Market Overview
Bitcoin (BTC) experienced one of its most significant November declines in history and is on track for its second-worst fourth quarter since its inception. This downturn is attributed to a confluence of factors, including the potential unwinding of the yen-dollar carry trade, which negatively impacts risk markets, and a general exhaustion of buyers coupled with excessive leverage. These macroeconomic pressures have cascaded into altcoin sectors, which have been particularly vulnerable due to their lower liquidity.
AI Sector Performance
Following a brief recovery last week, the AI sector has resumed its downward trend. The sector's market capitalization has decreased by 7.3%, with a loss of $1.5 billion. The majority of AI tokens have experienced declines this week, with the top 10 largest AI tokens all showing negative performance.
During this period, Bittensor (TAO) has further solidified its position as the leading AI token, following a significant weekly decline for Near Protocol (NEAR). The upcoming Bittensor emissions halving event, scheduled in less than two weeks, has not yet translated into increased accumulation by long-term investors.
Despite the broad market downturn, several smaller AI tokens have managed to achieve notable growth. This week's top performers include:
- •Tradoor (TRADOOR): +105.7%
- •GRIFFAIN (GRIFFAIN): +54%
- •Turbo (TURBO): +33%
- •INFINIT (IN): +30.1%
Many of this week's leading gainers are part of the AI agent subsector. The trending tokens list has been a source of significant alpha, with seven of the most trending tokens recording gains. Tokens with a market capitalization below $100 million have been prominently featured.
The AI sector's performance this week has been more pronounced than many other sectors, ranking 16th out of 24 tracked sectors by Artemis in terms of fully diluted market cap change.
AI News Highlights
Here is a recap of the most significant AI news headlines from the past week:
Coinbase Ventures Focuses on AI, RWA, and Next-Gen DeFi
Coinbase Ventures has revealed its roadmap for 2026, prioritizing AI-powered crypto infrastructure, RWA perpetuals, and next-generation DeFi. This indicates a continued investor interest in AI agents, robotics, and on-chain tooling, even amidst the current risk-off market sentiment.
Virtuals Protocol Enhances Security Following Exploit
Virtuals Protocol has confirmed that a rogue AI agent exploited its Agent Commerce Protocol, resulting in the loss of approximately $500,000. The protocol is developing compensation plans and reinforcing its security measures, while continuing its expansion across various blockchain networks and maintaining resilient token performance.
A tweet from Virtuals Protocol provided further details on the incident:
[Content of the tweet regarding security update]
https://x.com/virtuals_io/status/1992954577503625464
GraphAI Integrates Fetch.ai's ASI:One for On-Chain AI Data Agents
GraphAI has integrated Fetch.ai's ASI:One LLM directly into its GraphEngine. This integration enables natural-language queries over live on-chain data, establishing ASI:One as a foundational infrastructure for developers building AI agents on Web3.
[Content of the tweet regarding GraphAI integration]
https://twitter.com/Fetch_ai/status/1994746163514183949
