to describe the current market situation.
Ranging from historic liquidations, circuit breaker activations, stock index meltdowns, and tariff-induced hysteria, this week was certainly a doozy.
Following last week’s market meltdown, the slide continued as many digital assets hit lows not seen for years.
Here’s how the situation unfolded over the last week.
Market Overview
Both crypto and traditional financial markets were devastated in the past week as the fallout from U.S. President Trump’s tariff system hit the world economy hard.
As you might expect, risk-on assets like Bitcoin and altcoins suffered significant drawdowns, with many digital assets crashing below long-standing support levels.
Source: Bitcoin (BTC) Coin Page
Although it held firm over the weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) eventually buckled and is now down 6.7% over the last week. It briefly touched under $74,500 before recovering to its current value of around $77,100.
Ethereum (ETH) suffered a 17.5% decline, while many major stock indices suffered their worst single-day decline in years. The FTSE plunged to a one-year low, the Japanese Nikkei Index entered a bear market, and futures for the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 showed devastating losses.
Here’s how the AI sector performed during this period:
AI Market Recap
The last week was one of the most devastating on record for the AI sector.
More than $4 billion was wiped off the sector's market capitalization (mcap) this week, equivalent to a 15.9% decline. Its mcap now sits at $21.5 billion—down almost 70% from its December 2024 peak.
Among the top 100 AI tokens by market capitalization, just one token managed to resist the downtrend: Grass (GRASS).
Source: Grass (GRASS) Token Page
Grass (GRASS) gained an impressive 10.5% this week, showing strong buyer demand. Its relative strength is partially attributed to its recent listing on the AscendEx exchange platform.
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) is also showing extraordinary strength—it's up 24.2% this week, leading the AI agent sector in terms of growth.
>> Click here to keep tabs on your favorite AI agent tokens.
When it comes to other tokens, a select few showed relative strength, suffering only minor declines, while the rest of the sector was annihilated.
Some of this week’s most resilient AI tokens include:
- Nillion (NIL): lost 3.1%
- Humans.ai (HEART): lost 3.4%
- VIDT DAO (VIDT): lost 3.8%
- OORT (OORT): lost 6.4%
- Qubic (QUBIC): lost 7.3%
The fact that even one of the best performers lost over 7% in a week demonstrates the severity of today’s correction.
Most other AI tokens suffered even more dramatic losses. This week’s worst-affected tokens currently include:
- tokenbot (CLANKER): lost 42.8%
- Swarms (SWARMS): lost 40.7%
- Freysa (FAI): lost 39.8%
- Hey Anon (ANON): lost 39.3%
- Bubblemaps (BMT): lost 32.3%
Source: DefiLlama
Despite the shattering losses, the AI sector wasn't hit particularly hard during the sell-off.
According to DefiLlama's narrative tracker, the sector saw an mcap-weighted decline of 17.2% in the last week, which is roughly middle-of-the-pack compared to the performance of other sectors.
For comparison, the Bitcoin sector held up best of all, with a 6.3% mcap-weighted decline.
AI News Roundup
Though the price action is all doom and gloom, the AI sector continues to march on. As one of the most rapidly developing industries, there’s always an array of significant updates to pick through.
Here, we’ve collected an assortment of this week’s most important stories to keep you up to date on the latest AI happenings:
BitDoctor Launches AIDD Token: BitDoctor has officially launched its $AIDD token following a sold-out Alpha Sale, marking a major step in integrating AI with healthcare services. The platform aims to enhance early disease detection and personalized medical advice through AI technology.
VRAM AI Testnet Gains Momentum: The VRAM AI network gained attention this week with its Genesis Core mint, which was launched on April 4. Hosted on the Walrus Protocol via the Sui Network, it offered 3,333 fragments for $VRAM airdrop eligibility, sparking significant testnet engagement and advancing decentralized AI agent development.
Ambient's AI-Infused Blockchain Aims To Supplant Bitcoin: Ambient, an AI-integrated blockchain startup, has secured $74 million in funding to develop a network intended as a "replacement for Bitcoin." Co-founder Travis Good highlights concerns over Bitcoin's aging encryption and envisions Ambient as a decentralized competitor to OpenAI. (source)
Runway Unveils Gen-4, an Advanced AI Model for Video Generation: Runway has introduced Gen-4, an AI model that generates high-fidelity videos with consistent characters, locations, and objects across scenes. It allows users to create dynamic videos using visual references and instructions without additional training.
Meta Unveils Llama 4 AI Models: Meta has launched the Llama 4 series, introducing Scout and Maverick models with multimodal capabilities that can process text, images, and audio. Despite advancements, these models are perceived as less capable than competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini.
>> That’s all for now. Let’s hope next week brings a change of tune and more bullish momentum.
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