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AI tokens, memecoins dominate crypto narratives in Q1 2025: CoinGecko

The cryptocurrency market is still recycling old narratives, with few new trends yet to emerge and replace the dominant themes in the first quarter of 2025.

Artificial intelligence tokens and memecoins were the dominant crypto narrative in the first quarter of 2025, accounting for 62.8% of investor interest, according to a quarterly research report by CoinGecko. AI tokens captured 35.7% of global investor interest, overtaking the 27.1% share of memecoins, which remained in second place.

Out of the top 20 crypto narratives of the quarter, six were memecoin categories while five were AI-related.

AI tokens, memecoins, were leading crypto narratives in Q1 2025: CoinGecko

“Seems like we have yet to see another new narrative emerge and we are still following past quarters’ trends,” said Bobby Ong, the co-founder and chief operating officer of CoinGecko, in an April 17 X <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/bobbyong/status/1912764341713350748/photo/1" rel="null" target="null"

Russia finance ministry official floats country making own stablecoins: Report

A Russian finance ministry official has reportedly said the country should be developing its own stablecoin after a recent freeze on wallets linked to the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex by US authorities and stablecoin issuer Tether.

Deputy director of Russia’s Finance Ministry’s financial policy department, Osman Kabaloev, said the Kremlin should be exploring the possibility of developing a stablecoin like Tether’s (USDT) to avoid similar actions in the future, according to April 16 reports by Reuters and the state-owned news agency TASS.

“We do not impose restrictions on the use of stablecoins within the experimental legal regime. Recent developments have shown that this instrument can pose risks for us,” Kabaloev told TASS.

“This leads us to consider the need to develop internal instruments akin to USDT, potentially pegged to other currencies.”

On March 6,

Bitcoin online chatter flips bullish as price chops at $85K: Santiment

The tone of Bitcoin-related social media posts has flipped to bullish according to crypto analytics platform Santiment, despite Bitcoin continuing to swing around $85,000.

“Traders are showing optimism that BTC can regain $90K, which will likely be dependent on tariff and global economy news as the week progresses,” Santiment said in an April 16 X post. The last time Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $90,000 was March 6.

Traders regaining confidence in Bitcoin

Santiment’s social media tracker, which measures how social media users feel about crypto based on the tone of their posts, moved into “bullish territory” on April 16 with a score of 1.973.

Before that, it was neutral, with a score below 1.606, as social media users were unsure about where Bitcoin’s price was headed as it “has been repeatedly crossing above and below $85K,” Santiment added.

Bitcoin tapped as high as $86,000 on

US court pauses 18-state lawsuit against SEC after agency’s leadership change

A US federal judge has agreed to pause a lawsuit filed by 18 state attorneys general and the crypto lobby group DeFi Education Fund against the Securities and Exchange Commission after all parties said new SEC leadership could make the action moot.

Kentucky District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ordered a 60-day stay on the case on April 16, noting a mid-March filing from the SEC that “this case could potentially be resolved” due to a leadership transition at the regulator.

He added that the parties must file a joint status report within 30 days.

Paul Atkins, a Wall Street adviser who has held board positions with crypto advocacy groups, was sworn in as the new SEC chair earlier this month, replacing acting chair Mark Uyeda and taking over from Gary Gensler.

The 18 attorneys general, all hailing from Republican states, filed the lawsuit

Ethereum fees drop to a 5-year low as transaction volumes lull

Transaction costs on the Ethereum network have dropped to the lowest level in five years as the amount of activity on the blockchain is in a lull, according to the onchain analytics platform Santiment.

Ethereum network fees are now around $0.168 per transaction and the reduction in fees coincides with fewer people sending Ether (ETH) and interacting with smart contracts, Santiment marketing director Brian Quinlivan said in an April 17 blog post.

“When many people are using Ethereum, users bid higher fees to get their transactions confirmed faster This drives the average costs up,” Quinlivan said.

“When fewer people are transacting, like we see now, users don’t need to bid much. As a result, the average fee drops,” he explained. “It’s essentially a supply and demand system.”

Source: Santiment

Quinlivan said that, from a

Raydium debuts LaunchLab to rival memecoin maker Pump.fun

The firm behind the Solana-based automated market maker (AMM) Raydium has launched its memecoin-making protocol, LaunchLab, which looks to compete with Pump.fun.

The arrival of LaunchLab on April 16 comes a month after Pump.fun, previously a key contributor to Raydium’s revenue, severed ties with the firm by moving its token migration from Raydium’s liquidity pools to its own new decentralized exchange, PumpSwap.

LaunchLab will leverage Raydium’s liquidity pools and aim to dethrone Pump.fun as the leading Solana memecoin launchpad.

Raydium said LaunchLab provides memecoin enthusiasts with customizable bonding curves and no migration fees, while tokens that raise 85 Solana (SOL) — currently worth $11,150 — will transition to Raydium’s AMM instantly.

Around 10 LaunchLab tokens have already surpassed this threshold, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://raydium.io/launchpad/?platform=PlatformWhiteList" rel="null"

AI takes nearly 60% of global venture capital dollars in Q1: Pitchbook

Artificial intelligence startups received the lion’s share of venture capital investments across the globe in the first quarter of 2025, according to new data from Pitchbook.

“Investors still have an AI FOMO [fear of missing out] problem,” the research firm said in an April 17 report, which revealed that 57.9% of global venture capital dollars in Q1 went to AI and machine learning startups.

Comparatively, the first quarter of 2024 saw just 28% of VC dollars channeled into AI startups.

Pitchbook said the capital flowing into AI was even more concentrated in North America, with 70% of venture funding in the region going into AI startups in the first quarter.

The global AI sector raised $73 billion in the first quarter, which was more than half of the total value of AI-related deals made last year. However, more than half of that was for OpenAI, which <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/31/openai-closes-40-billion-in-funding-the-largest-private-fundraise-in-history-softbank-chatgpt.html"

4 things that could turn crypto prices around in Q2 after the ‘best worst quarter’

Despite recent major developments in the crypto industry, the market has just posted its weakest Q1 performance in years — but a crypto analyst is pointing to several catalysts that could make Q2 more promising.

“Frustrating. That’s the best word to describe the past quarter,” Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said in a recent market report, calling Q1 the “best worst quarter in crypto’s history.”

Bitcoin and Ether took an unusual hit in Q1

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, saw price declines of 11.82% and 45.41%, respectively, over Q1 2025 — a quarter that has historically seen strong results for both assets. Since 2013, Q1 has been Bitcoin’s second-strongest quarter on average (51.2%) and historically the best for Ether (77.4%), according to CoinGlass data.

Historically, Q1

Crypto venture fund Galaxy Ventures could hit a $180M fundraise: Report

Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Ventures Fund I LP is expected to raise around $175 million to $180 million by the end of June to build a portfolio of 30 crypto and blockchain startups.

According to an April 17 Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, the fund — which has had a focus on payments and stablecoins — has surpassed its goal of raising $150 million.

The fund closing above target comes at a time when crypto venture capital is thin on the ground despite an industry-friendly administration in the United States.

Earlier this year, Novogratz’s firm reported that 2024 was also a tough year for crypto VC despite potential market drivers such as Bitcoin ETFs, the memecoin craze, and AI agents, which it said were “not particularly suited to venture capital.”

Venture capitalists invested $11.5 billion into crypto

ENS founder warns of Google spoof that tricks users with a fake subpoena

The founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service has warned his X followers of an “extremely sophisticated” phishing attack that can impersonate Google and trick users into giving out login credentials.

The phishing attack exploits Google’s infrastructure to send a fake alert to users informing them that their Google data is being shared with law enforcement due to a subpoena, ENS’ Nick Johnson said in an April 16 post to X.

“It passes the DKIM signature check, and GMail displays it without any warnings – it even puts it in the same conversation as other, legitimate security alerts,” he said.

The fake subpoena appears to be from a Google no-reply domain. Source: Nick Johnson

As part of the attack, users are offered the chance to view the case materials or protest by