In the face of significant fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market, sharp declines often serve as a test of which tokens are the most resilient and promising. Market volatility typically accompanies rapid capital flows, especially when the broader market is in decline. As investors become more risk-conscious, funds tend to flow toward assets with higher stability and potential. In the cryptocurrency space, some tokens with strong backing often show greater resilience during market turbulence. Additionally, as new narratives continue to unfold, emerging projects may also stand out in a down market.

Mainstream Investment Tokens in the US Crypto Market

With the upcoming U.S. presidential election and the relaxation of related policies, more traditional financial institutions in the U.S. are entering the cryptocurrency market. This signals that the broader financial world is beginning to accept cryptocurrencies as part of regular trading.
Therefore, projects and tokens backed by traditional financial giants and aiming to empower U.S. traditional finance are more powerful in this bull market and have managed to hold up during this downturn. Among them, Ripple (XRP) and Cardano (ADA) stand out.
Ripple (XRP) is a U.S.-based cryptocurrency project developed by Ripple Labs, designed to provide a low-cost and efficient cross-border payment solution. XRP has established partnerships with multiple large banks and financial institutions, which use Ripple’s technology to improve international payment processes. As more banks and financial institutions adopt RippleNet, the demand for XRP increases. Although the legal dispute with the SEC is not fully resolved, recent rulings have cleared obstacles for XRP, leading to a steady increase in its price.
Cardano (ADA) is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain. The SEC previously labeled several cryptocurrencies, including Cardano, as securities. With the upcoming change in the SEC leadership, ADA has benefitted from price increases. Additionally, the upgrade of its Alonzo whitepaper and the introduction of the Hydra Layer 2 solution have enhanced the ecosystem’s application value, making it more attractive to institutional investors, leading to a relatively stable price.
Tokens like UNI, LINK, SUI, and COMP are also receiving more attention from investors in the U.S., with the relaxation of cryptocurrency regulation supporting their further development. Thanks to their teams and strategic positioning, these tokens have remained robust.

Tokens in Grayscale’s Selection

Grayscale is a digital asset management company founded in 2013, primarily offering a variety of cryptocurrency trust funds to provide investors with regulated investment channels. As of now, Grayscale has launched 26 crypto trusts.
Grayscale’s crypto trusts, such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), allow investors to hold shares in crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum without directly purchasing and managing the assets. Through these products, investors can trade crypto asset shares on public markets just like traditional stocks.
In previous years, Grayscale primarily launched these products during bull markets in 2018 and 2021. However, at the end of 2023, Grayscale began releasing more trust funds, including those for KAS, LTC, and ZEN.
The introduction of these crypto products provides more convenient and authoritative investment channels, drawing more attention and liquidity to the tokens involved. As a result, these tokens showed stronger resilience when the market faced downward pressure.

Tokens Affected by Trump’s Influence

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) was officially launched in September 2023. The project claims to be a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform and is heavily influenced by its association with the Trump family, incorporating personal values and slogans like “Be Defiant” (Choose to be rebellious). Trump’s identity as a “crypto-friendly president” has made the project highly visible, with his previous pro-crypto promises drawing attention to each move of the project.
From late November to December 19, 2023, WLFI completed its $30 million token sales target and carried out significant token purchases, including:

• $30 million USDC to purchase 8,105 ETH;
• $10 million USDC to purchase 103 cbBTC (converted to WBTC);
• $2 million USDC to purchase 78,387 LINK;
• $1.91 million USDC to purchase 6,137 AAVE;
• $750,000 USDC to purchase 741,687 ENA;
• $250,000 USDC to purchase 134,216 ONDO.
  WLFI’s purchases indicate the project’s intent to deepen its involvement in the crypto economy, signaling a belief that cryptocurrencies may be superior to the U.S. dollar as a store of value. This could positively impact market liquidity, and its political backing has helped it maintain strong attention and capital support during the downturn.
  

Tokens from the VIRTUAL Ecosystem

The excitement around AI continues to stir the crypto market, with projects like GOAT bringing AI Meme tokens to the forefront. The rapid surge of AI over the past two years has created new waves in the crypto space, providing solutions for the overwhelming hype around AI that lacked secondary market support. AI-generated assets have become a hot commodity in the crypto world.
By 2028, the generative AI market is expected to grow from $1.47 billion in 2024 to $3.39 billion, transforming real-time content creation. Virtuals Protocol, established in 2021, is an AI agent generation platform built on Base. It allows anyone to create AI agents—virtual characters capable of interacting with environments and participating in various activities like gaming, the metaverse, and online interactions. This project aims to decentralize the creation and monetization of AI characters, positioning itself as a key player in the AI sector.
Since October, VIRTUAL has seen a strong upward trend, with its tokens, such as AIXBT, SAINT, and GUAN, showing impressive performance during the recent market rebound. The AI narrative has become one of the mainstream narratives in the crypto market.

Conclusion

In this round of market fluctuations, these tokens have managed to withstand the downward pressure, thanks to traditional financial backing, the resilience of decentralized finance, and innovations in the AI sector. They have continued to demonstrate strong market performance, making them standout assets in the current cryptocurrency landscape, and worthy of attention from investors.