Written by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
Even though the cryptocurrency market is experiencing consolidation and fluctuations, the funds for AI agent concept coins are exceptionally vibrant.
On January 2, VIRTUAL experienced a rise of over 18% in 24 hours, currently priced at $4.72, with a market cap reaching $4.72 billion, setting a new historical high.
ZEREBRO has surged over 16% in 24 hours, priced at $0.72, with a market cap exceeding $700 million, setting a new historical high.
AI16Z has surged over 31%, currently priced at $2.37, with a market cap once exceeding $2.5 billion, setting a new historical high.
COOKIE surged 119%, currently priced at $0.52, with a market cap of $72 million. Even the GOAT, which was almost forgotten by the market, has surged over 19%, currently priced at $0.60, while ACT has risen 18%, priced at $0.33.
What is the chaotic backdrop behind the concept of AI agents?
OpenAI will release the AI agent tool 'Operator' this month.
As early as last November, OpenAI planned to release an AI agent tool codenamed 'Operator' in January 2025. This tool can automatically execute tasks on the user's computer, such as writing code or booking trips. Insiders revealed that the tool will be launched as a research preview and made available to developers through an API.
Moreover, OpenAI boldly predicted back in October that AI agents would 'become mainstream' next year. OpenAI's Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil stated, 'These more agent-like systems will become possible, which is why I believe 2025 will be the year when agent systems finally enter the mainstream.'
As a significant brand in the AI field, any major update or progress of its products attracts market attention and becomes a target for speculative funds. Therefore, it is not surprising that some hot and quality project tokens receive market favor.
What exactly is an AI agent? What possibilities exist when combined with Crypto?
In short, AI agents are efficient intelligent tools capable of automatically handling various tasks, such as email management, travel scheduling, and even assisting in programming. This allows individuals to focus more on other important matters in their work.
If you're still puzzled, just imagine that when you need to buy fruit, you often open your phone app, search, fill in the address, confirm the order, and finally pay.
In the era of AI agents, now you just need to tell the AI agent, 'help me make a call, buy $30 worth of mangoes, and deliver them to my home.' The AI agent will directly call the merchant and specify the requirements, and the user just needs to wait for the delivery.
In the era where everything can be AI, what kind of chemical reaction will occur between the cryptocurrency field and AI? This exploration has already become a market trend. Setting aside past concepts like OpenAI Ultraman represented by WLD and AI data analysis by Arkham, the concept of on-chain AI agents has now become the latest trend.
Starting from the AI+MEME representation like GOAT, it has since evolved into application exploration tracks, such as Twitter reply comments, and even includes cryptocurrency price analysis like AIXBT, as well as content generation influenced by AI in music, like Zerebro.
The third type is Virtual and Clanker, designed to create wealth effects with Launchpad functionalities. If these platforms can deliver good returns and high-quality projects, they often create a significant leading effect, as evidenced by Virtual continually setting new historical highs.
More possibilities include the combination of AI agents and DeFi, such as achieving automated investments, intelligent alerts, and enhancing yield. USV co-founder Fred Wilson even predicts that by 2025, the chief AI robot of his fund will go rogue, gaining access to USV's crypto wallet and starting seed investments, one of which will ultimately yield substantial returns.
However, for now, AI agents in the cryptocurrency field are still mainly focused on speculative trends, and their actual specific applications remain to be observed and explored.
How do industry leaders and institutions view this?
The AI boom has also led many institutions and investors to express optimism about its future development. Binance Labs predicts that industries like gaming, ZK technology, and privacy solutions, which performed poorly, may make a comeback as they transition from development to production, thereby supporting new use cases. Additionally, existing narratives such as DeSci, RWA/stablecoins, and AI agents should continue to perform well with strong momentum.
Ryan Rasmussen, Director of Research at Bitwise, predicts that the tokens launched by AI agents will lead to a meme coin frenzy even larger than that of 2024.
Rob Hadick, a general partner at Dragonfly, and David Pakman, Managing Director at CoinFund, pointed out that the greatest value of AI in the crypto space lies in enhancing development efficiency, as software development remains core to the field. However, Pakman holds a relatively optimistic view on the future of AI agents, believing that cryptocurrency can provide an ideal payment infrastructure for AI agents.
