Celestia, Optimism, ASI Tokens Among 2025’s Worst-Performing Altcoins

Late 2025 saw significant declines in the value of several high-beta tokens, including BTC and ETH, with losses around 80% for most underperformers. Notable declines included:

Celestia (TIA): -90%
- Price dropped from $5.5 to $0.46.
- Factors: Token unlock dynamics and buyback from Polychain, leading to selling pressure and liquidity issues.
- Poor fee capture with low data utilization highlighted revenue gaps.
Optimism (OP): -84.5%
- Price fell from $2.06 to $0.27.
- Persistent token unlocks during low demand increased supply negatively impacting price.
- Faced competition and sector fatigue among Layer-2 solutions.
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET/ASI): -84%
- Price decreased from $1.6 to $0.2.
- Challenges included a problematic multi-token merger and exit of Ocean Protocol causing governance disputes.
- AI tokens lost favor, with a shift back to real-world assets as a more profitable narrative with +180% gains.

The broader altcoin market faced macroeconomic pressures, including tariff shocks and tight liquidity, leading to sharp liquidations. Despite these challenges, investors are advised to look out for potential positive developments in 2026.