AI Agent Tokens Stage a 2025 Revival—These Altcoins Are Primed to Dominate the Next Rally

Forgotten during the 2023-24 bear market, AI-powered crypto projects are roaring back—fueled by breakthroughs in autonomous agent frameworks and a fresh wave of institutional FOMO. Here’s what’s pumping this niche and which tokens could explode when liquidity floods back into altcoins.

The AI Agent Thesis: Why This Cycle’s Different

Unlike the vaporware ‘AI’ labels slapped on every shitcoin in 2021, today’s projects deliver working prototypes—think decentralized GPU marketplaces or bots that execute trades faster than hedge fund algos. The tech finally justifies the hype.

Top Contenders for the 2025-26 Bull Run

Watch tokens powering actual agent ecosystems: Fetch.ai’s adaptive learning contracts, SingularityNET’s decentralized AI marketplace, and Bittensor’s blockchain-based machine learning network. Bonus cynical take: half these teams will pivot to ‘quantum-resistant AI’ buzzwords when the current narrative fades.

The takeaway? This isn’t 2021’s empty marketing—real utility meets speculative frenzy. Just don’t expect Wall Street to notice until after retail has already driven prices to absurd ATHs.

Over the past few months, many people in the crypto world have been asking the same question — what’s the next 100x coin? While some believe the AI crypto sector is no longer exciting, the truth is that artificial intelligence (AI) projects, especially AI agents, might just be getting started again.

The Rise and Fall of AI Crypto

AI crypto projects saw massive growth toward the end of 2024, with the market value hitting $70 billion in December. But soon after, things took a turn. The AI crypto market dropped sharply to around $24 billion. This made many investors lose interest, especially as other crypto sectors also slowed down due to market uncertainty.

However, in the past week, there’s been a positive shift. The market cap for AI crypto has bounced back to around $31 billion. Although altcoins haven’t fully recovered yet, experts believe this could be a good time to start paying attention.

Why AI Agents Still Have Potential

AI agents — special crypto tools powered by artificial intelligence — were a huge part of the earlier AI craze. Even though many of these projects fell in value, some have continued developing behind the scenes. The idea is simple: in crypto, the best time to invest is usually when nobody else is talking about it.

For example, projects like Virtuals Protocol have started showing signs of life again. In just the past week, Virtuals’ price has jumped by over 60%. This project aims to make it easy to launch and monetize AI agents and connect them within its ecosystem. Although it once hit $4.50 in January, it’s now trading under $1, showing how far it’s fallen — and how much room it might have to grow again.

Other AI Coins to Watch

Two other AI-related coins catching attention are AIXBT and Tric:

• AIXBT: Once a popular AI agent platform for crypto research and analysis, it’s recently gained around 70% in a week. While it’s still far from its all-time high, some believe it has the potential to recover as interest in AI agents returns.
  
• TRAC: A similar platform on the Solana blockchain, TRAC had a massive run-up before crashing. It now sits at a very low market value of $3 million, compared to its previous $100 million peak. While risky, small market cap coins like this sometimes offer big returns — but also come with high risks.