A recent survey by CoinGecko has revealed that two in five crypto participants are optimistic about the potential of crypto artificial intelligence (AI) products and token prices in 2025. 

However, while optimism is evident, a significant portion of the community remains uncertain. This indicates a mixed sentiment surrounding this emerging sector.

Are Crypto Participants Bullish on the Future of Crypto AI?

CoinGecko’s survey ran from February 20 to March 10, 2025, and gathered responses from 2,632 crypto enthusiasts worldwide. The respondents comprised a diverse mix, including long-term investors (51%), short-term traders (26%), builders (10%), and spectators on the sidelines (13%).

A closer look at experience levels revealed that 53% of participants were in their first crypto cycle (0-3 years), while 34% had 4-7 years of experience. The remaining 13% had over eight years in the space. Geographically, 93% of respondents hailed from Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa, providing a broad global perspective.

Importantly, the results indicated that 46.9% of respondents held a bullish outlook on crypto AI products, including their use cases and technology. This reflected confidence in the sector’s growth potential. 

“Specifically, 19.9% felt somewhat bullish about crypto AI products, and a larger 27.0% of survey respondents were fully bullish,” CoinGecko reported.

Coingecko’s Research Analyst, Yuqian Lim, pointed out that the growing enthusiasm in the crypto sector might be linked to the enhanced and increasingly widespread applications of crypto when integrated with AI technology.

Conversely, 24.1% of respondents expressed bearish sentiments, signaling skepticism regarding the immediate prospects of crypto AI.

“Almost one out of every four survey respondents continue to feel skeptical about the potential of crypto AI technology and its use cases, at least in the immediate term,” the report added.

This divided sentiment also extended to perceptions of crypto AI prices, with 44.3% expressing optimism. Meanwhile, 26.4% leaned pessimistic.

“This perhaps shows that crypto participants are not differentiating between crypto AI’s investing or trading potential and the technology itself,” Lim noted.

She further emphasized that these market sentiments might reflect an expectation for crypto AI to move beyond conceptual stages and mature as a functional sector. Despite the divide between bullish and bearish perspectives, a significant portion of respondents maintained a neutral stance. 29.0% and 29.3% of the participants selected a neutral position on products and token prices, respectively. 

In fact, survey results showed that the neutral response category received the highest selection compared to other sentiment options. This implied either indecision or a wait-and-see approach as the technology matures.

Additionally, sentiment varied significantly across different adoption groups. Despite being pioneers in the crypto AI narrative, only 46.8% of innovators were bullish on crypto AI products, with a similar 44.8% bullish on token prices. Notably, a significant portion, 28.9% for products and 30.0% for prices, were bearish.

In contrast, early adopters and the early majority showed greater optimism. The late majority displayed notably less bullishness. The laggards exhibited the strongest bearish sentiments, with 41.3% viewing crypto AI products negatively and 43.1% holding bearish views on token prices.

“The ‘Laggard’ group also had the smallest share of neutral sentiments, which suggests that this group has the strongest opinions despite being the latest to the crypto AI narrative,” the survey revealed.

The survey comes at a challenging time for the sector. It has seen a significant downturn after peaking earlier this year. 

Major catalysts that previously triggered rallies have recently failed to spark the same momentum. This is exemplified by the AI coins market cap taking a dip following Nvidia’s GTC Conference.

Despite the downturn, the sector has shown a slight recovery, with a 4.3% increase recorded over the past day. However, this recovery was not isolated. The broader market also saw an uptick following the Fed’s decision to keep US interest rates unchanged.

PI has been in a persistent downtrend since the start of March. With bearish pressure intensifying over the past week, the token has shed 32% of its value in seven days.

Further losses appear likely as selling pressure strengthens among PI market holders.

PI Bulls Struggle as Trading Activity Plummets

PI currently trades at $1.17, noting a 1% price rise over the past day. Despite this modest uptick, PI’s declining trading volume suggests that the slight rebound is not backed by strong demand for the altcoin. It merely mirrors the broader market growth recorded over the past 24 hours. 

During the review period, PI’s trading volume totals $366 million, down 37%. When an asset’s price rises while trading volume declines, it suggests that the upward movement lacks strong buyer participation, making the rally weak or unsustainable.

This indicates reduced market interest, as fewer PI traders are supporting the increase. If volume does not pick up, the token’s price may struggle to maintain its gains and could resume its decline. 

Further reinforcing the negative outlook, PI’s BBTrend remains in the red, confirming that bearish forces are firmly in control. Observed on a four-hour chart, the momentum indicator is at -32.45, the lowest it has ever been since PI launched. 

The BBTrend indicator measures the strength and direction of an asset’s price movement in relation to the Bollinger Bands. A positive BBTrend value signals an uptrend, indicating that prices are pushing toward the upper band with strong momentum.

Conversely, a negative BBTrend value indicates a downtrend, suggesting that the asset is trading closer to the lower band, with bearish pressure prevailing.

When an asset’s BBTrend is deep in negative territory like PI’s, it indicates a strong and persistent downtrend, with sellers firmly in control. This suggests that PI’s price declines are not just short-term corrections but part of a broader bearish trend accompanied by significant volatility. 

PI Holds Critical $1.11 Support—Will Bulls Prevent a Drop to $0.87?

PI currently holds above the support formed at $1.11. If selloffs intensify, the bulls might be unable to defend this support floor, causing the token’s price to plummet to $0.87.

On the other hand, a positive shift in market sentiment and a resurgence in new demand for PI would invalidate this bullish projection. In that scenario, the token’s price could resume its rally and climb toward $1.34. 

The introduction of DEX integration features by centralized exchanges (CEX), transforming them into hybrid platforms, reflects a growing trend of blending centralization and decentralization to attract both traditional users and DeFi enthusiasts.

With increasing regulatory pressure on CEX, like KYC and AML requirements, decentralized exchanges (DEX) have become a more appealing option due to their anonymity and decentralized nature. Integrating DEX functionalities allows CEX to retain users while still complying with regulations.

CEX-DEX Integration for Growth

CEX and DEX represent the two primary exchange models in the crypto market. The boundaries between the two types of exchanges are increasingly blurred in today’s evolving market. Both models are beginning to adopt and integrate each other’s strengths to meet users’ growing and diverse demands.

Recently, several centralized exchanges have launched hybrid platforms. For example, Binance introduced Binance Alpha 2.0 (another updated version of Binance Alpha), enabling CEX users to purchase DEX tokens without withdrawals, combining CEX convenience with access to decentralized tokens.

Similarly, MEXC launched DEX+, blending on-chain and off-chain trading for a seamless experience. This reflects a trend of integrating centralization and decentralization to appeal to traditional users and DeFi participants.

“This is a brilliant move. Allowing CEX users to buy any DEX tokens directly from the CEX, no withdrawals needed.” said former Binance CEO CZ.

Interestingly, DEXs started gaining prominence in 2020. They slightly surpassed CEX in on-chain trading volume in 2020, and peaked in 2021. The rise of platforms like Solana contributed to this sudden growth. But DEXs slowly started losing momentum in 2022 and 2023.

According to a report by OAK Research, at the beginning of 2024, DEXs accounted for just 9.3% of the trading volume market share compared to CEXs. However, in January 2025, DEXs surpassed $320 billion in monthly trading volume as they captured over 20% of the spot trading volume for the first time in crypto history.

Similaryly, according to data from DeFiLlama, Total Value Locked (TVL) in DEX was approximately $163.6 billion at the beginning of 2022. In 2023, the TVL dropped to around $52 billion and stayed around the same figure for most of 2024.

Nevertheless, by December 2024, this figure had surged to around $140 billion, marking an increase of nearly 160% since the beginning of the year. This shows the rising preference for DEXs among crypto traders.

According to CoinGecko, around 959 DEX platforms are now active in 2025, compared to 217 CEXs.

Benefits and Challenges of CEX-DEX Integration

The current differences between CEX and DEX creates disadvantages for users. As a result, users seek to combine the strengths of both models: the speed and liquidity of CEX with the control and transparency of DEX. The launches of Binance Alpha 2.0 and MEXC DEX+ demonstrate how major exchanges are addressing this need.

Moroever, DEXs led innovation in the current cycle with AMMs and liquidity pools, forcing CEXs to adapt to avoid falling behind.

With mounting regulatory pressure on CEXs, the anonymity and decentralization of DEXs make it more attractive. DEX integration enables CEX to retain users while navigating compliance.

However, creating hybrid platforms comes with challenges. Integrating on-chain and off-chain systems requires complex infrastructure, potentially leading to errors or high gas fees for DEX users. Additionally, hybrid platforms may face stricter regulatory scrutiny, especially when combining CEX’s fiat-to-crypto trading with decentralized tokens.

Despite these hurdles, given the advantages outlined, hybrid platforms like Binance Alpha 2.0 and MEXC DEX+ will continue to emerge.