Early Opportunities in the Next Crypto Cycle May Be Hidden in AI Screening Results

Original Author: mo

Translation: TechFlow

Introduction: The biggest winners of the next cycle might be projects that most people simply cannot understand—bad names, weak narratives, random communities, yet they skyrocket in price. This is because AI is changing how retail investors discover projects. Attention is becoming increasingly fragmented, and projects are optimizing their on-chain data for algorithms rather than humans. This means the next cycle isn't just about finding the best narrative, but understanding how narratives are discovered.

I've been thinking about something:

The next cycle will produce many winners that most people simply cannot comprehend.

Not the typical crypto jargon confusion. I mean: bad names, weak narratives, random communities, coins with almost no presence on CT, yet they surge dramatically. And they might surge very early.

My basic judgment is that many of the big moves in the next cycle won't be discoverable just by watching the timeline and following the crowd, like before. The market is changing how attention is discovered, how capital flows, and how retail decides what to buy.

This is important because, if I'm right, the next cycle isn't just about finding the best narrative.

It's about understanding how narratives are discovered.

I believe this process is already changing.

1. The Discovery Mechanism is Changing

In past cycles, crypto attention primarily flowed through a few obvious channels.

CT, Telegram, Discord, KOLs, group chats, local opinion leaders, a few big accounts, a few loud communities, a few narratives everyone saw simultaneously.

These are still important. I don't think they will disappear.

But I do think the next cycle will be different because more retail investors are starting to rely on AI to help them make decisions. People are asking AI what's trending, what has momentum, what's undervalued, which sectors are heating up, which coins have attention.

This trend is likely to continue growing.

Once this becomes the norm, the rules of the game change. Projects are no longer just competing for human attention. They also have to compete to appear in the systems people use to filter the market.

This is a different game.

The question is no longer just "who has the best promoters," but becomes "which projects look best at the machine level people use to simplify the market."

This is important.

2. The Distribution Mechanism is Changing

I also think attention in the next cycle will be more fragmented than before.

CT remains important, but I don't think it will be as dominant as before, at least not relatively speaking.

My point is simple. X's absolute user count might still be growing, but if retail investors start spending more time elsewhere, its market influence share might be shrinking.

It could be social trading apps. It could be AI-assisted discovery tools. It could be people spending more time in local Telegram groups, WeChat circles, or app-based trading communities instead of being immersed in CT all day.

If apps like FOMO continue to grow, more retail capital flows might form within these ecosystems, well before they become apparent on the timeline.

This makes the market harder to read based on social sentiment alone.

In the last cycle, many traders felt that being online enough, connected enough, and following the right people would keep them close to the flow of attention.

The next cycle might be less forgiving.

You could be very online and still miss what's actually pumping.

3. Performance Dynamics are Changing

I find this part more interesting.

If discovery becomes more fragmented and AI-dependent, and if more assets compete for the same pool of speculative attention, then the market starts rewarding different things.

You might have to be willing to trade or invest in things that *feel* dumber than the successful ideas of the last cycle.

Not because the market is broken. Not because fundamentals are forever irrelevant. But because in crypto, attention remains one of the purest drivers of price, especially in the early stages of a trend.

Attention doesn't always flow to the smartest thing.

Sometimes it flows to what's easiest to understand, easiest to repeat, easiest to meme, or what appears most readily in news feeds, scanners, or AI responses.

This means some of the highest-returning coins in the next cycle might look absurd.

Bad names. Bad ideas. Bad narratives. Huge returns.

This sounds stupid, but I believe it's true.

The AI Layer Creates a New Game

This is where I think most people underestimate the shift.

If more retail investors use AI to find opportunities, then teams will eventually try to optimize for this.

Not just for CT mindshare. Not just for KOL influence. Not just for on-chain heat.

They might start trying to look attractive in the data layer that AI tools and scanners rely on.

This could mean better-looking surface metrics, cleaner momentum, more apparent capital flows, better engagement signals, better-looking volume, better-looking traction.

Yes, in some cases, this could also mean teams trying to manufacture the illusion of momentum that isn't easily detectable by the average trader.

The average trader sees the surface and assumes the surface is real.

That's the risk.

Something looks healthy from afar, but its quality is far worse than it appears.

This is why I think the next cycle will reward those who can distinguish between genuine traction and machine-readable traction.

These two are not always the same.

Why I Think Traders Will Need Better Tools Next Cycle

If this thesis is correct, then the edge in the next cycle might not just be "following the right accounts earlier."

It's more about:

Tracking where attention is actually flowing

Tracking where capital is actually flowing

Distinguishing real engagement from fake strength

Understanding if a rally is backed by genuine demand or just good-looking metrics

In other words, the market surface might become more deceptive.

If more discovery happens through AI, social trading apps, fragmented communities, and machine-filtered interfaces, then just having a strong opinion becomes less useful. You need better systems.

This is where having your own tools might start to matter more.

Not because tools magically make you smarter, but because the next cycle might reward traders who can measure attention and capital flows better than the average person—those reliant on timelines, gut feelings, and KOL posts.

Memecoins May Still Grow, But with Diminishing Returns

I still think memecoins will continue to be important in the next cycle.

I don't think this sector will disappear.

But I do think the shape of the upside is changing.

The simplest way to put it is:

The overall memecoin sector can grow, while the upside for individual winners becomes smaller.

That's the key point.

In 2021, there were far fewer memecoins competing for attention and liquidity. Winners had more room to dominate the market. Doge and Shiba reached absurd market caps because speculative energy was more concentrated.

By 2024 and 2025, the number of memecoins exploded. Supply surged dramatically. New launches were non-stop. Attention was diluted across a much larger surface area. Even so, we saw major performers like Pepe, but the broader pattern already feels more fragmented.

This is likely the direction things will continue.

In the next cycle, we might have even more memecoins than in 2024 and 2025. The total market cap of the sector can still grow. There can still be huge trades. There can still be major winners.

But expecting a single memecoin to dominate the market like Doge or Shiba did in 2021 seems unlikely to me.

More supply. More fragmentation. Faster rotation. More competition for the same attention.

This typically means the sector can continue to grow while fewer individual coins achieve those monstrous, life-changing gains.

What This Means for Traders

If I have to boil all of this down to one piece of practical advice, it's this:

The next cycle may reward adaptability over taste.

Many traders will struggle if they keep trying to force the market to work the way they want it to.

You may need to adapt to several things.

First, you might have to trade things that feel stupid.

Second, you may need to rely less on obvious CT consensus and more on tools, capital flows, and attention tracking.

Third, you may need to get better at judging whether a rally is real or just looks real on the surface.

Fourth, you may need to accept that some of the biggest winners won't come from the cleanest narratives.

They may come from the things that retail can pile into most easily once the attention loop becomes self-reinforcing.

This isn't a moral judgment. It's just how these markets operate.

What Could Prove This Wrong

I don't think this is a certainty.

There are several ways this thesis could be wrong.

First, CT might be stickier than I expect because even if AI helps discovery, narratives may still need human amplification to spread effectively.

Second, AI tools might ultimately just reflect the same public information everyone is already seeing, meaning the discovery layer won't change as much as I think.

Third, even in a more crowded meme market, a single super-winner could still emerge if a coin captures the culture strongly enough and becomes the undisputed protagonist of the cycle.

Fourth, if overall retail participation is weaker than expected, fragmentation might matter less simply because there isn't as much broad speculative energy to disperse.

So I'm not saying this is inevitable.

I'm saying the stage is set, and I believe the market is moving in this direction.

Final Thoughts

My core point is simple:

The surface of the next bull market may feel more random, but the underlying dynamics will be more competitive.

AI-assisted discovery will likely become more important. Retail attention will likely become more fragmented. Projects will increasingly compete not just for human mindshare, but for machine-readable relevance. Memecoins may still thrive, but with more dilution and less concentrated upside for each winner.

If this happens, the edge in the next cycle might not come from having the loudest opinion.

It will come from understanding how attention is routed, where capital is actually moving, and which rallies are real versus just well-packaged.

The most successful traders might not be the ones with the best opinions.

They might be the ones with the best systems for tracking when attention actually converts into real capital flows.