The Internet Capital Markets (ICM) industry is currently experiencing a significant decrease in activity, causing concerns about its future sustainability. Believe App has witnessed a dramatic 80% drop in trading volume compared to its recent peak.
Furthermore, the issuance of new tokens has also declined by 77%, indicating a decrease in market interest and activity.
The decline in trading volume of ICM tokens has been consistent, with a notable drop from its highest point of $729.3 million on May 14 to just $143.6 million on May 20. Similarly, the daily creation of new tokens has decreased from 4,977 on March 13 to 1,134 by May 20.
Believe App has been responsible for introducing over 23,000 tokens, but only 5.3% of these tokens have been activated. This suggests that many tokens may not be attracting attention or engagement from users, indicating either an oversupply or a lack of functionality.
This downward trend has been criticized by industry analysts, with Mars DeFi highlighting a loss of user trust in ICMs due to the proliferation of "empty tokens" driven by the meme coin trend.
There is a growing consensus that the focus of ICMs should shift towards supporting substantial, product-focused ventures rather than quick, low-effort launches lacking credibility. The era of meme-driven markets may be losing its appeal as users seek more meaningful and sustainable projects.
Despite these challenges, there are initiatives such as the upcoming Believe API, designed to facilitate the integration of product and coin functionalities, which could potentially attract more developers to the platform and reignite token creation and trading volume activities.
Similarly, Base Network is closely monitoring the ICM landscape, seeing the growth of decentralized applications and token issuance as integral parts of this evolving sector.
To revitalize the ICM sector and rebuild user trust, a shift towards projects offering real utility rather than speculative meme tokens is necessary to sustain long-term growth and engagement.