Alts market cools down, real profits may become the key to breaking the deadlock

Since the beginning of this year, the overall performance of the cryptocurrency market has been weak. Not only have the small coins on exchanges shown sluggish growth, but even the on-chain tokens that performed well in the fourth quarter of last year have experienced significant corrections.

AI-related tokens have generally seen declines ranging from 40% to 85% over the past three months. For example, Virtual fell by 79.2%, Ai16z fell by 85.5%, AIXBT fell by 68%, and Griffain fell by 80.3%, among others. While it cannot yet be concluded that the AI sector has failed, it is an undeniable fact that investor interest has clearly diminished.

The celebrity coin sector has also suffered a Waterloo. Following a well-known political figure's lead, various celebrities have followed suit by launching their own tokens, but the market response has gradually cooled. Most celebrity coins have fallen more than 90% from their peak, such as Melania down 91%, Vine down 92.7%, and jailstool down 93.5%, among others.

In the face of this situation, investors can't help but ask: why have these once-popular tracks encountered such a significant setback? In the current market environment, which lacks fresh concepts, is there still an opportunity for breakthroughs?

One of the main reasons for the current predicament is that many projects focus too much on conceptual hype and neglect practical applications. Taking the AI track as an example, most projects are still in the conceptual stage and lack practical products that can be widely promoted. Even when there are some usable services, they often struggle to retain users due to complex operations and poor user experience.

The celebrity coin track is facing the issue of "topic fatigue." As more and more celebrities join, the market's enthusiasm gradually decreases, making it difficult for latecomers to replicate the success of early projects.

The fundamental reason these tracks encounter difficulties is that they mostly rely on short-term speculation and lack sustainable profit models. Whether it's AI or celebrity coins, the core appeal comes from the rapid influx of funds and hype, but there is a lack of motivation for users to participate long-term. Once the hype subsides, it becomes difficult to maintain prices and attract new capital inflows.

In such a market environment, projects that truly have "real returns" may become a breakthrough. The so-called "real returns" refer to projects that can continuously generate income through actual business models and return these earnings to token holders or ecosystem participants.

Analysts have pointed out that certain decentralized trading platforms have adopted this model. For example, some platforms use all transaction fees to repurchase platform tokens, closely tying the token's value to the platform's business performance. According to data platform statistics, this platform has performed outstandingly in perpetual contract trading volume, with an average daily trading volume of about $3.78 billion, accounting for around 45% of the total trading volume of similar platforms. Even in the current market downturn, this platform still maintains a high level of activity, and its token price remains relatively strong.

Overall, no matter how popular a concept is, it will eventually go through a cooling period. Those projects that can exist in the crypto market for the long term are still those that find product-market fit, have high user stickiness, and generate real profits. When choosing investment targets, focusing on these factors may be more important than chasing short-term trends.