Coingecko Survey: Who is Buying AI Tokens?

How widespread will crypto AI applications be in 2025?

In a survey conducted this year, 59.3% of crypto industry participants (nearly three-fifths) considered themselves to be the "first adopters" of crypto AI. Another 34.7% of participants classified themselves as "mainstream users" of crypto AI applications, while the remaining 6.1% were "skeptics" with the lowest willingness to adopt crypto AI.

Compared with the bell-shaped curve distribution that technology applications usually follow, the proportion of "pioneer adopters" of crypto AI is abnormally high. This phenomenon may be related to the self-selection bias of the participants themselves who are already interested in crypto AI, but it also reflects that the application of crypto AI is still dominated by technology enthusiasts and has not yet been truly mainstreamed in the crypto industry.

Among these "pioneer adopters", 26.6% of participants defined themselves as "innovators" (i.e. technology enthusiasts who are keen to pursue new technology narratives), while 32.7% identified themselves as "early adopters" who are sensitive to trends. The larger proportion of "early adopters" may reflect the latest changes in industry perception, that is, the crypto industry gradually regards crypto AI as a key area with potential, rather than just a hot spot for hype.

At the same time, 22.8% of crypto industry participants classified themselves as the "early majority" of crypto AI applications, which is almost twice the 11.9% who defined themselves as the "late majority".

This shows that the main challenge of crypto AI at present is how to promote the application of mainstream people who are pragmatic and more risk-averse. In order to attract the "early majority" user group, crypto AI projects may need to clearly demonstrate their ability to solve real problems or create value for users.

Finally, only 6.1% of participants classified themselves as "laggards" who are skeptical and resistant to change, which is consistent with the tail end of the typical bell curve distribution. These "laggards" may include realists who are only interested in profiting from crypto AI, AI critics, and cautious users who are waiting for the technology to mature.

More crypto newbies have polarized attitudes toward crypto AI applications

It is worth noting that among participants who experienced the market cycle for the first time, 31.5% defined themselves as "innovators" in crypto AI applications, while 7.4% considered themselves "laggards".

Both proportions are higher than those of participants who experienced the market cycle for the second time (19.9% "innovators" and 4.3% "laggards") and veteran users (participants in the third and above market cycles, 24.4% "innovators" and 5.3% "laggards").

This suggests that crypto newbies may hold stronger and more polarized views on the narrative of crypto AI, especially because some new users may have entered the crypto field attracted by the recent crypto AI boom.

On the other hand, participants who experienced the second market cycle and veteran users have a similar distribution in their attitudes toward crypto AI applications. The only difference is that participants in the second market cycle account for a slightly higher proportion of the "early majority" group, while veteran users account for a higher proportion of the "innovators" group.

Crypto AI Application Curve in 2025

The crypto market's interest or application attitude towards crypto AI is distributed as follows:

Methodology

This study is based on the anonymous CoinGecko Crypto x AI survey, which was conducted from February 20 to March 10, 2025, and collected feedback from 2,632 crypto industry participants. The survey results are for reference only.

Among the respondents, 51% defined themselves as crypto investors who mainly hold long-term assets, 26% as traders who mainly hold short-term assets, 10% as developers engaged in construction work, and 13% as onlookers. In terms of the participants' qualifications in the crypto field, 53% are newcomers who are experiencing the market cycle for the first time (0 to 3 years), 34% are users who are experiencing the market cycle for the second time (4 to 7 years), and the rest are senior users with 8 years or more of experience. In terms of geographical distribution, 93% of the respondents are from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa, and the rest are located in Oceania or South America.

This research is for illustrative and reference purposes only and does not constitute any financial advice. Please always do your own research and exercise caution when investing in any crypto or financial asset.

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