Sahara AI Crashes 74% Post-Launch, Humanity Protocol Nosedives 87% – AI Token Bubble Bursting?

Bloodbath for AI tokens as two major projects get rug-pulled by reality.

Sahara AI's much-hyped debut turned into a dumpster fire—plummeting 74% before the champagne corks hit the floor. Not to be outdone, Humanity Protocol faceplanted with an 87% freefall, proving even 'decentralized intelligence' can't outsmart a classic pump-and-dump.

Venture capitalists suddenly 'remember' due diligence exists.

The real AI breakthrough? Teaching algos to lose money faster than crypto bros. Meanwhile, Bitcoin maximalists smugly adjust their laser eyes—another altcoin graveyard fills up while the OGs keep stacking sats. Just another Tuesday in Web3.

Despite listings on major exchanges, including Upbit, OKX, and Bybit, selling pressure overwhelmed buyer interest, resulting in a drop in market capitalization to $180.27 million.

Humanity Protocol’s trajectory mirrors this pattern, with an 87.4% decline leaving its market cap at $36.34 million. The project’s 24-hour volume decreased by 47.85% to $64.27 million, indicating a decline in trader confidence despite the strength of the broader AI narrative.

This carnage contradicts fundamental adoption data, as DappRadar’s recent report on AI-related on-chain activity showed an 86% surge since January, reaching 4.5 million daily unique active wallets.

AI now commands 19% market dominance, nearly matching gaming’s 20% share after starting 2025 at just 9%.

The broader AI token market tells a similar story of disconnected fundamentals and prices.

The total market capitalization has dropped 64% from $16.6 billion in early June to $5.9 billion currently. However, daily trading volume remains robust at $1.4 billion, indicating continued speculative interest.

Investment flows present another contradiction. AI agent projects raised $1.39 billion in 2025, representing a 9.4% increase over the full-year total in 2024.

Virtuals Protocol has launched over 17,000 agents since November 2024, averaging 85 new deployments daily.

Token Crash Exposes Market’s Speculation Addiction

Sahara AI’s journey, from a 40,389% surge to a 74% crash within 48 hours, shows perfectly the extreme volatility that plagues these AI narratives.

Major exchange listings, traditionally viewed as validation and liquidity catalysts, failed to provide price support for either project.

Sahara AI’s presence on these exchanges couldn’t prevent massive sell-offs as early investors rapidly took profits.

2 days post TGE and no single word from the @Humanityprot account.

Founder haven't tweeted since people called him out 4 days ago.

Investors token locked yet Chart down 80%.

Terrible look and execution from what was supposed to be a decent project.

Do better & be transparent… pic.twitter.com/GRocQwuS1y

The SAHARA/USDT and SAHARA/KRW pairs recorded the highest volumes during the decline.

This is not limited to SAHARA token alone. Over the past few months, AI tokens have proven to be more speculative vehicles than utility-driven assets.

With only 20.4% of Sahara’s 10 billion token supply in circulation, the project maintains a fully diluted valuation of $883.72 million despite limited proven use cases.

Research by Phut crypto reveals systemic problems across the AI token sector. Their study found 88% of AI agent tokens have failed, with an average lifespan of just 17 days. Additionally, 75% of traders involved in AI agent tokens currently operate at a loss.

This pattern suggests many projects launch tokens prematurely to capitalize on narrative momentum rather than demonstrating sustainable value creation.

However, the rapid deployment of over 17,000 agents on Virtuals Protocol indicates genuine technological progress; yet, token prices fail to reflect this underlying innovation.

Particularly, industry experts warn that current tokenomics models may be fundamentally flawed. BQ9 CEO Irina Karagyaur recently predicted that centralized AI systems will crash by 2030, potentially taking dependent crypto projects with them.

Projects relying on partnerships with OpenAI or Anthropic face existential risks if those platforms fail.

Decentralized Infrastructure Offers Long-Term Hope

Despite token market turmoil, the underlying blockchain infrastructure supporting AI applications shows remarkable resilience and growth potential.

DappRadar’s data reveals sustained user engagement across multiple chains, with Matchain dominating at 1.9 million daily users, followed by opBNB and Nebula networks.

Geographic distribution patterns indicate a global momentum in adoption. Europe leads AI dapp interactions at 26.2%, followed by Asia at 21.9% and North America at 15.8%.

The infrastructure LAYER appears better positioned for sustainable development than speculative tokens.

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) projects offer cost-efficient alternatives to centralized cloud providers by distributing computational costs across millions of nodes worldwide.

Real-world applications are emerging beyond speculative trading. AI agents now function as DeFi copilots, social media assistants, and gaming companions, creating genuine utility that transcends fluctuations in token prices.

Investment patterns reflect this utility focus. The $1.39 billion raised by AI agent projects in 2025 increasingly targets infrastructure development rather than token speculation.

Projects within decentralized computation, privacy-preserving techniques, and sustainable business models attract more institutional capital.

Karagyaur envisions a future “Internet of Value” where the fusion of AI and blockchain creates everyday tools that preserve privacy while generating income for data contributors.

What if OpenAI and other AI giants crash by 2030? We sat down with the author of a new essay predicting a centralized AI collapse to explore what it could mean for crypto, especially AI-linked assets.#AI #Crypto #ChatGPT #BTChttps://t.co/Syw9xtvR15

This model contrasts sharply with current token-centric approaches that prioritize short-term speculation over long-term value creation.

The sector’s evolution toward utility-focused applications suggests token crashes might be just necessary market corrections rather than fundamental failures.

Projects building their value around genuine AI capabilities, sustainable tokenomics, and real-world problem-solving are likely to survive the current speculative purge.