In the world of blockchain, we may be more likely to witness the rise of a billion AI Agents rather than the addition of a billion human users.
Author: Evan ⨀
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
AI is the core narrative of the current cycle, and many believe this is a field that will exist long-term. At the same time, there are reasonable criticisms that most AI agents currently lack quality, and we may still be 3-5 years away from a significant breakthrough in these technologies.
Crypto x AI encompasses multiple layers. From a technical perspective, the true potential of the combination of Crypto and AI lies in driving more efficient reasoning capabilities through cryptoeconomics or providing decentralized access to computing power. This Delphi article is a good starting point to understand the entire tech stack.
Original image from Delphi Labs, compiled by Deep Tide TechFlow
However, this article will focus on the current state of the agent field. Despite many exciting innovations happening at the underlying tech stack, agents seem to have attracted widespread attention from mainstream Crypto Twitter (CT). Here are 5 trends to watch in the evolving Crypto x AI agent space:
1. Frameworks and Launch Platforms: The Importance of Value Accrual and Long-Term Potential of Frameworks
Value Accrual is becoming an increasingly important topic. Why is that?
Fundamentally, why do people choose to hold a certain asset? There are usually two main reasons:
They believe they can sell the asset to others at a higher price, as narrative rotations attract new buyers.
Over time, the asset can provide them with a continuous cash flow.
Jez (@izebel_eth) mentioned in his post “Old Coins Don't Work, New Coins Are Attractive” that the key factor determining market performance is capital flow. This view can be summarized into two sources of flow that drive asset prices up:
New Holders: New token buyers or investors;
Token Burn: Mechanisms that reduce the circulating supply of tokens through burning or locking.
However, at present, most projects have not formed a true token consumption mechanism (Token Sink) or value accrual model. For example, tokens used by agent terminals (like AIXBT) are more akin to staking mechanisms rather than traditional value accrual methods.
This is also why frameworks like Virtuals, ai16z, Zerebro, and Arc have recently gained popularity. For instance, Virtuals has already generated $60 million in protocol revenue. ai16z, initially an investment DAO, has become one of the top protocols in the field since announcing details about its upcoming launch platform and related token value accrual.
Currently, the framework and launch platform space has become highly competitive, relying on the experiences of initial successes for expansion. Although there are still doubts about the role of these launch platforms in the market, especially when many agents themselves have no practical use, many frameworks (like Eliza V2's launch platform, Zentients, and Arc's Handshake program) have not even launched their core products yet. If they can successfully attract developers and users, they may continue to lead the entire industry.
Why frameworks may exist long-term:
Even if agents currently have quality issues, frameworks for launching agents will still perform well because they have product-market fit (PMF) in speculative markets. Frameworks and launch platforms allow users to control the production process while participating in the speculative market. To some extent, Virtuals has already replaced pump.fun in the Base ecosystem.
More optimistically, as technology continues to advance, leading frameworks may give rise to more advanced agents, and open-source codebases (like Eliza) will further accelerate this process. Many launch platforms are also striving to become the coordination layer for communication between swarm intelligence and agents, with this communication potentially enabling value transfer through their tokens. For a more detailed analysis of how Eliza captures value, refer to here.
Examples:
@virtuals_io, @ai16zdao, @0xzerebro, @arcdotfun are the main players currently, but the launch platform space is becoming increasingly crowded. It is worth paying attention to those frameworks that act the fastest, have the strongest scalability, and can provide unique features—those that can achieve functionalities that other frameworks cannot.
2. DeFAI: The Next Wave of Agents Will Focus on Practicality and Value Accrual, with DeFAI (DeFi x AI) Likely to Achieve Product-Market Fit (PMF) First
Currently, most agents only possess Memecoins but lack practical functionality. To further advance the agent field, the next wave of agents needs to be able to solve real problems for users. The true new opportunities will come from agents that can achieve value accrual and take practical actions. I believe this will mark the transition of agents from Level 1 to Level 3 within the next year.
Original image from Bloomberg, compiled by Deep Tide TechFlow
This trend first appeared in the DeFi space. In the future, we will see more terminals allowing users to express their needs through natural language or voice input, while agents will complete tasks in the background. At the same time, existing wallets and protocols will integrate agent functionalities to optimize user experience processes.
Examples:
For more in-depth analysis on this category, refer to here.
3. Consumer Layer — Entertainment Agents, Autonomous Worlds, and Games: Attention-based agents will evolve into more complex personalities and multimedia interactions, driving the next wave of gaming and metaverse technologies
A major issue with existing agents is their severe homogenization, gradually tending towards simple chatbot forms. While some agent projects are shifting towards infrastructure development (many have already begun to do so), others are focusing on developing practical products or applications, and some may continue down the "attention token" route. However, the next generation of attention agents will be more refined, possessing not only more complex personalities but also enabling richer interactive experiences. This may manifest in audio-visual presentation forms, even giving agents 3D representations and physical entities.
There have already been some early attempts, such as Jeffy mentioning giving Zerebro a body, where some attention KOL agents directly publish through audio-visual presentations for short video content platforms like TikTok. Slopfather and Ropirito are two early examples of agents using video.
In the future, more agents will add these features to become more dynamic. The product-market fit (PMF) in this field will primarily be achieved through the consumer layer, where users may want to create personalized agent companions or interact with KOLs. This trend has already occurred outside the crypto space, as ordinary users have engaged in hundreds of hours of interaction with AI character companions on platforms like Character.ai. Notably, Google recently acquired Character.ai for $2.7 billion, further indicating the potential of this field.
Additionally, these "3D" agents may find product-market fit (PMF) within the existing consumer layer, particularly in gaming and the metaverse. Agents can inject deeper backstories into virtual worlds. Imagine if an NPC were an agent; it could not only autonomously complete tasks but also play games on its own, evolving memories and personalities. Through agents, the virtual worlds in games could achieve true autonomous operation.
Examples:
Infrastructure: Providing frameworks and tools for developing more interactive and personalized agents
@soulgra_ph - Provides tools to help agents have more personalized memories and personalities
@HoloworldAI has established Web2 partnerships with companies like L’Oreal, Bilibili, and Fox to create digital avatars
Games and the Metaverse: Virtual Worlds and Autonomous Agents
@hyperfy_io - A metaverse platform that allows users to create virtual worlds and is compatible with Eliza plugins
@ParallelColony - An AI simulation game where agents are players, and you can interact with them
@digimon_tech - A creature game similar to "Pokémon," where creatures evolve mentally based on interactions
smolverse - Uses Eliza and features an agent character driven by LLM that performs tasks in the virtual world based on user commands
4. Agent Organizations: The New Evolution of DAOs
Decentralized Agentic Organizations are the next form of evolution for DAOs. Swarm intelligence or multi-agent systems are promising because they may possess coordination capabilities to execute advanced strategies similar to corporate operations. Compared to a single large model, a heterogeneous swarm composed of various specialized agents or models may perform more efficiently.
Although fully autonomous agents and swarm intelligence may take time to realize, the next generation of DAOs will likely include interactions between humans and swarm intelligence. This model can reduce the inefficiencies of bureaucracy while lowering the cost and time for humans to execute tasks. From a developmental path perspective, the evolution from a single revenue model for agents to a complete organizational revenue model will be the next step.
Examples:
- Agent Swarm Infrastructure: Some projects are focusing on providing infrastructure support for multi-agent systems, such as @swarmnode and @joinFXN. These projects are primarily dedicated to the development of multi-agent frameworks and the optimization of coordination mechanisms. Meanwhile, some mainstream agent frameworks, such as @0xzerebro and @ai16zdao, have also explicitly stated plans to build at this level, further promoting the development of multi-agent systems.
- DAO Launch Platforms: Currently, we observe that investment DAOs are one of the most active areas. I believe @daosdotfun is the first major DAO launch platform, which has spawned ai16z. Additionally, some emerging launch platforms are beginning to emerge, such as @daosdotworld, where AI-driven funds (like @3berascapital_) are attracting increasing attention.
5. Verifiable Agents: Moving Towards Autonomy and Economic Agency
Today, most agents still require significant human intervention. However, the next generation of agents will move towards true autonomy, starting with managing their own funds.
The intersection of agents and crypto technology lies in the fact that crypto provides the financial infrastructure for achieving true economic agency. However, most agents' treasuries are either unused or managed by human teams. To achieve true economic agency, agents need the ability to manage funds autonomously. This capability will change the behavior patterns of agents, such as imposing economic constraints on them to bear reasoning costs. This mechanism is akin to "Darwinism," where agents must generate income to survive.
Examples:
- @freysa_ai - One of the first agents to control its own keys and perform excellently (even attracting Elon’s attention). They recently announced the development of a framework that enables agents to achieve verifiable autonomy based on trusted execution environments (TEE) and self-controlled keys.
@LitProtocol - Provides an agent framework that allows autonomous agents to transact on-chain through private key storage and execution systems.
@galadriel_AI - Launched an SDK called "Proof of Sentience" that enables developers to verify the autonomy of agents on-chain.
Conclusion: In the world of blockchain, we may be more likely to witness the rise of a billion AI Agents rather than the addition of a billion human users.
For human users, crypto technology often presents barriers due to complex operations and unfriendly user experiences, but these issues do not exist for agents. Starting from the interaction between humans and agents, the future development direction of Crypto and AI will gradually evolve into direct interactions between agents. In this model, a large number of autonomous agents will interact and transact on the blockchain in their unique economic forms.
“To enable agents to have economic agency (such as incentivizing behavior, paying service fees, and coordinating real-world activities), they need to be able to manage and utilize funds. Crypto technology is at the core of these agents, and blockchain provides them with permissionless financial rails. Stablecoins and high-performance L1 blockchains are ideal tools for achieving low-cost, round-the-clock, global transactions.” - Sam Altman's New Year Reflections and Outlook: Empowering People with Great Tools, the First Batch of AI Agents Expected to Join the Workforce This Year
Despite the myriad narratives and trends emerging, the blockchain-based agent economy indeed gives reason to be optimistic about the future. Perhaps many real use cases, DAOs, and income-generating agents are closer than we think.
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